BirdeR
03-05-2002, 07:53 AM
Help coming for paralyzed gymnast
Richard Reeve
Eyewitness News Investigator
MARION COUNTY, Feb. 14 - After the story about Nicole Richards aired, there was an outpouring of support for the former Perry Meridian High School gymnast. Help may be on the way to guide the Richards family through a state Medicaid bureaucracy.
It is the images of Donna Richards caring for her paralyzed daughter Nicole that prompted Shannon Ulrich to come forward. "Knowing she's traveling back and forth and the rest of her family's suffering for it too. Those other kids don't get to see their mom. It was just sad."
Nicole, paralyzed in a car accident two years ago, needs her mother more than ever. "I have to depend on her to get me up, I have to depend on her to, you know, pretty much everything."
That means a nearly every day 90-minute commute for Donna from her south side home to get Nicole ready for her day.
Donna Richards says she's trying to get help to pay for a nurse's aide for Nicole, but says Medicaid and its providers are giving her the run around. "Basically, (the most frustrating part is) that I can't get no answers."
Ulrich, a former doctors' billing agent, says she knows all about that bureaucratic brick wall. "It should be better communication. Or maybe one person would be the contact person. Then they could find all the other information for everybody."
She and other friends in the Muncie medical community have come up with a plan. They'll volunteer their own time to help the Richards. But a more permanent solution may be on the way.
"Hopefully, we can staff for her 100 percent, but I'm not sure we can," says Jean McDonald of the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care. The association says it will search for a Muncie-area provider for Nicole, if the group can find the people to do the job. "With our shortage of both home health aides and nurses, the industry's in real dire straits," says McDonald.
Meantime, folks like Lawrence Township firefighter Jeff Muszar are volunteering too. "It touched me, that what would I do if I was in that spot? Would I have the strength, the ability to do what that mom has done?"
Muszar may use political muscle to help. "We want to be an advocate for her to the state government through our unions, to see if we can get the government to step up and do what's right, first of all."
PART ONE
As a young gymnast, Nicole Richards had dreams of Olympic glory. "Before the accident I thought I was strong and I could do all kinds of things." But carrying the Olympic torch down Meridian Street is probably the closest she'll ever get to the Olympic experience.
"Her determination is beyond most people's comprehension," says family doctor Carol Dickhaus. "But she has a body that by all standards is not going to work for her."
It's not been an easy road for Richards, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident two years ago.
But while Richards works to rebuild her life her mother Donna also faces an Olympian challenge.
The day starts at 5:30 for Donna Richards. She's a single mother caring for two young children at her home on the far south side.
At 6:42 she's out the door on her way to Ball State University where Nicole, a sophomore, needs her help. It's a 90-minute drive one way, and Richards has to make it nearly every day, sometimes twice a day.
Nicole has to depend on her mom "to get me up, I have to depend on her to, you know, pretty much do everything.
At 8:15 Donna is at the dormitory ready for the demanding work of preparing Nicole for the day. "Morning, sunshine."
"It takes two hours to do a shower, and to put her into a chair, take her down the hall, give her a shower, bring her back, get her dressed, get her off to class."
A quick hug and Donna heads back home, more than four hours after her day started.
Later, there's a good chance she'll make this trip again to get Nicole into bed for the night.
For Donna, the most frustrating part of this is "Basically that I can't get no answers."
For six months now, Richards has been trying to get help to pay for a nurse practitioner to work with Nicole several hours a day. But all she gets from state Medicaid and its providers is the run-around.
Meanwhile, she barely sees her other kids and can't even go back to work to support them.
That's right. Donna Richards hasn't been able to work at all since the accident. Between the trips back and forth to Muncie and the demands of her younger kids, there's simply no time. As a result, the family has to rely on food stamps and state health insurance.
Donna feels, "like I'm using the state system when I don't need to. I mean, I want to go to work, but I can't 'cause I gotta take care of her."
She says the way things are now, taxpayers are needlessly subsidizing her and Nicole. "It's costing them more money to have me on food stamps and me and my other two kids on medical insurance than it would be to pay an agency or a private nurse ten hours to take care of her."
Nicole just doesn't "understand. I mean, they have all the proof." Paperwork proof that has taken over Donna Richards' kitchen, as she's made hundreds of futile calls to state officials and Medicaid providers. "I've gone to the caseworker. He sent me to different people. I go to them people. They send me to people. I'm just in a circle with no answers."
Even a letter of support from Nicole's doctor didn't have any effect. Dr. Dickhaus wonders how long Donna Richards can keep this up. "This woman is going to wear out on one end or the other. And then she won't be able to work."
Nicole knows the affect it's having on her mother. "I mean it's wearing her down. She's getting sick, and I can't imagine driving back and back and forth. And having to deal with the rest of the family."
But Richards vows not to let her daughter down, no matter the toll on herself. "She's not going to live a full normal life like we expected her to live, so I'll do whatever I have to do to get her through whatever she wants to get through. With or without help."
State officials say Nicole is eligible for Medicaid, but needs to find a provider to send them the right paperwork.
In all her phone calls, Donna Richards says she never heard that.
And she's contacted a number of providers who won't help.
Now, the state says it has referred her case to an advocacy group that may be able to get things on track.
Nicole's father helps out financially, and so do her grandparents who live across the street.
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/frown.gif
Richard Reeve
Eyewitness News Investigator
MARION COUNTY, Feb. 14 - After the story about Nicole Richards aired, there was an outpouring of support for the former Perry Meridian High School gymnast. Help may be on the way to guide the Richards family through a state Medicaid bureaucracy.
It is the images of Donna Richards caring for her paralyzed daughter Nicole that prompted Shannon Ulrich to come forward. "Knowing she's traveling back and forth and the rest of her family's suffering for it too. Those other kids don't get to see their mom. It was just sad."
Nicole, paralyzed in a car accident two years ago, needs her mother more than ever. "I have to depend on her to get me up, I have to depend on her to, you know, pretty much everything."
That means a nearly every day 90-minute commute for Donna from her south side home to get Nicole ready for her day.
Donna Richards says she's trying to get help to pay for a nurse's aide for Nicole, but says Medicaid and its providers are giving her the run around. "Basically, (the most frustrating part is) that I can't get no answers."
Ulrich, a former doctors' billing agent, says she knows all about that bureaucratic brick wall. "It should be better communication. Or maybe one person would be the contact person. Then they could find all the other information for everybody."
She and other friends in the Muncie medical community have come up with a plan. They'll volunteer their own time to help the Richards. But a more permanent solution may be on the way.
"Hopefully, we can staff for her 100 percent, but I'm not sure we can," says Jean McDonald of the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care. The association says it will search for a Muncie-area provider for Nicole, if the group can find the people to do the job. "With our shortage of both home health aides and nurses, the industry's in real dire straits," says McDonald.
Meantime, folks like Lawrence Township firefighter Jeff Muszar are volunteering too. "It touched me, that what would I do if I was in that spot? Would I have the strength, the ability to do what that mom has done?"
Muszar may use political muscle to help. "We want to be an advocate for her to the state government through our unions, to see if we can get the government to step up and do what's right, first of all."
PART ONE
As a young gymnast, Nicole Richards had dreams of Olympic glory. "Before the accident I thought I was strong and I could do all kinds of things." But carrying the Olympic torch down Meridian Street is probably the closest she'll ever get to the Olympic experience.
"Her determination is beyond most people's comprehension," says family doctor Carol Dickhaus. "But she has a body that by all standards is not going to work for her."
It's not been an easy road for Richards, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident two years ago.
But while Richards works to rebuild her life her mother Donna also faces an Olympian challenge.
The day starts at 5:30 for Donna Richards. She's a single mother caring for two young children at her home on the far south side.
At 6:42 she's out the door on her way to Ball State University where Nicole, a sophomore, needs her help. It's a 90-minute drive one way, and Richards has to make it nearly every day, sometimes twice a day.
Nicole has to depend on her mom "to get me up, I have to depend on her to, you know, pretty much do everything.
At 8:15 Donna is at the dormitory ready for the demanding work of preparing Nicole for the day. "Morning, sunshine."
"It takes two hours to do a shower, and to put her into a chair, take her down the hall, give her a shower, bring her back, get her dressed, get her off to class."
A quick hug and Donna heads back home, more than four hours after her day started.
Later, there's a good chance she'll make this trip again to get Nicole into bed for the night.
For Donna, the most frustrating part of this is "Basically that I can't get no answers."
For six months now, Richards has been trying to get help to pay for a nurse practitioner to work with Nicole several hours a day. But all she gets from state Medicaid and its providers is the run-around.
Meanwhile, she barely sees her other kids and can't even go back to work to support them.
That's right. Donna Richards hasn't been able to work at all since the accident. Between the trips back and forth to Muncie and the demands of her younger kids, there's simply no time. As a result, the family has to rely on food stamps and state health insurance.
Donna feels, "like I'm using the state system when I don't need to. I mean, I want to go to work, but I can't 'cause I gotta take care of her."
She says the way things are now, taxpayers are needlessly subsidizing her and Nicole. "It's costing them more money to have me on food stamps and me and my other two kids on medical insurance than it would be to pay an agency or a private nurse ten hours to take care of her."
Nicole just doesn't "understand. I mean, they have all the proof." Paperwork proof that has taken over Donna Richards' kitchen, as she's made hundreds of futile calls to state officials and Medicaid providers. "I've gone to the caseworker. He sent me to different people. I go to them people. They send me to people. I'm just in a circle with no answers."
Even a letter of support from Nicole's doctor didn't have any effect. Dr. Dickhaus wonders how long Donna Richards can keep this up. "This woman is going to wear out on one end or the other. And then she won't be able to work."
Nicole knows the affect it's having on her mother. "I mean it's wearing her down. She's getting sick, and I can't imagine driving back and back and forth. And having to deal with the rest of the family."
But Richards vows not to let her daughter down, no matter the toll on herself. "She's not going to live a full normal life like we expected her to live, so I'll do whatever I have to do to get her through whatever she wants to get through. With or without help."
State officials say Nicole is eligible for Medicaid, but needs to find a provider to send them the right paperwork.
In all her phone calls, Donna Richards says she never heard that.
And she's contacted a number of providers who won't help.
Now, the state says it has referred her case to an advocacy group that may be able to get things on track.
Nicole's father helps out financially, and so do her grandparents who live across the street.
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/frown.gif