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One of every three patients hospitalized in the
USA is over 65 years old. With every passing year the odds are
greater that your parent will be one of them.
When they are sick and in pain our elderly
parents don't have the strength or the mental reserves to keep up
with all that goes on in a hospital. Your parent needs you to be the
guardian of his treatment and his recovery, along with his pocket
book, while he can't do it himself.
Here Are The Information and
The Tools You
Need
To Help Your Parent Get The Best Care
In The Hospital...and Beyond
Dear Senior Caregiver,
Odds are you're reading this because your
elderly parent is in the hospital and you're looking for answers, or
you're trying to get ready for an event that you fear is coming.
Either way, you don't have time to scroll through reams of pumped up
copy. So, here it is in a nutshell:
Mom's In The
Hospital:
How To Be Your Parent's Best Advocate
...In The Hospital and Beyond
My name is Molly Shomer. For the last
15 years I've been walking with caregivers through the ins and outs
of hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and home care for their
aging loved ones. I've listened as families have been given wrong answers
to important questions - wrong answers that can result in thousands of dollars of
lost benefits. I've seen patients leave hospitals sicker than they
were when they checked in. And I've watched families use the right
information to secure the best possible care and recovery for their
loved ones. Sometimes the difference between a good outcome and a
poor one comes down to simply knowing what the insiders know.
If there were ever a place designed to keep
you feeling like an outsider, it's a hospital. It's kind of like
trying to break into the popular clique in high school. Back then it
just felt like life and death. Now it really is life and
death.
Nowhere is navigating the twists and
turns of the eldercare maze more exhausting, frustrating,
terrifying or ultimately more rewarding than while you're supporting a helpless
senior in the hospital. No one can guarantee the outcome of your
vigil, but the information in this short book will give you both a
fighting chance.
You want to be a confident, and competent,
member of the team taking care of your older loved one. The last
thing you need is to feel like you're imposing because you have a
question (but most people in hospitals do feel that way). You want
to know what to expect, and you want to know how the rules work so
you can make them work for you. This manual is your best place to get what
you need, quick.
In the process of working with hundreds of seniors and their
worried family members, the following are some of the concerns
I've heard over and over again. Some - or all of them - may sound
familiar to you:
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In the hospital you mostly feel like you're just in the
way. Doctors and nurses seem to brush you off and you can't get any information.
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Your parent is still weak
and sick, and they're talking about sending her home.
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You have a hunch that you should be planning for what comes next,
but you don't even know what questions to ask.
• And even though this is Medicare, and things are
supposed to be covered, somewhere along the line you figure money
is going to rear it's ugly head.
| If any of the above sounds like you, keep
reading... |
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You'll learn what to do... |
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You'll know why you should do
it... |
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You'll know how to do it... |
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You'll become a full-fledged member of your
parent's team - in the hospital and beyond. |
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Researchers say that one of every 20 people who go into the
hospital will get a new infection - one they didn't have when
they checked in. Experts say that 2 million hospital-acquired
infections result in up to 90 thousand deaths every year. |
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One of the most important things you can
do for your hospitalized parent is to make sure the odds are
fair that she won't catch something worse while she's there. Did you know that
many hospital workers - even doctors - routinely ignore something just as important as hand washing? The answer, and
what you can do about it, is on page 13. |
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If your parent is having surgery, what
can you ask for that will reduce the chance of infection even
before he goes to the operating room? See page 14. |
Thanks for allowing us to re-print the section on Medicare
and Rehabilitation from Mom's In The Hospital. I am
using it to help explain to families how Medicare works with
our facility.
Brian Stokes, LNFA
Arlington, VA |
| One hour with Molly and for the first time we felt like we
had a grip on how to get our father from the hospital to rehab
to home without any of us losing our minds. It is just amazing
how much we don't know. I'll be much better prepared for my
own Medicare now.
Carter Knowlin
Portales, NM
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Did you know that the average length of a hospital stay is now
less than 6 days? This means that many seniors stay in a
hospital only a day or two before being discharged to recover at
home or in a rehabilitation facility. Especially for older folks,
this kind of "Quicker and Sicker" discharge can be bad news. Many
come back to the emergency room only days after being discharged
from the hospital.
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What's one practically secret way to
keep the hospital from discharging your parent too soon? See
page 19 for the answer. |
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Hospital Discharge Planners are
supposed to be responsible for helping you make plans for your
parent's after-hospital care. Do you know what their other job
is, and how this second agenda can create problems for you and
your parent? Go to page 21. |
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| Your father was in the hospital, and they
sent him on to rehab. After two weeks of rehabilitation he was
making good progress. Then he had a bad fall. When he came out
of the hospital the second time he was in much worse shape
than when he went to rehab the first time. But now they say
he's only eligible for 5 days of therapy. How did that happen?
(The answer is on page 16) |
We live in "the richest
country in the world," but like everything else, good medical care
comes down to $$$ in the USA. Even with Medicare there are limits
to what is covered, and the rules are tricky. In order to keep
your parent from getting into financial trouble you need to know:
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How Medicare counts "Benefit Periods," and why 60 days is a
magic number when it comes to inpatient care. Page 19. |
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Why, even though it's true that
"Medicare will pay for up to 100
days in a nursing home," it might not be true for
your parent. See page 31. |
Getting older is not an inexpensive process. Most seniors have
tried hard to save for the proverbial rainy day. Now it's
sprinkling, if not downright pouring. You have to make financial
plans for your parent's recovery and possible long term care. Do you
know how to anticipate:
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What is the hospital going to charge?
(See page
19) |
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What it will cost to go to a rehabilitation facility for
therapy or an extended recovery?
(Go to page 31) |
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How much Home Care will be covered?
(The answer is on page
39) |
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