Hi, I'm Clayton Vandiver, your Lightkeeper, and
this summer we have a special treat for you.
It's called Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts. That's
not a new clothing line, but that's a great idea.
Actually, it's short episodes under 10 minutes
long of our most popular Lightkeepers Podcast
episodes. This is part two. Enjoy. Welcome to
the Light Keepers podcast. I'm Clayton Vandiver,
your Light Keeper, 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 Light
Keepers Podcast. What resources? A few weeks
ago we were talking about vetting and investigating
the professionals that are working with you to
make sure that they're reputable and not witch
doctors. That was an interesting episode. I'm
wondering, is there a way to vet or investigate
these sort of facilities ahead of time before
you send a loved one there or before you go there
yourself? Absolutely. And provided this is a
situation that you have some control over, I
would absolutely recommend checking out any facility.
And I know I'm going to upset a lot of facility
employees when I say this. Make sure you take
a tour of the facility. Lay eyes on the facility,
but don't let them know you're coming. Okay,
so an unannounced visit is a good thing. Unannounced
visit is a good thing. Otherwise, they're going
to have the staff on their best behavior, and
they're going to have things nice and neat and
clean. And for some facilities, that may be the
normal. Hi, Wizzy. For other facilities, that
may not be. One of our cats checking in to make
sure we're covering all of this information for
you. I'm curious, is there a central website
with any rankings or ratings that folks could
be referred to? So Medicare does have a system.
The U .S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
also known as CMS. So if you hear me say CMS,
that's the Center for Medicare and Medicaid.
They have a five -star quality rating system
that can be researched online. And basically
what they do is they have these facilities rated.
Thank you. They have these facilities rated according
to Medicare standards. And they have those ratings
online where people can research them and look
at them. But I wouldn't recommend stopping there.
I would also recommend looking at reviews. Reviews
are important, keeping in mind, of course, that
there are some people that will complain about
anything and everything. So take those reviews
with a grain of salt. Fair enough. But reviews
are important because these are normally left
by people who have had firsthand experience.
Sure. And, of course, word of mouth. If you know
someone who's had personal experience, that's
going to be important also. Well now a few years
ago in the state of Florida there was an agency
of the Department of Elder Affairs and they were
called the Ombudsman. That group actually went
to facilities like this, nursing homes, skilled
nursing facilities, and they did surprise visits.
They rated them, not raided, but rated them on
their performance and cleanliness and so forth.
And they really did help these facilities to
maintain standards and to do a really good job
in the state of Florida. Are they still doing
what they used to do? Because I haven't heard
of them in a very long time. So that can vary
from state to state as funding varies. That is
definitely something that I would encourage someone
to look into with their own state's Department
of Elder Affairs, which is a good thing to look
into anyway because you may want to have that
information in case you need an advocate working
with the nursing home. Nursing home care is important
to have for those that need it. But in a lot
of cases, home is going to be the best option
if it's at all possible. Definitely something
you would want to look into for the homes in
your area. Well, I appreciate that. Oh, and I
should introduce Isabelle. She's been in a few
of our episodes so far, but this is her first
time on camera. I guess we call her the therapy
cat around the house because she knows that whenever
we're working hard, she needs to be there to
help us out and help us stay stress -free and
cool, calm, and collected. So this is Isabelle.
She likes to be in the middle of everything.
And, you know, it's something we probably should
do an episode about at some point because animals
play such an absolutely, you know, pets are a
great part of the family and they play a really
important role. Absolutely. In reducing stress,
in making life better. There are so many studies.
There are a lot of studies that show the benefit
of pet ownership, having those furry, feathered,
or scaled family members. Absolutely. They have
a lot of benefits to our personal health, to
our emotional health. It's good to do for them.
There are so many animals out there that need
a family and need a home, and I'm glad she can
be a part of ours. She looks great on camera,
let me tell you. So we know we're going to the
hospital, and what is a typical stay for the
patient from admission to discharge, the entire
process, before they ever get? Since we're talking
about levels of care, that's really where the
care often starts. It is where the care often
starts, and that's something that is a topic
that we really don't have time to get into today
because there's a lot of great information that
needs to be shared about that, starting with
going to the hospital, how you get there, whether
you're a trauma call or... or a walk -in admission,
so to speak. We don't have time to get into all
of that here today, but definitely something
we should cover. Well, I'll tell you what. Why
don't we make that our next episode for our listeners
and our viewers? Because the hospital stay really
is the first point of contact with the system
for a lot of people when we're talking about
levels of care and how to pay for them. Like
you said, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance.
Which of these pays for some of these facilities
we're talking about again? So Medicare and Medicaid
will pay for rehab if you have to go to a skilled
nursing facility. It will not pay anything towards
assisted living, independent living, and nothing
towards skilled nursing residential. And a lot
of people balk at that when I tell them. I've
had people get angry with me and say, you know,
they've paid into the system all their lives.
And that may be, but unfortunately it's important
to note that asking Medicare to pay for someone
to live in a skilled nursing facility would be
kind of like asking them to pay for your mortgage.
It's not what you've paid into it for. Ah, I
see. I see. The Light Keepers Podcast is an exclusive
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time.