Mom wears Depends but makes it to the bathroom independently and wipes herself. I know she wets herself but goes to the bathroom and changes her Depends by herself. The last two months the facility has implemented this charge which I have disputed to no avail. During those 2 months when she was charged for the incontinence care she had a UTI, which she hadn't had in the 4 months prior when she wasn't being charged the $450!
My question is what do they do when they are providing "incontinence care" if the resident can toilet herself? I thought that was when they helped people totally bedridden who couldn't change their depends themselves. I didn't expect that to be charged unless they were totally bedridden and fecally incontinent as well.
I have no complaints with the facility - I drop in several times a week at different times and everything is better than I expect. However, I am afraid that Mom is going to outlive me because I have health issues that she doesn't have and I am trying to make her funds last as long as possible because if she moves back with me when her funds run out, it will kill me. No joke.
Id check around to see what other NH charge. Is that fee included, or is this something new just to jack up the overall price?
Im sure with economy they need to offset costs. Like bulk delivery of food,and bulk items like briefs/pads that go under resident if they still use them. It costs more gas to delivery these bulk items. So maybe they are charging more unfortunately to offset these costs?
You can always look around to see if there is a cheaper home and if they have a similar charge.
Is she removing the brief every time and getting a new one, or only when soiled? How many is she going thru a day? That I'd also good to know if you can. Does she put them in bathroom trash can? Maybe staff saw them piling up, and decided to start charging. Things to concider. Good luck.
My mom's AL is charging $4.50 to deliver meals to their rooms if they don't want to go to the dining room. Nothing compared to $450 but they do tend to try to make as much money as possible.
I know my mom will run out of money, if she lives long enough. At that point I know she will need to go into a Medicaid nursing home. Don't bring her home. It would be impossible.
Then she has my sister send her junk food (more processed the better) via instacart. She does not understand she’s paying essentially $1500 more a month on food than she needs to given her AL rent includes food.
I am sure the myriad of random health issues including blood pressure spikes that she sends herself to the hospital over aren’t due to a 100% processed food diet … if you’re not overweight, you must be healthy, right?! 😳
Gotta get with an Elder Law Attorney to strategize HER funding.
Would love an update from you if you talked to the administration here.
I agree with Jem that this seems arbitrary and perhaps abusive.
1) Do some actual 'real visits' to Medicaid facilities in your area, to check out "which would be the best of the lot", in case you were to precede her in death. Are there other caring families members that the "new Medicaid facility" should be near?
2) If Mom runs out of funds while you personally are alive, please do not have her move in with you, as it's evidently that your health would crash. So, be firm in your mind and heart that Mom is not to live with you. You will already have "checked out" WHICH of the nearby Medicaid facilities near your is the most acceptable and Mom would be moved to that facility by you.
3) If you own a home, or have assets such as IRA, CD, etc., you could set up a Special Needs Trust with an Elder Law Attorney, that would direct a "selected Trustee" to sell your home and liquidate your assets. From those funds (sale of home, investments, etc) the Trustee could continue to pay the monthly fee that your Mom would be charged, if all her own money was depleted.
4) If you have no assets, please designate a family member who could be trusted to follow your Directives, were you to precede Mom in passing: It would direct the "Guardian" of Mom to move her to that "best choice" of all the Medicaid bed facilities you would have visited.
Maybe just having a 'Proposed Plan' in place, with graduated steps, will give you more peace of mind.
What does getting a UTI have to do with being charged an extra fee for incontinence care, I don't understand?
Memory Care Assisted Living is expensive and incontinence issues never improve, they only worsen. My mother's incontinence care was included in her monthly rent, which was higher than average. One way or another, you're going to pay for it, unfortunately.
If you have concerns they should be taken up with the administration at your own facility. I would stress in your case that this is "age related stress urgency and frequency" and not really total incontinence in which the person needs total care. But it may make a difference and it may not. The problem is that this is a private business making its own rules.
Wishing you luck. After you arrange a visit with administration I hope you'll update us. This DOES seem quite unfair if it is the only thing being taken into consideration.