Feb. 13th, 2010

Thank you everyone for being on the phone call this morning. Today, Ken and I were on a voyage of discovery. We spent a good deal of time with GGPA at Virgina Mason, met with his team of Doctor's and then shared some laughs. While waiting for the the Social Worker to show up, Grandad managed to suggest his roomate was a lesbian, and then later suggest he was Mahatma Ghandi - probably a common mistake this fellow faces day to day. Many laughs ensued.

Once the Social Worker showed up we found out that Grandad is at Virginia Mason under an "Observation" appointment, as oppossed to an "Acute" status. What this means, benefit-wise, is that he is not eligible for Rehabilitative care under Medicare, because he must have been in an "Acute" status to be eligible.

We also shared with the Social Worker that he has a User ID in the DSHS system, and she seemed to think that this was a big discovery, potentially that he has already been vetted by the system and may be eligible for Rehabilitation servies under DSHS without too many hoops to jump through. Still, she could not confirm what he was eiligible for because it was the weekend and we cannot confirm anything until Monday. So, the more we learn, the less we know.

Ken, Owen, and I went to two Rehab facilities tonight to check them out - one in Bellevue and one in Lynnwood. We agreed that the one in Lynnwood was the better facility (but not by much, they both seemed very nice) for Grandad, and there is a possibility that he could have his own room depending on the benefits.

Ken, Owen and I will go to the Peter's Creek Assisted Living Facility tommorow as well as one additional Rehabilitation facility for tours tommorow to take a look.

The big picture is that Monday is a critical day to determine what GGPA's DSHS eligibility is, and where we want him to go. Monday should prove to be a challenging day because GGPA will probably be released from Virgina Mason on Monday and we need to have a place for him to go, but we will not know what his benefits will allow until Monday.

The learning curve is steep, but we are trying to navigate it as best we can.