Medicaid will only pay for so much. In the place where I was supposed to do my Pediatric clinicals (but didn’t…long story) they told us that even for a medically fragile child on a ventilator for life, Medicaid would not pay for 24 hour nursing care 7 days a week. They’ll pay for, IIRC, 16 hours a day 6 days a week…leaving quite a gap for parents to cover or learn how to care for the patient themselves (and when do they sleep?).
I don’t know how it is for adults living alone, but I wouldn’t assume that Medicare/aid will cover all care, even for those who most need it. Most of them end up in nursing homes instead of being able to live at home.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re abusing the system either, copperwindow. Yes, it would be wonderful if you didn’t have to call EMS “often”, but I don’t think asking you to restrict your life to air conditioning and never traveling is going to do much for your mental health *or *your physical health. Do what you can, and definitely check out the local resources before you travel like you are here, but don’t let yourself become housebound. Will you die eventually because of overexertion? Quite possibly. But, as you said, you could die eventually just from falling out of bed. As could any of us. Live life while you’ve got it!
I’ve mentioned before that I work First Aid at camping festivals. We always have an MS patient or two, and a few regulars with pretty severe CP (one of whom has voluntary muscle control of only her eyeballs, so is completely wheelchair bound and does have private - but unskilled (not nurses) - help 24/7), not to mention a slew of people with heart problems, diabetes, etc. We appreciate a heads up at First Aid so if something *does *happen to you, we have a good guess of where to start looking for the problem, but we certainly want you to enjoy your stay and do everything you can possibly do.
I’m highly in favor of quality of life, even if that shortens the duration of it.
There’s a VNA who is very unreliable. They used to come to my house every week to inject me with my medication, and then one day, stopped. I am not going to move out of Vermont, I love it here way too much, even if the winters and summers can be so brutal. There used to be support groups where I live, but I didn’t get much help out of them. They consisted of people in their 70s and 80s who needed to have their caregivers learn how to pick them up after they fell, No one was able to ride a bike. When I am overheated and cannot move, that is as you referred to it as a “real emergency”. If someone else is having a stroke, I’m assuming 911 dispatch would give them priority if there were a shortage of ambulances.
I normally agree with WhyNot, but here I’m afraid I don’t. I’m not suggesting that Copperwindow should be housebound or only stay where there’s air conditioning, merely that if he finds that cycling 50 miles in extreme heat leaves him in need of emergency medical treatment, that cycling 30 miles might be more advisable when it’s hot. I have no disability whatsoever and I’m think that cycling 50 miles in 90 degrees would likely leave me in need of an ambulance too, so I won’t actually do it.
He has said himself that he gets a sense of achievement out of cycling long distances, and that he often realises conditions are too hot but carries on because he “hopes that it will get cooler”. I’m just trying to suggest that when he realises it’s hot he takes a shorter ride.
[QUOTE=copperwindow]
When I am overheated and cannot move, that is as you referred to it as a “real emergency”. If someone else is having a stroke, I’m assuming 911 dispatch would give them priority if there were a shortage of ambulances.
[/QUOTE]
The dispatchers have limited information to go on - only what they are told by the person making the call, usually someone with no medical knowledge and who doesn’t necessarily know the patient. If you are having a genuine medical emergency (self-induced or not) you may be prioritized above the stroke, heart attack, head injury or any other victim of circumstance.