What if your morning ritual was not yours anymore? We take for granted what we do for ourselves each day. Consider the first 30 minutes of your morning:
- Wake Up.
- Stretch while lying in bed to shake off the stiffness.
- Stand up and walk to the bathroom.
- Walk downstairs to the kitchen, get a cup from the top cabinet, pour water from the Fawcett into a cup, then into the Keurig. Make a cup of coffee.
- Sit down and drink the coffee and lift the cup up and down ten times without spilling the coffee while we are drinking it.
- Walk back to the bathroom, bend down under the sink to get a new bar of soap, unwrap it.
- Step over the threshold into the shower.
- Move your hands from your head to your feet during the shower.
- Towel yourself dry by moving the towel all over your body.
- Open your various drawers and select clothing, retrieve hanging clothes.
- Dress yourself both standing up and sitting down.
- Go back to the kitchen and make breakfast……..Now maybe you are ready to talk to someone.
A healthy person will breeze through these daily tasks with only a couple of groans. But even those of us in good health can become acutely sick or injured and require acute intensive medical care until our good health is restored. We buy health insurance to cover the costs of this short term care. If we are over 65 or disabled Medicare is often our primary health insurance that will pay for our short term care.
But what happens when you are chronically ill and the short term medical care paid for by Medicare does not work to increase your strength enough for you to start your day like you can now. Oh my goodness! You will need someone in your bedroom with you to help you to the restroom, help you safely shower, put your underwear on.
AND, health insurance like Medicare will not pay for you to have this care over a long period of time.
Medicaid long term programs will help pay for the person who helps you through your ritual.
