Friday, August 06, 2004
Personal Update (6 Aug 2004)
Just a quick update, since I’ve been Cave Buffy lately (very non-verbal). Today Madison had absolutely great weather, about 75 degrees, blue skies with the occasional white fluffy cloud. The grass was green, the lakes shimmering, the wind mild and encouraging. Basically, it was a beautiful day, except for some not-so-great news.
I’ve been trying to work out a plan to move my mom to Madison, in September. Obviously not an ideal situation for me, since I’m still settling in and weathering the costs of my own move. But since my mom was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, its important that’s she’s near by. The plans have been full of pitfalls, but I thought I had finally happened upon a workable deal. Oakwood Village a Lutheran sponsored retirement community, also has assisted living and nursing home services. They also accept Medicaid which is fairly important in terms of maintain costs associated with my mothers care. They’ve just built a new east side facility that has assisted living, and available space. So I thought this might be the answer. They aren’t cheap but they have good facility ratings. So they’re $120 per day, plus a $6,000 accommodation fee, and a $500 application. I figure if Medicaid covers most of this, I’d end up paying about $600-$800 a month, which is fiscal doable. She’d be in Madison. We’d put her on the wait list for affordable senior housing, and possible even move her into the apartment below mine, if the neighbors move as plan, next August. It’s a plan.
Turns out Medicaid in Wisconsin doesn’t cover assisted living, it’s a nursing home or nothing. Most of the nursing homes with only 2-5 annual deficiencies have wait lists, some multiple year wait lists. The Oakwood Village nursing home at Hebron pretty much accepts patients from Oakwood Village , but otherwise has a 3 year wait list. (sigh). So at this point I’m out of affordable options for moving her to Madison, in September. If she comes in September, and she needs to, then its either a regular senior building or a normal 1 bedroom apartment at full costs. The normal bedroom at full cost wouldn’t be so bad, if that was it. But if she’s by herself, she’ll also need a homemaker, meals on wheels, oxygen delivery, and a variety of other services to aide her independence. So that would mean rent plus $1000 or more dollars per month in in-house care.
So I back to square one, signing her up for wait lists, and trying to see about an interim plan. Great that reminds me, I forgot to call and update her life insurance agency with my new address. She should have a new bill soon.
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