PLEASE HELP/ADVISE INDIANAPOLIS, IN, NEED TO MOVE BROTHER FROM NURSING HOME FACILITY TO REHAB

My 42 year old brother was injured in a fall on August 10, C6-C7 possible complete, he has very limited use of left arm and hand and less of right. At the time of injury he was layed of from job did not have insurance was taken to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis for surgery and acute care. There are just two of us and our two sons left in our family and when he was admitted he told them that he did not have any family because he did not want me to be burdened. I did not find out about his injury until two weeks ago on or about March 30. On September 29 my brother was moved to a nursing home facility adjacent to the hosiptal (Lockefield Village) that cares for primarily geriatric patients. He has not seen a physiatrist, nuerologist, nuerosurgeon or any other doctor for follow up care for his SCI but he has seen the nurse practitioners. He has not had any range of motion for his lower body and no range of motion or PT/OC for 2 months. This facility is not experienced in or able to SCI rehab. Since he did not have insurance at the time of his injury he is on Medicaid. Up until a few weeks ago he was heavily medicated and had not been out of bed in a few months. Another concern is the lack of training that they have transferring him from bed to a wheelchair they use a sheet to transer him even though they have a special lift. He has been dropped once.Can you advise us of a rehab hospital in or around Indianpolis that he could be moved to as soon as possible that will accept Medicaid, he is ready and willing to do whatever rehab necessary to get him up to his full potential. Right now we are waiting for copies of all of his hospital records from the time he was admitted with the injury to present because I can't get any doctor to go over the extent of his injuries with both of us, there wasn't even a doctor at the care plan meeting last week. I've spent a week reading the info on this site and it is truly pricless. Thank you for any help or information that you may have.
Peggy

[Mombo]

Hi Peggy, welcome to the best sci website you will find! I'm so sorry to hear about your brother, I am on the West Coast and not familiar with your area, but give this site some time and someone will advise you! Don't give up and tell your brother to hang in there, it does get better and this site will help you thru the nightmare!

[SCI-Nurse]

The only facility I have any knowledge about in Indiana is the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana. There are no CARF accredited Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Systems of Care in Indiana, or Comprehensive Integrated Inpatient Rehabilitation programs either, but some centers choose not to be CARF accredited. I don't have any personal knowledge about whether or not RHI takes Medicaid or not, but this would be a good place to start. Years ago when I was in Chicago the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago used to take Indiana Medicaid patients, but I am not sure if that is the case anymore.

Please keep in touch here and let us know how he is doing. It is a tragedy to send someone to a SNF without any rehab like this.

(KLD)

Thank you for your response, I'm going to call both places this morning to see what the next step is. I guess my next question is how do I coordinate this from the facility that my brother is at now. At the care plan meeting I told them that a rehab hospital would probable be the best place for him and they agreed. Then I asked about his case worked and was told that the one that has been managing his case was a student and is graduating so she could not help with possible getting him moved and I was introduced to the new trainee who will be his case worker and he told me that he will be in training for several weeks before he could try to get find what would need to be done to move my brother. I have already spoke with the patient advocate and she sat in on this care plan meeting and got all the same info that I did. Can you tell me where I can get some kind of advocacy help outside of this facility to help me get this ball rolling. I want him moved to where he can the rehab he needs. Thank you so much for you time and advise.

[SCI-Nurse]

Peggy, call both the rehab facilities that we mentioned and ask to speak to their admissions office. They should help you and there is little that the referring SNF would need to do other than send his records. He will need to sign a consent for them to do this.

Meanwhile be sure to get the paperwork needed to send records from his initial acute hospitalization, including Xrays. That hospital will have a form (which they can fax to you) and he will need to sign it and then fax it back. Ask to have the records sent directly to the rehab facilities as this usually precludes large fees that you might have to pay to get copies personally for you or your brother.

(KLD)

KDL, Thank you again, I spoke with admissions at RHI today and with a nurse liasone, she is going to try to get over to interview my brother tomorrow and review his case to see if he would be able to transfer to RHI in Indianapolis and she said they do accept Medicaid patients.Alot will depend on the care that he had received so far at acute care.

[kate]

Hi, Peggy--

I'm really sorry about your brother's injury, and very glad that you found us so quickly. Please use the forums to ask any questions you have; there's a lot of knowledge here! We are a diverse bunch, including nurses, people with SCI, families of people with SCI, and of course Dr. Young, who is one of the many people working to cure SCI.

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain

Hi Kate,
Thank you for your support. I have been thinking alot about something that I would like to have everyones input on please. My brother is 42 I am 45 he has a 7 yr son who lives with his maternal grandmothe I have a 23 yr old not living at home, I work full time 8-10 hrs per day, 5-6 days per week. When all of the rehab that we hope to get is done I do not want my brother to spend the rest of his life in a nursing home, I would like to bring him home to live with me, but with all of the care that he will need and even if we can get a waiver and Medicaid to pay for home health care to come in while I'm at work, I don't know that I can do all that he needs done at home. He has such limited use of his left arm, right now the nurses are cathing him every 4 hours, he has alot of bowel problems and is on so many pain meds and many othe meds. I cannot afford to pay for additional help to come in and stay with him. He has had many AD scares. I really want him at home so that he can have he can actually feel that he has a home, but I don't how to begin to manage with just me. Can anyone give me some idea? Thank you so much.

Hi,
It's me Peggy again I got a bit more info about his injury I now believe that it is C5 complete with C6-C7 spinal fusion. I don't understand that much better because I still haven't been able to speak with a doctor but some of you might know more what that means.
Thank you.

[kate]

Peggy, I think at this point it would be very hard to know how independent your brother will be--which means, maybe, that you ought to wait until he's been evaluated by the experts and had a little time to do real rehab before trying to figure out all the details of what comes next.

There are a lot of people on these boards--even C5s-- who manage very well on their own; it takes a while to get there, but it can be done. I guess I'm trying to say that even though his injury is 8 months old, he's at the very, very beginning of knowing what he'll be able to do.

I know this because I'm married to a guy with a C6 injury, sustained in 2001. He had the very best care and spent 3 months in a great hospital with a fully equipped rehab floor . . . and still he came home unable to sit up unassisted, take care of his own personal needs, push his own wheelchair--Lord.

I don't even want to think about where he would have been if he'd had to spend his first months in a nursing home, with nobody around who even knew how to range of motion. As it was, with lots of help from me, and an attendant every morning for the first month, it STILL took the better part of the first year to come back to some semblance of a normal life.

Things will be different from the way they look now, you can depend on that. Just take it slow, and try to be with him as much as you can. You'll know what to do when it's time.

God bless--
kate

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain

[rosewilo]

Peggy:
I am from the Indianapolis area and joined due to my brother-in-law's injury. He and my sister live in Virginia- so unfortunately I cannot be of assistance in regards to rehabs in this area. Send your postings to the Caregiver forum - this is where you may have some luck with others that live in the area and know of some sure resources. If you would like to e-mail me personally please feel free to do so.

You may also want to contact the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation- I beleive that it is head quartered in Indy. I don't have the specifics of what the foundation is offering, however I do know that there is an event in May for spinal cord injury patients and their families, as well as others with disabilities. The foundation's website is not completed- if you need the contact number here it goes: (317) 236-9999.

The Care Cure Community is a wonderful source of support and information. Best wishes and I hope to hear from you.

Rose

[duge]

Sorry, can't help. They sent me to Kentucky, and I never got any spinal cord rehab. The hospital missed my Burst fracture so they just wanted me out of all their facilities. Surly has to be someplace in Indianaoplis.

Let us know how he get's along

I'm from Mitchell

Doug

Rose,
Thank you for your support and for the info I will contact them right away. I'll keep in touch.

Doug,
Thank you for your response. I'm sorry that you didn't find the care that you deserved, I know that you can understand my frustration at this time.I'm still battling the system for my brother I don't know if I will get anywhere or not I just keep praying. I'll keep in touch.

[taj2002]

Peggy,

I live in Carmel, IN. My husband is a C4 quad, injured 7-14-2002. There are really only 2 games in town for SCI rehah. One is RHI (Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana) on the west side of Indy and the other is Hook Rehabilitaion Center on the east side. Hook rehab is associated with Community Hospitals. I don't know the Medicaid status of either. I would certainly start with RHI as I know another Medicaid patient that was going to be transferred there but he was vent dependant and it ultimately did not work out for him. He eventually had to be treated in Ohio because he could not find a Medicaid facility in Indy that could handle his vent.

My husband did his inpatient rehab at Craig Hospital in CO, but he has done some outpatient work at RHI since he returned home in April of 2003. I can also recommend and "not" recommend various doctors in the area as we have been through several, some good, some bad. Please contact me if you want additional information. I have lots of resources and information that might be useful to you. At a C6-C7 level, your brother has potential to accomplish may things, but the facility you describe sounds terrible. I could also put you in touch with this family who worked the Medicaid system in Indiana. E-mail me at tajathome2002@yahoo.com if you would like to get in contact with me.

It is great that you have stepped up to help your brother. I know from experience that he needs his family at this time in his life.

Trish