AN APPEAL FOR SURVIVAL OF MY INDEPENDENCE

Stage II of Getting Maggie Medical Care:

Short version is, I need some funding to get me to the next stage. I need at least $200 for an initial home doctor visit plus $250 for asthma inhalers this month that will not (yet) be covered by insurance plus possibly an unknown amount for PT. It's a dismal time for fundraising, but I am already behind on essentials. It would help if there's someone who wants to handle the fundraising, too, although final decisions have to remain with me.

Long version: I have three options to receiving care through my county medical insurance plan, all of which require an in-clinic visit to get started -- a visit I am not currently physically able to perform without serious help.

(a) Have EMS take me to and from the clinic for my intake visit. Most direct but also most expensive, at least $500 a trip which there is no agency to pay for, I have exhausted all options. This would cover all the items I need, including getting attendant care signed off by an MD, a prescription for PT so I can become mobile in the future, and pain prescriptions.
(b) Hire a Hoyer lift to transfer me to and from my bed, hire a trained attendant(s) who can maneuver the lift and get me into a manual wheelchair, get me dressed, get me out my door, lay down a temporary ramp and get me into a vehicle with a lift (I have friends who will loan a van with a lift), get me to the clinic, and reverse it all for the way home. My DADS caseworker is concerned about this option because I may not be strong enough to be stable in a wheelchair or to ride safely in the Hoyer lift sling. Cost is several hundred dollars, but the end effect would be the same as for #1.
(c) Hire a visiting home physician who will sign off on attendant care and write scrips for essentials, to be paid for by me. Getting qualified for attendant care will save me at least $200 a month I am paying now to Ruthy, will dramatically improve my quality of life, and will give me someone who can daily assist me with at least strengthening exercises. Plus the asthma prescriptions which I have one left of each essential inhaler but no money to order them right now, and I am today wheezing chronically. This is a stopgap measure, a baby step, but my DADS caseworker recommended it for the time being. She has the information on physicians to use for the home visit, the issue is paying for it -- we have exhausted other options. Eventually I have to get in to the insured clinic but right now, I need scrips and an attendant.

I cannot afford to wait for the situation where I have a paid EMS run to the hospital because my health has deteriorated to that point. I also need to get attendant care in place so the state does not decide I will be safer in a nursing home.

So -- that's the situation. I have PayPal set up here at my website. If you don't use PayPal, email me for how to send $ to me via mail or if you want to use a credit card to pay for something directly.