And here you go with part one of the Lightkeepers
podcast shorts. Welcome to the Lightkeepers podcast.
I'm Clayton Vandiver, your lightkeeper, with
a show dedicated to everyone who wants to get
the most quality out of life that they can. My
co -host, as always, Charlene, our very own licensed
clinical social worker, certified in the state
of Florida. Hey, we invite you to join the conversation
this week about different levels of care. and
how to pay for them. And so much more on this
edition of the Lightkeepers Podcast. Before we
start, I'd like to invite you to please leave
your questions or comments below. We always love
to hear from you. Questions this week will be
answered during our next show that appears online
every Wednesday evening at 7 p .m. Eastern. The
Light Keepers podcast is an exclusive production
of A Guiding Light, Inc. We'll tell you more
about A Guiding Light at the end of the podcast.
But since we don't have much time, let's get
right into the conversation. Hi, Charlene. Hello.
Good to have you with us again tonight. Now,
we're talking about different levels of care
and how our listeners and viewers can pay for
them. Before we worry about how to pay for them,
tell us what different levels of care are there?
So there are different levels of care based on
what someone is capable of doing for themselves.
For example, when you have someone who is older,
You can have someone who is independent, meaning
they can take care of themselves. You can have
someone who might need a little bit of assistance.
And if this is someone who can't live on their
own, this is someone who would be appropriate
for what's called an assisted living facility.
Someone who is appropriate for an assisted living
facility is still someone who can Get up on their
own meaning, you know, they're able to get out
of bed Maybe they need a little bit of help walking
maybe with a walker Or maybe even with with a
wheelchair, but they're able to get themselves
in and out of the wheelchair on their own Now
if you have someone who needs more assistance
than that This is someone who would most likely
be best served in what's called a skilled nursing
facility, which some people know of as a nursing
home. Or depending on what part of the country
you live in, could also be known as an old folks
home. This is a facility where someone goes that...
Really needs a lot of help taking care of themselves.
Maybe they can't get out of bed on their own
Maybe they can't get out of bed at all You know,
they're not able to dress themselves by themselves.
They're not able to maybe they're not even able
to feed themselves Well, that sort of gets into
what I was going to ask what What really determines
the level of care that you'll be receiving? I
mean what qualifies you? So someone's own physical
health really makes the determination, but a
lot of times this level is decided by the medical
community. For example, if someone goes to the
hospital with an injury or with an illness, the
hospital may discharge them into a skilled nursing
facility for rehab and The discharging physician
determines what level of care they need Now I
have also seen some situations where a doctor
has made the decision that this person is no
longer safe to care for themselves at home and
therefore they need to be discharged to live
in a nursing home or a skilled nursing facility.
While this is something that I would like to
discuss in greater detail in a later show, I
will take a moment to point out that while a
doctor may make that recommendation, ultimately
it is up to the family. So if the family decides
that they have adequate care at home, then they
can still take that person home. But it would
be the medical professionals decision that they
need the level of care that they they do whether
it's provided at home or in a facility. Well
isn't all of this taken care of by Medicare,
Medicaid or some private insurance as far as
paying? So rehab is taken care of by Medicare
and private insurance. However, those resources
are very limited. Once you've received X amount
of rehab, then it no longer pays for it. And
at that point, at that point the person is either
discharged from the skilled nursing facility
and they're able to go back home or... Depending
on where their new normal is what they're now
able to do for themselves They may need that
higher level of care on a permanent basis at
which case it's either up to the individual to
pay for it Or That's where you would really get
into the situation of having to look at how to
finance that Facility or how to set up that care
at home if your family cannot provide it now
do people ever have control over these levels
of care and choosing what's right for them, or
is it always in the hands of a professional to
choose for you? Usually it is in the hands of
the professional and you may have a say in it,
but that may not ultimately be the final decision.
For example, say you have a loved one that needs
to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility.
That individual may only want to go to facility
X or facility Y If facility X and Y don't have
beds available the hospital is not going to continue
to hold them They're going to discharge them
to the first place that has a bed available And
that may not be facility X or Y It may not even
be a facility in the same town may not even be
in the same state really yes, so they could actually
be sending a loved one off somewhere. What control
does the family have in that situation? Unfortunately,
none. Really? They can either take their loved
one home and do whatever is needed to provide
care at home or they are left to the mercy of
whatever facility has a bed available. Unfortunately,
for example, at the height of COVID, There were
no spaces and facilities and at the time I was
working in the hospital setting and we had patients
that were being discharged to other parts of
the state and sometimes even out of state because
that was the closest place we could find that
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