THE DEAL-BREAKER

I visited a lovely nursing home. It had top-notch amenities. As beautiful as the facility was I won't be moving in. It's, not the administrator's fault. It's not the staff's s fault. It's Medicaid's. It's our legislators. It's is the fault of the architects who design long-term care facilities.

Those of us on government assistance are penalized because we are either elderly, disabled, or both.

In 2014 I moved into a long-term care facility I was writing my column for the WEW. I was being paid seventy dollars a month. When my funds ran out, I had no other option but to go on Medicaid.

 I was told I could no longer get paid for my column. The reason? I was on Medicaid. I guess you are not supposed to want to be productive if you reside in a nursing home. Medicaid keeps us at the poverty level. Did the seventy dollars really make that much of a difference to Medicaid in the grand scheme of things?  I doubt it. It did, however, mean everything to me. 

Those of us with disabilities should be allowed to work if we choose to. Our address should not matter. We need more jobs that people with disabilities can do from home.

People who are not on government assistance tell me all the time that there is no shame in receiving government assistance. I should be grateful. I am. However, people not receiving government assistance don't have a clue.

Being on government assistance when you are living in long-term care means sharing a room, It means privacy curtains, it means small bathrooms. It could mean using a bathroom down the hall if the one in the room is not large enough to accommodate the resident's needs. And, if your roommate has visitors, having to find someplace to go until they leave. 

I have one question for the lawmakers of this country. Those of you how passed the legislation regarding Medicaid and nursing homes. "Would you want to live that way?"

Comfort, privacy, and dignity should not be based on a person's ability to pay.  

You might be laughing at this statement now, but when it happens to you, or to someone in your family, you will feel totally different. No one is exempt from the possibility of being on Medicaid. No one is exempt from becoming elderly and disabled.

All nursing homes need large bathrooms with doors. Privacy curtains suck.  Manual chairs, powerchairs, walkers, and lifts require a lot of space. Add an aide to the mix and It can be a really tight squeeze. The need for extra space needs to be factored in when a facility is being designed

Every resident deserves to have a private room. People spend their final years in nursing homes. they might be sick, they might be dying. They need to have their personal things around them. They should not have to face the end of their time on this Earth living in half a room with a stranger.

Wake up, architects and legislators. Privacy and dignity in nursing homes matter. Privacy and dignity should not only be available to those who can pay for them.

That was the deal-breaker.

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