Need Catholic nursing home for relative

[troposphere]

If any of you have information that could help me, please post. I have a relative living in LA County, California, with my cousins. She is 74 years old, with severe physical disability, cerebral palsy, and her health has been deteriorating. She has lived with my relatives for several years but they are retirement age and despite in home help, it is becoming so difficult to care for her. She is non ambulatory, wheelchair bound, and having memory problems.

She is Catholic and attends church regularly. My relatives, being elderly themselves and the wife with spine problems almost needing a wheelchair herself, are very stressed. She keeps getting sent home, but her medical issues are worsening.

They are concerned about not being able to afford a nursing home, and they don’t want to be far away from her. There is no one there able or available to guide them through the process. I email them but I should say that I recently found these relatives through geneology search and have never met them, but I feel a moral obligation to help. I have sent them names of aging councils and so forth, but then I thought is there some Catholic organization that could help them? Are there any Catholic run nursing homes there?

I live clear on the other side of the country and have no way to get out there, with two kids, one also disabled, and I cannot travel.

I"d appreciate any information you might have. Thank you.

 

[EasterJoy]

You might call the archdiocesan pastoral center/chancery office and ask if there are nursing homes in the archdiocese that are either run by a Catholic organization or even that have daily Mass available for residents. Assure them that you are not looking for an endorsement, just a place to start looking.

You could also suggest to your relatives that they contact their parish and ask which parishioners make visits to the nursing homes–as in, who takes communion there or is there a local nursing home that has Mass for residents–and ask those people. They might have some good feedback about which nursing homes they would want to be in. They can also ask their pastor if there is a nursing home he thinks seems to be a particularly good one, as he could easily have visited a great many in the course of his duties.

Good luck!

PS By the way, if they know anyone who is either a paramedic or who does medical transports, that is also a good source of first-hand information. Those people know where the patients are getting good care and where the patients are getting medical problems that good care would have prevented.

 

[aicirt]

Hospice might be of some help. I’m saying this because you said her health getting worse. Also call Catholic Charities and they could send someone out to help with the paper work and offer assistance through the agency or the county. If she is known to the priest, he could direct them too.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

You might find these people helpful: santa-teresita.org/Services/index.asp

I looked at their facilities when I thought my mother would need them and I was favorably impressed. They seem to really care about their patients and treat them like family.

 

[troposphere]

I would like to thank all of you who responded with information about the nursing home resources. I deeply appreciate your help and have relayed all this information to my relatives.