A Workable Alternative To Nursing Homes In Vermont -- Adult Family Care

[demmiblue]

As baby boomers age and the workforce shrinks, there may not be enough people or money to care for all our elders, especially those with medical needs. In many ways, that reality has already arrived in Vermont.

A small but growing number of Vermont families are easing the burden by opening their homes to elderly strangers who need a lot of care.

Robert Bousquet didn't need to be in the hospital, but he was stuck there anyway — for two months — earlier this year. "It was a nightmare. I've never cried so much in my life," said Bousquet's wife, Joan Bousquet. "I would leave him to go home, and sob all the way home."

It was a nightmare. I've never cried so much in my life. I would leave him to go home, and sob all the way home.

Robert has Alzheimer's. Joan brought him to the hospital dehydrated, with a bladder infection: he had been refusing to bathe or eat. The hospital treated him quickly. But Joan felt she couldn't care for him at home any longer. And, she said, none of the many nursing homes in driving distance of their rural Vermont home would take him.

Robert qualifies for Medicaid for long term care. But Medicaid doesn't pay enough to cover the costs of high needs patients, like those with dementia, or behavioral problems. That's why it took a caseworker two months of daily inquiries to find a Vermont nursing home that would take him.

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/27/712240801/a-workable-alternative-to-nursing-homes-in-vermont-adult-family-care?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20190427

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. There's a very similar system in Arizona.

Licensed facilities that are essentially someone's home with four or five bedrooms, appropriate staff, and usually quite good care. I've known of people who have spent the last several years of their lives in such places, and they were quite good.

I guess these are very small nursing homes, and they seem to make sense.