LETTER: The importance of home health care for seniors

n response to Jay Heiseler’s Sunday commentary on Medicare cuts to home health care:

Recently, my previously healthy 87-year-old mother fell at home, breaking her femur at the hip — apparently, a common injury among the elderly. My 89-year-old stepfather didn’t have the skills or energy to care for her once out of the hospital and subsequent two weeks of rehab. She was not ready to come home but rehab caps at two weeks. Still bedridden and not able to do anything herself, we were forced to take more than $10,000 a month from their limited savings to pay for around-the-clock home care out of pocket.

We are lucky that they had a bit of money tucked away. She needed this care for months, as she learned how to walk and take care of her personal needs independently.

What does one do when one doesn’t have the means to do the same? If she had taken another fall, the doctor said that it could end her life. Even partial short-term reimbursement might be achievable for some.

I encourage our lawmakers to remember the elderly and how their taxes have funded these programs for decades.