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You are so lucky that your area will be unaffected. Wish so much that was the same for my family.
An older family member is diabetic, lives at home and is really dependent on MOW and the local senior center. The local area has been slammed with unemployment, high Medicaid costs (his state requires a very high local contribution), and people moving out decimating the tax base. Local funding has been decreasing yearly. We are really worried about him if this goes through, especially being hundreds of miles away.
If I were you I'd call his local MOW and see how or even if they are going to be affected. I mean, until I spoke with a friend who actually works at MOW here locally, I just assumed they'd be negatively affected. I was wrong.
Knowledge is power! And you know what they say about those who assume...
No offense - I just mean I'd call to verify whether or not his meals will actually be affected before I worried too much about it.
Meals on Wheels is not a federal program. Across the board, it only receives 3.3 percent of it's funding from the budget Trump has proposed be cut.
Quote:
But the situation is complicated and saying that the budget eliminates the Meals on Wheels program is factually incorrect. According to the Meals on Wheels annual IRS filing for 2015 (it isn't a government program), approximately 3.3 percent of its funding comes from government sources. Most is from corporate and foundation grants, with individual contributions the second largest source. Government grants are actually the fifth largest source of revenue.
There is an umbrella Meals on Wheels organization and it receives 3.3 percent of its funding through the Community Development Block Grant program. If the CDBG is cut as proposed in the Trump budget — and there is no guarantee that Congress will accept even the rough budget outline presented — then that amount of funding to the national Meals on Wheels would be cut.
The national organization partners with some 5,000 local groups that actually prepare and deliver the meals. Those groups do get 35 percent of their funding form federal sources, but the money for nutrition programs comes for the Older Americans Act Title IIIC, which is administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those funds are not the ones in question and why I wrote that cutting the CDBG program does not eliminate Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels Atlanta operates on private donations, fundraisers, and by keeping government funding below 50 percent, according to Shannon Courtney, director of special events.
Meals on Wheels Atlanta operates on private donations, fundraisers, and by keeping government funding below 50 percent, according to Shannon Courtney, director of special events.
Right - and most of that government funding mentioned is not the fund that is being considered to be cut.
If I were you I'd call his local MOW and see how or even if they are going to be affected. I mean, until I spoke with a friend who actually works at MOW here locally, I just assumed they'd be negatively affected. I was wrong.
Knowledge is power! And you know what they say about those who assume...
No offense - I just mean I'd call to verify whether or not his meals will actually be affected before I worried too much about it.
Sadly my former college roommate is the Assistant Director at that local senior citizen center and also works directly with the MOW organization. She was the one who informed us. They have already been cut to the bone with local funds so the federal money is a main support, besides donations from other sources which are not as reliable.
You are right that MOW is not a federal program but has been included in federal funding for community organizations for years in this location.
The main issue is not paying for the meals - that we could help out with. The problem was due to the lack of funds the meals became inedible with the lack of funding (my parents were nearby in another county where that happened). The people who can afford it (luckily including my parents) went the "private" route, paying a local 5-star senior living facility who also delivered. We will look into that possibility for my family member but I feel sorry for the others. Guess we will have to wait and see - no sense worrying quite yet.
Hate to be blunt, but by the time you have to decide whether to give up life as you know it to move to a nursing home your attitudes may well change.
Spend some time in a nursing home. Then decide what living at home means.
As long as people can live at home, the better their life is. As long as it doesn't jeopardize their health and safety I applaud them.
OP, I hope that your MIL enjoys getting back home and lives a nice long life.
Well, you used the term, nursing home, and that's what I want to address. Life in a good ALF is not horrible. The daily struggle to cook, clean and remember meds is done for you, and friendships there are also possible. Good ALFs will provide social events and field trips, and often libraries provide shut in service to them. And, family members can take you out from time to time, to eat or to participate in a holiday. So, for someone with declining vitality, the routine and quiet life can be OK in a good ALF.
LTCs are more like nursing homes, in that their residents have needs that must be met with more care. They can be depressing, but they can also be safe, and calm for people who simply cannot take even basic care of themselves.
Memory care facilities or units provide a higher level of security and calmness for people with severe dementia.
It is true that one's independence is curtailed, even in an ALF, but the trade off is safety. Residents are monitored and 911 can be called quickly because residents are not likely to be left unchecked for hours on end. And, once you enter the doors of an ALF, residents are safe from burglary and assault.
I know there are lousy facilities of every sort, and if you encounter one, report them to the state governing board. Don't place your loved ones there, or if you do, get them out pronto. I also admit that getting good care can be expensive. It can deplete savings pretty fast. I also admit that the staff is not paid well, and there is often turnover in the facilities. These places are not paradise.
But for some they are a good solution. And the old memory of "old folks' homes" is not relevant now. There are better alternatives. It is often up to the family to find the better places and figure out how to finance placement, if necessary. This not an easy assignment.
Sadly my former college roommate is the Assistant Director at that local senior citizen center and also works directly with the MOW organization. She was the one who informed us. They have already been cut to the bone with local funds so the federal money is a main support, besides donations from other sources which are not as reliable.
You are right that MOW is not a federal program but has been included in federal funding for community organizations for years in this location.
The main issue is not paying for the meals - that we could help out with. The problem was due to the lack of funds the meals became inedible with the lack of funding (my parents were nearby in another county where that happened). The people who can afford it (luckily including my parents) went the "private" route, paying a local 5-star senior living facility who also delivered. We will look into that possibility for my family member but I feel sorry for the others. Guess we will have to wait and see - no sense worrying quite yet.
You do know that the funds that are in question only make up 3.3 percent of the operational expenses of MOWs, though, right?
There are other state and federal grants and sources that may add to the budget of various local MOWs (as well as, of course, local donations from private entities and individuals) but the only federal funds in question by the current administration are the ones that comprise 3.3 percent of the MOW budget.
Well, you used the term, nursing home, and that's what I want to address. Life in a good ALF is not horrible. The daily struggle to cook, clean and remember meds is done for you, and friendships there are also possible. Good ALFs will provide social events and field trips, and often libraries provide shut in service to them. And, family members can take you out from time to time, to eat or to participate in a holiday. So, for someone with declining vitality, the routine and quiet life can be OK in a good ALF.
LTCs are more like nursing homes, in that their residents have needs that must be met with more care. They can be depressing, but they can also be safe, and calm for people who simply cannot take even basic care of themselves.
Memory care facilities or units provide a higher level of security and calmness for people with severe dementia.
It is true that one's independence is curtailed, even in an ALF, but the trade off is safety. Residents are monitored and 911 can be called quickly because residents are not likely to be left unchecked for hours on end. And, once you enter the doors of an ALF, residents are safe from burglary and assault.
I know there are lousy facilities of every sort, and if you encounter one, report them to the state governing board. Don't place your loved ones there, or if you do, get them out pronto. I also admit that getting good care can be expensive. It can deplete savings pretty fast. I also admit that the staff is not paid well, and there is often turnover in the facilities. These places are not paradise.
But for some they are a good solution. And the old memory of "old folks' homes" is not relevant now. There are better alternatives. It is often up to the family to find the better places and figure out how to finance placement, if necessary. This not an easy assignment.
A lot of times Assisted Living is thrown about casually as an option.
Medicaid *in general* will not pay for the Room and Board (i.e. rent and food) portion of an assisted living facility. They might pay for some of the services, if they are medically oriented and would pay for those same services in the person's HOME.
So in order to go to an ALF, the person (or their family) has to be able to pay for it. For many places, that can be $3000+ a month. (Cheaper than a SNF (nursing home in the old language) but not "cheap"). There are many places that require a very expensive buy-in (which may be totally or partially refundable to the patient's family when the patient is no longer living in the ALF)
Selling the family home may provide sufficient costs, or not, depending on worth of home/whether it was paid off/ etc..
We have a caregiver come 2x a week, 4 hours each time (so 8 hours a week) to keep my MIL company, take her to doc appointments or to lunch or to drug store or whatever while I'm working. It gets her out of the house seeing people even if it's people at the drug store or the sandwich shop.
Here in Atlanta, this is $19/hour. Plus mileage.
$19 x 8 hours a week x 52 weeks a year is $7,904 annually. Not including mileage. Not including the cost of meals. And that's only 8 hours a week. And this isn't even a nurse, it's a CNA-level practitioner.
Even if the rate was cheaper with a "freelance CNA", like $12/hour, this would still be $4,608.
My MIL is OK with paying for her 8 hours of time a week because it is a temporary situation while she is staying here for medical treatment and she wants me to have the focus to work. She not OK paying these rates permanently at home.
Then, there is a ton of coordination with the caregiver. They have doc appts and sick kids and a life as well and many times I've been called in the morning on the day of service and told the caregiver couldn't be there but so and so will come but they can't get there until such and such a time. Etc Etc. My MIL would not be able to have these kinds of communications herself if she was expecting a home care person to come in. And what if she had a doc appt that morning to get to and was depending on that person to arrive at a certain time?
Look. staying in one's home is great for people who have $ to pay what it really costs to do so. I don't think people really understand the costs. And for people who are social, like my MIL and my dad, being a prisoner in your own home isn't great either.
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