If you can help us with moving expenses, please use the link above to donate. Any amount will be used for that purpose and will be greatly appreciated.
After all the research, I have finally come to the conclusion that there is an EDCD waiver in Bristol Virginia that means Matthew can get up to 40 hours a week of personal attendant care. According to Rod Snodgrass of Bristol VA, social services, THERE IS NO WAITING LIST FOR THIS WAIVER, I REPEAT NO WAITING LIST. He was the friendliest person I had ever spoken with on the phone from a Dept. of Human Services. He as helpful and sounded like and angel on the phone when he said that if Matthew was as disable as I say, he would qualify and we would be approved for care. After he is screened and approved, we have to find the attendant. That attendant will be paid by VA Medicaid, 8.50 an hour. They will have to be able to pass a background check. Once we find the person another person comes out and gets the info for the bg check and gets info for a direct deposit account to be set up. The first thing I have to do it go to the Dept. of Social Services and get Matthew transferred from MS medicaid to Virginia Medicaid, then get the appt with Mr. Snodgrass...
We are waiting on the rental agreement from the landlord in VA for the duplex. My sister has seen it and im taking her word that If she would live there, then so would I. Bristol Va is kind of like Gatlinburg..small town, lots to do, lots to see! TN is 9 minutes away.. that is Bristol TN, and about 20 miles further is Kingsport, Church Hill, where my family lives.
We have not sold our house but luckily have worked things out with my son & his wife to take over utilities and a very small monthly note . They could not find a better deal if they tried Im sure. I could rent it out for more but I want them to be able to have a place to stay while they are in college that won't cost them a lot of money. If they decide to move, then we can rent it out.
Matthew will have his hip surgery after his pawpaw John get down there and gets to work. Then by that time I will have an attendant and help so he can get his hips fixed. He's in pain daily when moved but not extreme pain. It's just not fair that he has to wait until I can get help to move. Everyone I know works or really doesn't care enough about Matthew to offer to help.. Sad but true. I have relatively no social life because most of my friends have moved on with their lives.. while I remain at home for the past 6 years almost all day every day in my "cave" as John calls it. We used to go to the park, to the pool, etc but I just can do it anymore. He's too big. I can't even get him in & out of the pool. He does not even like the pool right now because of his hips. I can't let MS hold me back any more or worry about what others think, it doesn't matter.. only thing matters is that I get help with Matthew so he can have his surgery and so we can have some kind of a futures. After John gets up there, I am planning on going to nursing school at Northeast State University for either nursing or respiratory therapy... Well that's the big Plan. I am still trying to figure out just how we are going to do this financially but I am going to do it even if I have to get residence in VA and pay the first months rent and stay at my mom's until I get enought to get utilities turned on.. I have to have residence in Va before I can get it.
MS RANKS 51 OUT OF 51 STATES, BEING THE LOWEST IN PROVIDING CARE FOR DISABLED AND ELDERLY. If anyone thinks I am going to stick around here until I drop dead from having no healthcare myselft and have matthew put in a state mental institution, they are sadly mistaken. I can even get insurance on myself in Virginia. MS does not even consider the severity of the child or the situation in issuing attendants and even so, they have not sent any nurses or home attendants out since 2003.. we've been on the waiting list since 04. I've done my part in rallying and writing, calling, and emailing state senators, representatives, and the governor but continue to be crushed like what Matthew and I need is not important.. like I am just asking for a handout.
More disabled and intellectually challenged children are going to continue to be abused and killed by parents or caregivers if MS does not see funding these programs as a priority. I know a lady that has leukemia and no insurance, her child is serverely disabled. She is postponing treatment because she cannot find anyone to keep her child for her so she can go into the hospital. Now she's having to put her child in a state mental institution but is also having to wait for that. There was a case in texas where a grandmother left her severely disabled grandson by the side of a lake to die because it was too much for her to deal with. Some people (like me) are able to deal with it but there are some that are not mentally able to handle it. The grandmother I was speaking of was only suppose to watch her grandson for a week but the childs mother never returned to pick him up. This was in Texas and Texas has a long waiting list too. If you surf the net you would be shocked at how often this happens in MS. It's not acceptable just because these children are severely intellectually challenge, nor will it every be.
So this grandma is not going to wait until she can't handle it anymore. I am going after help. I cannot wait any longer.
If anyone would like to help us with the move financially we would be so grateful. I have been keeping a list of the people that have helped up financially with Matthew and as soon as I get a job as an RN or a Respiratory therapist I am going to start paying people back and also putting aside at least one weekend a month giving free services to parents of handicapped children a break by offering sitter services in my home..... Well, that's the plan... but it's all up to the Man upstairs but the way things are falling in place, it looks like this is what I am suppose to be doing.
