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house bound individuals have you tried to give health care to in the past 4 years?
Example:
Denture replacements.....An elderly 83 year old female named Rita with memory loss post stroke has forgotten her dentures on her lunch tray after eating in the Main Dinning Room with her best friends, Harry and Louise. The tray with the dentures went to the kitchen where her teeth were unknowingly tossed into the trash and never seen again. So, without her teeth she will not go to daily social events with friends and peers because she is embarrassed, her speech is almost unintelligible as it is difficult to articulate without teeth and has already been compromised by the mild stroke. She can only eat puree food and it will be 4-6 months before she can possibly get her new dentures....
Why so long? Well consider, it will take 4-6 weeks at best for her to be seen and fitted by the dentist. They need to get Medicare approval FIRST for payment then the, appointment scheduling occurs after approval. Arrangements for transportation need approval too, then she only has her first visit! It's been 6 weeks and she still only can consume puree foods, no socialization and no FIBER in her diet thus she is constipated...and really has lost her appetite for food anyways due to the bland puree selections and the discomfort of constipation. She has now lost 18 pounds.
She is seen by the dentist and a dental mold is obtained for a new denture; she returns to the Nursing Home, still no teeth yet...continues on puree food...She returns to the dentist in 4 weeks to see how her mold/temporary plate fits...."Oh my, the are way too loose!" She can't eat with floppy teeth! Why are they so loose? She had an additional weight loss of 7 pounds and without any denture to support the jaw bone she sustained severe gum shrinkage. But at this phase, she has lost interest in life itself.....She is depressed, anti-social, her clothes don't fit due to the weight loss...she has become incontinent of urine and stool....She surrenders....and dies before the refitted dental plate is completed.
Now, Rita's grandson-in-law Jake, 32, was in the state prison where he is serving time for manufacturing methamphetamine. He was in a fight with his celly on a Thursday night. His left incisor tooth was knocked out. He could still eat without any problem because he continued to enjoy his beef steaks and fresh fruit and cheese he purchased from Commissary. When he smiled, he just didn't look quite as pretty as before. Now, he is well known to the Dental Department in Medical since he has had a root canal with caps completed by the prison dentist because we all know" meth-mouth" rots ones teeth. Meth was his drug of choice. So, Jake new the routine....Put in an emergency "kite" request and call his lawyer. Jake was seen the following Tuesday...His dental work was promptly attended to and he again look so very pretty.
Okay........Do you see the difference? This is a true story.
:shrug:
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