It's Better than the Alternative...

Well, speaking of nursing homes. I live in OKC...there's tons of places to choose from. However, there's only ONE in this whole town that hospital/nursing home staffers would allow their loved one to use. ONE. That's it. So, not knowing this, I chose a home close to where I live that is very, very nice.
One of the first things you will have to do is fill out reams of paperwork. Worse than buying a house. Medicare, Medicaid, Governmental yada-yada. Not to mention the home's own paperwork. I took home a "packet" (read 200 pages of gobbledy-gook) to fill out. Once that's done, the home should apply for you to Medicare. Now, one thing to be aware of is that Medicare has a limit on the number of days they will pay for. That's somewhere between 90 days and 120 days. This is a LIFETIME limit. So, if you expect to get help for this, look to Medicaid. They WILL pay, but with deductibles, depending on income. I ended up somehow responsible for this, even though it was (loosely) based on my dad's income. Since he still lived at home, his income was only partially counted in the unknown formula used by Medicaid.
All the while, I am now not only taking care of Daddy at his house, but going for visits to Mom.
This home, while somewhat prestgious, was a eye-opener. Mother wasn't very happy there, and had the bad luck to enter the place just as a MRSA was making the rounds. She got the infection and was transferred to another wing. They plied her with antibiotics (extremely strong) and then had to do it all over again. Horrid. These mess with everything and leave the recipient very weak. I thought she was gone right there.
Once, my aunt went to see her about 7:30 one Sunday evening. The home had served dinner at 4:30 pm. My mother still had the tray in front of her, cold food...asleep...with food in her mouth. She could have choked! Not one person had checked on her in over 3 hours.
Not only could she have choked, she also had not received the potassium and other medications required. Monday morning, she was sent to the ER. Nearly died there, too. Spent an extended time in the hospital.
This was only the beginning. Bedsores, lack of medication on time, unclean bed, unclean mouth, general neglect. Sad, isn't it? I could go on, but this was one of the BEST places in town. What are the ones that are not like?
Speaking of best...this place was...wait for it...$455 per day. PER DAY. Now, that's at Oklahoma prices, where a new home is available for $150,000-300,000 depending on if you want 1700 square feet or 2200 square feet. What would be the price in New York or California for a place like that? I'm sorry, but nearly $14,000 a month for a two-bed room in a place that ignores you?
No matter, I suppose the alternatives would be worse.