The Cost of Nursing Home Care

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   Deb Welchposted 13 years ago

   THE COST OF NURSING HOME CARE
   
       My forum issue centers on obtaining legislation to lower the cost of Nursing Home care and who or
   who doesn't agree with me on this subject.
       My mother passed away a few years ago after staying approximately six months in an expensive
   health care facility at an outrageous fee of $90,000 a year.  The cost did not include doctor's care,
   appointments, medicine, or personal services.  The rooms were small - extremely small for that amount
   of money being paid out.
       We also lost a friend of the family at the same facility at the age of 97- who lived there for under five years.
       The food is exceptionally great there, the care is round-the-clock and it is good, the interior
   design and ambiance is noteworthy.  They have activities, entertainment, and therapy scheduled on a regular basis but mostly it is watching TV in a large gathering room or TV viewing in their own room.  Some cannot watch television at all.  It is so sad.
       What happened with my mother?  She was put into an adjoining room - divided by a curtain -
   her roommate got the flu - a bad flu.  She should have been put in her own room.  They slept in the
   adjoining rooms - my mother, no doubt, caught the virus and the staff wouldn't let family visit her.
       Shortly thereafter we got an early morning call from the facility saying she had a mild heart attack
   and asked our permission to send her to the hospital emergency room.  Within days - she died at the hospital
   in her mid-80's.
       Now - the circumstances with the friend of the family - she also caught the flu within a week after
   I had last seen her - and she was well and doing beautifully.  She had her own private room - yet - the others in the great room must have had the flu and she picked up the virus from them.  The facility also sent her to the same hospital and she had breathing problems and died.  A week later - I went to visit her and her room
   was already occupied and they gave me her lawyer's telephone number and then I did find out she had
   passed away in the hospital.  The nursing home had only told me she had went to the hospital with the flu. 
   Her lawyer and I were her only visitors except for her doctors.  I thought this procedure stunk like hell.
       People are paying an extreme amount of money for this type of care.  What happened to annual flu shots?  Do they care? 
       I think a guideline or threshold should be placed on the cost of Nursing Home Care or yet include other facets of personal services with the total cost.

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   kmackey32posted 13 years ago

   I feel for you. I am a CNA in a county nursing home in NY. The county nursing homes are the best paying and I feel take care of the residents the best they can. We are required to give a flu shot every year. Independent nursing homes suck. Not only do they pay horrible wages but there care sucks too. What kind of nursing home was your mother at?

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   1. 54

      kmackey32posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Also, although I know all residents get a flu shot, there are different strains of the flu every year so it may not matter. My nursing home was shut down to the public for a week when the flu came through sickening more then half of the residents and workers even though they had the vaccine...

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   2. 0

      Deb Welchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      KMackey:  The Health Care Facility is a large independent chain very expensive even though there are others more costly.  Not my idea for
      the choice.  Thanks.  I wrote to a local politician regarding this issue
      and got no response.

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