WebKittyn Warbles

I spent the afternoon today on the phone with Blue Cross and the hospital woman who is handling the transfer. There's a cacophony of bad coming from all directions and my mother is finally at the end of her rope. She's hung in well this long, she just can't handle the stupidity coming our way so I've taken over. It's good for me, better to have something real to rage about than sit around feeling sad.

I'm repeating myself, forgive me. I want the whole thing here for me but I know I've mentioned a bit of it before.

With all you hear about health care in the US, I never really gave it much thought. I guess a lot of people do that and it's wrong, they don't really care about something until it hits them on a personal level. I need to change that, alter that part of who I am now that I'm seeing how truly borked health care is.

Last week they told us he was recovered enough that they couldn't do anymore for him at the hospital and it was time to get him to the rehab center to start the weaning/recovery. They told us in no uncertain terms that he would be going to the Northeast Center for Special Care. Done deal. Two people from there had already been in to see my dad and it was settled. They told us to go take the tour and do it soon as he would be going in the very near future.

So we went and we fell in love with the place, I was ready to move in. The atmosphere is incredibly cheery without being too much. The first thing you see when you walk in are recovering people in chairs and a massive fish tank with large fish. It's sunny and it feels alive.

First place we went was down "Main Street" which has a general store, clothing store, salon and barber, bank, post office and restaurant. Then she explained that there are 4 "Edens" where different things go on. They're gigantic rooms and I wanted to sit and play in the art one. All the walls are lined with art people have done and she showed me on gorgeous piece that was done by a 'neighbor' (they don't call them patients) who is now successfully selling his work in NY city at his own gallery.

She stressed that it's not an old age home by any means, there are a lot of twenty-somethings there and we saw one guy working who lost his leg fighting the war.

There are different wings; spinal injuries, brain injuries, the ventilator ward and somewhere off is the 'gated community' for those with dementia.

All the rooms either look out on the campus or into one of the "Edens" which all have skylights. The rooms are big and bright with television, internet connection and a closet that locks.

They have 24 hours visiting. They have a library where I know he would be. Large screen TVs, pool tables, cafes, everything. Best part? People are encouraged to bring their pets!

Before we left they showed us the 'tester apartment' that neighbors have to live in for 5 days before they can go home to test their independent living level and whether they can handle the everyday things of life. It has a bigger kitchen than where I live!

The website (linked above) is full of information as well.

We left there feeling good. Really good. There wasn't one thing any of us could find to complain about and I snickered the whole ride home thinking of them taking my dad down to the art Eden for art therapy. The horse he would like. My mother even went home and packed his bag and I was getting all the DVDs together that we got him for Christmas.

Then the axe fell. On New Year's Eve, what the hell is up with that????

New Year's Eve day I'm sitting here already miserable with the headache, the puking and the exhausting insomnia. The phone rings, it's the woman from the hospital handling his release info. She says Blue Cross denied him as they don't contract with the Northeast Center and he must go to Wingate.

What.....the......fuck......

My mother, who had been in such a good mood when she came home from the morning visit (he was up and he talked and she understood him), came home in hysterics.

First I checked out the website and was not impressed. It has no information, no specifics. It's bland and unfriendly.

Wingate itself is depressing. It's much more clinical than Northeast. The care is fine but recovery isn't just the physical end. It's further away and visiting hours close at 8. There are no pets and no pets welcome to visit. I would only get to see him on weekends without a car and my mother would only make it for an hour a day after work. Mentally, Wingate would do nothing for his recovery shit, when you almost die, spend 36+ days in the ICU not knowing if you'll ever speak and be heard again or be able to breathe on your own again - you need the mental end.

Of course I couldn't do anything yesterday except write. It's an election year, we have two candidates from NY running and a Governor everyone hates so I got to writing. My mother is friends with the Assemblyman in town, sher set up an appointment with him. We wrote (email and snail mail) to Charles Schumer. We wrote to Rudy. We wrote to Hillary. Putting my father in a worse place than he is to give more payout to one place sucks. I don't expect any replies but strange things happen when candidates want to win.

So today I call Blue Cross and was lucky enough to get a woman who spoke English, was kind and seemed to care. I explained everything to her, she put me on hold forever and came back to tell me she was confused. Blue Cross had never denied his claim to go to Northeast, she said. She said the issue was a lack of paperwork on the side of the hospital. He was denied because they had never even sent the paperwork saying it was necessary for him to be there. Ummmmm.... She said there was no indication of Wingate in his file.

Next stop, call the hospital and the case worker. She of course says everything Blue Cross had just told me was incorrect. She gave me a fishy-sounding story about maybe because of the holidays and staffing changes the paperwork had gotten lost. It just sounded to me like it was never sent. I mean, come on. They don't know if it's even necessary for him to go to rehab because they never got the paperwork. She swore up and down she was doing everything she could and working all day to get answers but when I asked her why not just send the paperwork she gave me a condescending answer like I was too feeble to get it.

She told me that it costs Blue Cross more to keep in in the ICU on the vent than it does to move him to rehab and vent weaning. She then told me that this nasty MSRA he has could work in his favour as Northeast has a private room for him and is willing to take him "with the sputum" so they should cooperate once the missing paperwork is found. This disturbed me.

The only reason she thinks he'll get in Northeast is because it's cheaper for Blue Cross? Pardon me but that reason sucks. What happened to because it's a better place that he'll get better in faster and come home to his family? Idealist I am.

And that's where we leave off for now. Nowhere. The hospital woman is off tomorrow so we won't hear from her until Friday and who knows what she'll say. I do know the paperwork better be where it needs to be by then or I'm going postal.

This is a load of crap that should be a simple process of move the patient to where he'll recover. Period.

I took my blood pressure last night, it was 246 / 141. Stroke out, anyone?

*********LOOK, THERE'S MORE***********

Sometimes it's hard not to throw one's hands up in frustration and howl at the incompetence of the world.

I called the woman at Northeast that I liked, she gave me a different set of answers and I believe her.

The Dr. at Blue Cross denied it because he said my father needs acute care and Northeast is a sub-acute care facility. Only problem is - he does NOT need acute care. Acute care is 3 hours or more of OT/PT/ST and sub-acute is 1 1/2 or more of OT/PT/ST. It clearly states on his records that he does NOT require acute care or an acute care facility. Seems they would know this if the woman at the hospital in charge of it all sent the paperwork. So at least the missing paperwork has been identified.

She gave me the name of the 'nurse' at Blue Cross she talked to who kept insisting that he needed acute care even though she'd never seen him or saw any of the paperwork and without telling me what to do, told me she would call a manager there and report this nurse.

So who the hell knows. My mother is there now talking to the head of the ICU and hopefully something can be done. While all this stupidity is going on my poor father is there with his ventilator and MSRA only wanting to get the hell out and get better.