My mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My father, her spouse, has unfortunately has passed away due to stroke. We have placed my mom in memory care as she is unable to live alone. She frequently wanders and is unable to manage medications or money. Her funds from her savings account are dwindling quickly. Other than social security income, she has no other assets and my father did not either. We have applied for Medicaid with assistance of the memory care facility. We were told the next step would be a physical assessment to determine her eligibility that focuses on her ability to do activities of daily living. My concern is if she even would qualify for Medicaid then because she is able to complete most of her ADLs with supervision. One of main reasons we decided on Memory Care was because she is not able to stay home alone due to her cognitive decline, wandering and aggression. We are not able to stay home with her due to our work schedules. Would that even qualify her for Medicaid due to her dementia diagnosis and wandering or is eligibility based solely on ability to do ADLs? Just looking for more information on this Medicaid assessment process in Florida.
I'm not sure we here on this forum can answer your question. The doctors and facility have their own criteria they follow.
A few years ago my 100-yr old Aunt with advanced dementia got up out of bed, forgetting she can't walk unattended, and fell in her own home and broke her hip. We passed on surgery and I was in the process of finding her facility care (in south FL) and was sweating whether she'd qualify for LTC or not since she was still even in the rehab attempting to get out of bed. She passes away in the rehab facility on the morning she was due to have her assessment, so I never got to know the answer.
You may want to consider a faith-based facility where they see care as a mission, not a business model (my MIL is in this type of LTC facility here in MN and receives stellar care). I feel for you... I hope it works out for her!
bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring (getting in and out of bed or chair), eating, and continence.
My Mom needed help with dressing, bathing, and incontinence. She could feed herself. I remember no physical assessment. Her neurologist signed off she needed care. She went from an AL into LTC. Already being in MC shows she cannot be on her own. And you can't be forced to care for her.