Reply #13: I'm a full-time caregiver to my Mom.

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My Mom is deeply religious and I take her to Sunday mass and frequent short visits to the church on weekdays. A lady from the church comes every Wednesday morning to give her communion, read a few bible passages to her and chat a bit. I think these help her mentally, they seem to make her happier since her religion has been deep and significant to her for 92 years. I notice when she is at mass, she is inspired to stand up (with my help) when she rarely stands up on her own at home. So in her case I think it has helped her stay alive longer and have a happier life. I think prayer is really a form of mediation that does have some calming, soothing effect on the brain and therefore has the health benefits of meditation.

Your case is much different, of course. If your patient belongs to an organized religion, I would contact that particular church and explain their situation to them. Most churches of any size have a Homebound Ministries program of some kind, for church members or followers who cannot make it to the church. What they do varies from church to church, but typically involves weekly visits to the homebound person, for whatever essential service (sacrament or just bible study, etc.) that they can't receive because they can't get to the church. If there is no such program, you might try to contact some other follower of the religion your patient belongs to and see if you can locate someone who will be willing to come over on a regular basis and provide that type of service to the patient. In my opinion your job is to provide the physical care and not the spiritual needs or care.

If the patient is a veteran of any U.S. military service and served during a wartime, there is a little-known benefit to veterans called Aid & Attendance, which can provide a significant amount of monthly benefit to the patient. The paperwork to go through to get it is a bear, and it can take up to a year to start getting the checks, but it can be a big boost financially (and the payments are also retroactive to the date the benefit was first applied for, so that 1-year delay is eventually compensated for). If your patient qualifies I would see http://www.veteranaid.org/ for more information.