Home exercise help??

[heidigo]

Hello!

I'm looking for ideas on where I can find someone to come into the house during the day to help my sister with her exercises(2-3 days, 2 hours/day). I have contacted a local community college here in MD (Anne Arundel CC) that has a Physical Therapy Assistant program to see if one of their students would be interested, but I have not received a call back from the program director.

Amber has been in an outpatient program at Kennedy Krieger since March and will be discharged at the end of this month(no more insurance coverage) and sent home with a pretty intense OT and PT program. Amber has a C1-C2 injury, but isn't "textbook" case as she can feel and move everything and uses a walker around the house. She just can't do the exercises on her own because she does have limited use of her arms and legs and does need some help with the exercises. Her caregivers during the morning are older and I don't think would be able to help much with her exercises.

Any ideas?!

Thanks,
Heidi

[Sue Pendleton]

Again, if you want a student post to a student website or go to th school and paper post. A director has to tell you that a PTA practicing before being accreditted can be hit with practicing without a license if it's in their field. No problem getting a computer tech student to do it but no PTAs or RN types.

Is there absolutely no insurance such as Medicaid possible? I assume the older caregivers are parents. Was she a student at time of injury? Grade or year of college? Any chance of Medicare in the future? I see the injury is about 18 months ago. Is there a way to get her to a community hospital for outpatient PT through Medicaid?

Let me look up a someone I know over your way and I'll either post here or PM you depending on what I find. Oh, and is any personal care involved?
Sue in Howard C.

[Sue Pendleton]

Heidi, I should have a name to call tomorrow at the AA County Department of Aging and Disabilities. This comes under their personal care assistance program but you specify what is needed. It is a paid program but I'm sure it is much cheaper than KKI. :-) The county collects resumes and runs a quick check on them to make sure you don't have a serial mosaic tile maker OT in your home..

Does your sister need any items temporarily? Here in Howard we have a lending closet that includes removal ramps for van to ground, flat ground to house doorway, commodes, walkers, some wheelchairs, etc.

[GoTWHeeLs]

There is a program here called Advantage Program which is attached to medicaid but purely through disability. I googled it for maryland but had no luck finding it, maybe it has a different name and is similiar to this program. I was allowed 16 visits every quarter of the year for OT and PT.

[Sue Pendleton]

GoTWHeeLs, we have a cabinet level Department of Disabilities in Maryland and the counties are still working out the bugs and what to name everything. :-)

Heidi, call this department for a phone intake survey and they'll get you started:
Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disability

410-222-4464

This county also provides respite care through the same department. I'll add this to the Mid-Atlantic CareCure Forum also.

[heidigo]

Hi Sue,

Thanks, I will try calling them tomorrow.

Because Amber is getting SSDI, she is above the $$ limit to be outright eligible for MA, so she is on the 6 month spend down program where she has to have almost $5,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses before she is elgibible for MA for that 6 month period. I have had major issues w/ AA DSS, but finally Amber got assigned a new case worker who just notified me that she is now approved for MA from June 21 - Sept 30, 2007. Which is great because that will cover her therapy at KKI(I hope) for the month of August that her insurance won't cover)! So I now need to see what therapy can be covered at home, if any.

No, Amber's caregivers are referrals we've found through neighbors. Ufortunately, I am the only family in MD and my husband and I are the primary caregivers for my sister. They have actually been great - much better than any of the caregiving agencies.

Thanks so much for the info! Hopefully something will be worked out for home therapy.

Heidi

[heidigo]

GoTWHeeLs,

MD does have a REM (Rare and Expensive Medical) program which spinal cord injuries fall under, but you have to be outright eligible for Medical Assistance to be eligble for REM. My sister gets SSDI, which is less than a $1,000 per month, but to be outright eligible for MA in MD you can only bring in like $360 per month! So Amber isn't eligible for the REM program at all. MD is totally ridiculous for an adult to be eligible for MA. I almost wish she wasn't getting SSDI, but then almost half of that is used to pay for her BC/BS monthly medical benefits so then how would that get paid? I feel like she is stuck in a catch-22 situation - she's stuck in the middle where she is barely surviving and my husband and I have to pay for a lot of things(caregivers, etc.), but her $1000 per month is too much to get any help from the state until she has paid close to $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses! Kinda makes you crazy!

Heidi

Heidi

[Sue Pendleton]

Could one of the PCAs be trained to help with the exercises? Just brainstorming...

I hear you on the money issues. We can keep it mainly as a family caregiver situation or we can skip retirement in a few years. Even with benefits except for PCAs you can't win. Let me know how AAs program works out for you.