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My father has advanced Lewy body dementia. He's still lucid enough to know something's wrong, but his memory lapses are severe. He shuffles when he walks and sometimes gets confused about where he is. He's been staying with us for three years. We're moving him into an independent senior community's assisted living wing on August 15th. The facility staff say he can stay there unless his condition deteriorates significantly—they have a skilled nursing unit, but it costs $6,000/month and his pension is only $3,800. I see stories all the time where someone's parent had to go to a nursing home because the facility "couldn't handle" them anymore. I'm worried about what happens if he develops behavioral issues or his mobility gets worse and they decide he's too much.

I agree, Dad cannot live in an independent facility. IMO you would be better placing him in a LTC facility with Medicaid. It seemed my Mom declined monthly. So much so that an aide she had in daycare ended up working at Moms AL 6 months later and saw a big change.

I went to Social Services and the Medicaid rep helped me with the application. I had all Moms legal papers in a pouch. We did whst we could on the computer then I was given a list of info still needed. She had 2 months worth of money for private pay that gave me time to complete the application. The 3rd month Medicaid took over.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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My mom is in a lower cost memory care that does not accept Medicaid. I sold her house and car to finance her stay. She has about two more years of funds left. After that I will have to probably get an elder care attorney to help her get Medicaid to pay for skilled nursing. You probably need to file for Medicaid for your dad now.
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Reply to JustAnon
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Geaton777 18 hours ago
JustAnon,

You can go to her state's Medicaid page and download the application and look at it. It's not complicated. You will have to supply the information to the attorney anyway (like her bank statements, SSN, DOB, 3 months of medical bills due, property addresses, etc). You will be paying a lot of money just to dictate this info to an expensive secretary. I did my MIL's. Once a person has no assets other than a house and car, there's not much to fill out. If you are your Mom's PoA or Representative, the Medicaid follow-up will be going to you anyway and not the attorney.
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Is your dad a Veteran? If so he may qualify for benefits through the VA.
Contact your local Veterans Assistance Commission and find out if he qualifies for any help/
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Reply to Grandma1954
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Lisa...your father has the second most aggressive dementia there is and one that has a life expectancy of just 5-7 years, so yes he's going to "deteriorate significantly" and actually quite rapidly as well, and he really shouldn't be in any kind of "independent" facility as there's no way now that he can be independent.
This is the sad truth of the more aggressive dementias, and eventually all of the dementias.
Your father needs to be placed in a memory care facility that excepts Medicaid, which you'll have to apply for for him.
I know that not all states allow Medicaid to pay for memory care facilities(here in NC they do)so you'll have to look into that, but if your state doesn't, then you'll have to have him placed in a skilled nursing facility as they do take Medicaid.
I wish you well in finding the right facility for your father.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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