My husband has been moved to a rehab facility - Part I

[cair124]

We knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but I wasn't fully prepared for this.

It all started on August 6, when his usual power chair lost power twice, and could only be restarted from the main switch in the back. We'd been having issues with the powerbox for months, but the repair facility has done nothing about fixing it. (That's another story). Meanwhile, we were renting a loaner chair, but it didn't have the raise/lower or tilt functions. On August 12th I tried transferring him from the loaner chair to the toilet, only for his knees to buckle and down we both went. Since I'm not strong enough to lift him, we called the EMT's for a lift assist. Once they came, they suggested he go to the hospital at least until Monday when his Medicaid caseworker could figure out what to do. Because his caseworker and the hospital social worker couldn't coordinate very well, he ended up in the hospital for nearly two weeks. Finally, on Thursday the 24th they said he was ok to go home with extra caregiving hours. (He was having a caregiver come in 40 hours a week on weekdays, but no assistance on weekends.) Part of the problem had been his shoes were worn down, so he and his caregiver went and bought new shoes. 

We had thought that would fix the problem, but on Saturday the 26th while transferring from the loaner chair to the toilet, he nearly fell again. Luckily, I was able to get him back into the chair, but we agreed he needed more care than I could give him. He was in the hospital until September 5th when he was transferred to a rehab facility, which is also a long-term care facility.

I have a Care Consult call on Wednesday the 11th, meanwhile, he is almost certain he will not be coming home, and I have to agree. Meanwhile, I still want to get his power chair fully functional, but the repair company told me they can't fix anything as long as he's in the rehab facility. He might be able to come home, even for a little while, if his chair was working properly, but I can't get it fixed until he is home, and he can't come home until the chair is repaired.

We're sending a letter to the Board of the repair company describing everything that's happened and asking what they can do to expedite getting his power chair's powerbox fixed or replaced.