A rant

Arlene here - I find myself disturbed that Kaiser is now trying to find a nursing home for Bill when he's nowhere near reaching the goals they established a couple of weeks ago.  He can't sit for 3 hours, he can barely sit for 3 minutes. He's not swallowing yet. He's horribly underweight.  They haven't done much physical therapy, so he's getting weaker by the day and his hands are becoming more inflexible.  It seems to me the hospital should meet those goals before sending him to a nursing home, although the one reason I can think of to do so is that there could be less chance of infection.

Furthermore, once he's in a nursing home vs the hospital, the benefits clock starts ticking. While he's in the hospital he is fully covered, but once he's out, he's got, I think, 100 days of coverage or partial coverage. I assume he's then on his own. He is not on Medicare because he was teaching full time until he got sick; I was told his coverage is through the colleges' insurance.

As others have mentioned, there isn't one oversight person coordinating his care. The rotations have meant that he's had many different doctors.  We get different messages from different people.  Frustrating to say the least.  Some nurses have been magnificent, others not so much, which is frightening when we're unable to have someone there for long stretches.  No one seems to understand why he's lost 40  - 40! - pounds.

We have not yet been given a full explanation telling us why he has to be in an L.A. nursing home.  It can take up to 2 hours to get to Los Angeles from Claremont depending on the traffic.  Friends and colleagues can rarely take the time to visit him there.  He can't be transported 3x a week for dialysis in his current condition,  --- another reason to stay until he has gained some weight and some strength, although they're talking to Abigail (4 different case workers have talked to her) about finding a place that has in-house dialysis.  Kaiser does not contract with the best places around here -- Casa Colina for rehab, or Pilgrim Place for nursing care.  There seem to be very few contract places between here and the area where Kris lives.

I've been a fan of Kaiser for a very long time, even chose to pay for it on my own before my workplace offered it, but I'm finding myself feeling frustrated and upset with them.