Follow
Share

My mother has been living in an assisted living facility in her own apt for almost 2 years. She is now on medicaid and must share a 2 bedroom apt. The woman they want her to room with is a smoker and very sloppy. My mother is neat as a pin. I went to see the room yesterday and it reaks of smoke. I've been told that the smoker will be leaving soon - 3-4 weeks - but I don't want my mother to be subjected to the smell. Plus all of her belongings and clothes will smell of smoke. I don't think it's fair to do this to my mother. The woman obviously smokes in the room when she can get away with it and it really upsets me that my mother has to put up with this even for a few weeks. My mother is upset about it b/c everyone talks about this woman b/c she stinks and therefore the apt stinks. I've been complaining about this to management and they're giving me lip service and tell me it will only be temporary. I don't know what to do. I feel they're being so unfair to my mother. I have a hard enough time to get my siblings to go visit her. Doesn't my mother have any rights? It's so unfair and it's making me crazy.

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Oh and the AL attitude about this - like their ignoring your requests - it a huge red flag for me. This AL could well have the attitude that the Medicaid residents are 2nd class citizens. I'd start looking about for another place for your mom to move to.
Helpful Answer (4)
Report

Have your mom's MD do a letter stating that she is susceptible to 2nd hand smoke and it is potentially a critical condition for her health and fax it over to the AL. That should do it.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

You know your situation is super common. Sad. Yep you should be upset. You have to follow your gut feeling, which is get her out of there, correct?

Here's my suggestion. You need to get things done to change your mom's medical history so that she can qualify for and show the need for "skilled nursing" AKA a nursing home. Go an start looking for NH that do "Medicaid pending".

Here's my experience: My mom, mid 90's, went from IL to NH and bypassed the AL stage. She is now in a NH and on Medicaid. She was in a "tiered" facility - the kind that goes from IL to AL to NH to hospice. They are a good facility but being for-profit has an emphasis on the AL part - which is where the $$$ is made as that is all private pay - her state does not pay for AL per se. I placed her there because I didn't want to have to move her again and again (lmao), so it all seemed to be all kum-ba-ya. After a couple of years in IL, she started having closer & closer bouts of Lewy Body Dementia related hallucinations and paranoia. They were pressing me to have her move to AL- just a building away, she'll see all her friends..... She needed to make some type of move. What I found worked for my mom, was to have her seen by the medical director of another NH (he was not the medical director of the tiered facility). She saw him as just a regular patient and I told him that I was thinking NH rather than AL.Because she had "critical" medical issues like a more than 10% weight loss within 30 days, a critical H&H levels, she required "skilled" nursing care & supervision, so she was able to bypass AL and move from IL to NH. He wrote up her health history that showed skilled care needed asap. Also did a couple of other things, like changed her from the Exelon pill to the patch (more "skill" to do) and had her take a medication that needed to be compounded (again more "skill" to do). Now in less than a year, I moved my mom from the first NH as his affiliation with the medical school gerontology practice stopped and this NH#1 just had chaos in administration. She is now in another NH and back with the medical school affiliation MD's.She seems much happier and lots cleaner, although her dementia & age has finally caught up with her! Once they are on Medicaid, transferring was easy from NH to NH, well it was easy for us. My point is find a NH to move her and if it doesn't work, it's not forever.

It great that you are already through the Medicaid process. It's an exhausting pile of paperwork isn't it? For me, it was 5 months for that hurdle to clear initially and then 4 mos to deal with appeals regarding crediting for a secondary insurance deduction. Then just recently, refiling her application & documentation. But thank goodness Medicaid is available. Good luck & keep a sense of humor.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

Why don't you suggest that they let your mother stay in her current apartment until the roommate moves out? After all, "it is only temporary," right? Surely they can do that small favor for someone who has been private pay for two years. And they are going to want to thoroughly clean that 2-person apartment after it is vacated, so it would really be doing them a favor for Mother to wait to move in until that is all done.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

Just another thought. Was she or her husband in armed services during active duty? There are a ton of little-used veterans subsidies out there. And spouses qualify to use them just as the veteran does. Plus, the assisted living where I work in Wisconsin accepts county-funded residents (limited in number as we are an expensive assisted living with chef-prepared meals, brain-boosting activity focus including ipad for seniors program, etc).
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

It is illegal to smoke in health care facilities, such as hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida. Designated outdoor smoking facilities are allowed, although some hospitals prohibit smoking on thei campus
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

I'm am glad you have the problem resolved. Perhaps the AL would agree to painting the room. The smoke is now in the curtains, linens & walls. This is still a hazard to your mom's health. It's obvious this woman DID smoke in the room. I'm so sorry this happened. You are such a loving daughter!
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

If the management has been trustworthy for the past two years, and given that they did warn you up front that once your Mom's money ran out, sharing would be the next step, I'd trust them now. I work in senior housing and can tell you that senior smokers are a problem in every community. We do the best we can with respecting the resident's right to smoke while ensuring the comfort of everyone else, including the employees. Truthfully, we try not to allow smokers to move in. They are that much of a problem. Families know it and often hide the fact that the person is a smoker. Offering to let your mom share a 1 BR sounds like it was the best they could do to put her in a smoke-free apartment until the smoker moves out of the 2 BR. Families often have a hard time seeing that you can only do what you can do. The facility has to stay afloat (apartment rents need to be paid) for it to remain a nice place to live. We have often allowed residents to remain in their apartments at reduced rent for awhile until they're able to work out alternate arrangements, but if there's a tenant ready to move in at the full rent, we must accept them. We have to meet our budget to stay in business.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

Also if your Dad was in the service she will get about est. $1200 a month from Veternan's Assistant for her care. Look on line. It's a long process, but it might be worth looking into. Good luck.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

I THOUGHT IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW TO SMOKE IN ANY HEALTH CARE FACILITY YOU MIGHT WANT TO CALL THE STATE.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

See All Answers
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter