I know I have gone over this over and over, and have read every article, called every organization and talked to hundreds of social workers but I want to be sure I am not missing something. I had to leave my job to care for my mom because no one was helping me at all. I tried to place her in adult day care but I did not care for the facility and at $75 a day or $1,500 a month, that only left her with $682. I could not work 40 hours a week and anything less than 40 hours was not worth me going to work after taxes and other withdraws from check. My question is does anyone know of anyway I can get some kind of income while caring for my mom in my home. We are both living off her monthly check so here it is near Christmas and I cant bu presents for my grandchildren, I can help my grandson in college or buy birthday presents for any of them. I cant have my Sunday dinners where I invite my 2 children and grandchildren over. I know you all know how expensive food is now and everything else. This may not mean much to most folks, but I miss some of my old life!
Ted, I do belong to the NFCA, you don't even have to pay the dues if you can't afford them. They recently sent a 2011 Family caregiver toolkit and planner/calendar to me at no charge. Due to lack of time, even though now reduced to working part time, I barely have time to read their newsletters which I get electronically but I did contact them in the past when Pres. Obama was first elected and had a website asking people what changes were needed. I suggested to NFCA that they send an email out to members asking them to submit the same issue - that all states provide the same amount of funds to community care and that more funds be devoted to in home/community care vs nursing home placement. There have been lawsuits pending on this .
As I said, I am burned out but could muster enough energy if some organization would take this on. We are the silent suffering, yet in many cases we are saving the govt a lot of money. My mother would be eligible for medicaid coverage in a nursing home but from my experiences with stays their for rehab, I won't do it. It was even more stressful to me trying to oversee what went on in the nursing homes/assisted living than when I have her at home. But some don't have that choice. There should be choice, care for them at home and receive adequate funding or improve the monitoring of nursing homes and assisted living carefully to ensure adequate care
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