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Dear Listfriends - Ivan Suzman's recent caregiver crisis brought back memories of similar situations Mom (age 64 / dx 42) and I have been through, and I can't resist squandering a little bandwidth on a sermon. **** SOAPBOX ALERT **** I strongly encourage every PWP to actively research and plan for caregiver emergencies. These can happen to anyone with very little warning. Mom went from self-sufficient to needing a nighttime companion almost overnight, and from that point to needing round-the-clock help almost as quickly. At a minimum, I urge everyone to know the caregiver financing options. A lot of people are surprised to learn that Medicare disability and Medicaid don't cover long-term caregivers (though a sympathetic physician might be able to manipulate the system to keep you in part-time caregivers for awhile). Ivan was surprised to learn that the Medicaid system can take a patient's assets to pay for care. This means that a temporary emergency institutionalization could leave a person homeless. I'm grossly oversimplifying, and I hope I'm not unnecessarily scaring anyone, but I DO believe it's important that I say something here. If Ivan, who seems to work hard at keeping up on things, was taken unawares by this, there must be others here who are at the same risk. **** Stand down from soapbox alert **** Thanks for listening. I'll shut up now. :-X - Doug