Why Can’t Kidney Patient Get Care Close to Home?
Why Can’t Kidney Patient Get Care Close to Home?
Editor,
I write this letter in hopes that this will help some other family at some time or another.
My best friend has been hospitalized for over a month. She suffers from renal failure and a myriad of other issues. She was in dire need of a rehab for approximately four weeks for physical and occupational therapy. Her goal is to return to her home.
My friend was born and raised in San Benito County and has worked all her life here. The majority of her family resides here. It would have been nice to get her placed at either Southside Mabie Skilled Nursing or Northside Hospital.
I thought if she could get to Hollister, she could have increased visits plus the emotional support she so needs to recuperate.
From the get-go it was an all uphill battle. The discharge planner at the facility where my friend is at said both Southside and Northside would not even look at her application because she is a kidney patient. The discharge planner suggested that friends and family make phone calls to see if they could be persuaded to give my friend’s application a second look.
I called the hospital administrator and the director of nursing, who assured me they would look at it. Both were very nice.
Apparently the issue was that my friend would need transportation to and from South County Dialysis. South County Dialysis arranged transportation with Jovenes de Antaño and fixed her schedule for dialysis to accommodate the hospital.
All was looking good. A few days later my friend got her Medicare approved and she’s pending a decision from Social Security whether or not they will disable her or not. This takes time. She has private insurance also and their representative told the hospital that they would pay for 60 days.
The discharge planner said she received a call from the Northside facility denying my friend because their computers didn’t show her as Medicare eligible. I called the hospital administrator back and he told me he backed up his business office and if they said she doesn’t have Medicare then she didn’t, so I faxed them her Medicare card and current insurance card.
Needless to say this has been very stressful and they were not willing to help at all.
According to one of her physicians, the facilities in Hollister do not know how to deal with kidney patients. So hopefully any of you out there who have family or loved ones who are kidney patients know the importance of good care for them.
I was so disappointed that they would not work with us but at the same time relieved that she will be in a facility that deals with patients on dialysis and will get the good care she so deserves.
Unfortunately her visits will be few and far between, but it’s only temporary.
I have spoken to someone on the hospital board and hopefully this issue will be addressed. It is unfortunate that just because someone is a kidney patient there is no facility in San Benito County that could accommodate them.
There a lot of kidney patients in San Benito County who may or may not at one time need convalescing. This is something to think about.
Kimberly M. Flores
Hollister
