Tim was sent home with a manual wheel chair & enough medical supplies for a single weekend. He was given orders for a trapeze, a hoyer lift & a hospital bed which was not delivered for weeks. Luckily, Rose had been a nurse for over 20 years & could not continue working due to the amount of care Tim needed. The home health services approved were only a couple of visits by support staff, who took note of their needs, but were slow to deliver due to the complexities and conditions surrounding his accident.
Rose, even with her expertise in healthcare, soon realized the biggest problem was that the hospital and support staff did not properly prepare her, as Tim's caregiver, with the tools & resources necessary to be successful in his recovery & aftercare. She felt that hospital was lacking in direction, support & available affiliations to organizations who could provide adequate support for patients & their caregivers when recovering in home with catastrophic injuries.
After 7 long months – 3 at home, 7 since the accident– with the mounting pressure of personal bills, mortgage payments, copays, & medical supplies costs (not covered by insurance) they had gone through their savings when they were connected to the Veteran’s Health Administration (VA) through a local affiliation. Even though Tim is a Veteran with almost 10 years of service, he had never had the need to call upon the services of the VA healthcare system & their help from the start could have saved them thousands.