Nursing home care can’t be duplicated

I respond to the May 27 Dispatch article “Funding change threatens nursing care.” The nursing home debate is one that is deeply personal for my family.

We cannot allow the conversation to continue without voicing our own story. We recently moved a family member to a nursing home; his disease has become so debilitating that we had no other options.

Having the ability to choose the facility that is best for our family is paramount. If Medicaid funding for long-term care services and supports is moved to managed care, our options will quickly narrow down and care may no longer meet our needs. A family shouldn’t be forced to put a loved one in a position where they may not receive the professional care and emotional support he or she needs.

Gov. John Kasich’s proposal imposes an experimental program on Ohioans that will move loved ones under in-home care. This option is simply not sustainable for our relative, myself, or my family. Currently, his disease disables him to the point where he cannot perform everyday personal care; we simply don’t have the capacity to meet his 24-hour needs. In a nursing home, my father-in-law’s daily and emergency needs will be looked after.

The 24-hour-care nursing homes provide affords all of us a better quality of life, and offers a reprieve from constant stress and worry of caring for him at home. The service that longterm care facilities offer is essential to families like mine.

If funding is redirected to MyCare, many nursing homes will shut down, and he will likely be forced to move to a facility further from home. The Ohio Senate must protect us and the many families like us. In these tragic and personal situations, we should be able to choose the highest quality of life for ourselves and our loved ones.

Jennifer Gayton Columbus