Expert: Michalene Peticca - 1/9/2012

Question
Michalene, my 78 yr old mother is about midway thru Alzheimer's disease. She currently lives alone and we children try to visit her several times each week and run errands for her and take her to doctor appts. Obviously, she'll soon need full time attention and we don't know what to do. She is on Medicare. Between Social Security and retirement income, she brings in approx 2300 per month. How do we go about finding a place that will care for her on a limited income? I have no idea where to start. Maybe for now a daily nurse and/or aide visit is sufficient. I'd appreciate your opinion. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Ed,

Thank you for writing.  I'm sure you and your family are doing a wonderful job taking care of your mom.

Here are some options to think about with her care:  

1.  As long as she is safe in her house (she won't walk away or leave the stove on, etc.)....having a visiting caregiver come in is a great choice.  She will have to pay privately for those costs, but they are far less than a nursing home.  

 2.  Is there a local Adult day center (there are ones specific for Alzheimer's folks) located in your area that she could attend throughout the day?  Again, this is private pay...but most will allow her to stay 8 hrs., provide meals/snacks/nursing assistants for about $55 a day.

 3.  Personal care homes are private pay only.  They generally cost over $4,000 a month.

 4.  Assisted living may accept Medical assistance (i'm not sure if TX allows this)

 5.  Skilled nursing homes accept Medical assistance

My suggestion is to start at your local Office of Aging (look under your local gov't in the Yellow pages or on Internet) and go visit them.   They will have all the resources available to your mom in the area.

I wish you the best and just take it one step at a time!

Best Regards,

Michalene Peticca, MA