Looking for long term care for father with Dementia in N. California

sleslie99

Hello Folks, 

I am the conservator for my father and am trying to find him long term care. He has dementia and I just got Medi-Cal Share of Cost approved to help with getting him placed. 

Does anyone have any recommendations for places that have long term beds, memory care and take Medi-Cal in bay area or northern california? 

Every hotline (like a place for mother), or facility I call doesn't have one of the above or an opening. 

Could really use some recommendations or resources. 

Thank you, Sara 

harshedbuzz

Sara-

Hi and welcome.

I am not in CA, but people I know who have needed to find a SNF for a PWD typically make phone calls to locate a Medicaid bed unless the PWD is being discharged from a hospitalization and the social worker helps with finding a place as part of discharge planning. "A Place For Mom" is an advertising service that will only offer names of facilities that pay them and these tend to be facilities that don't accept Medicaid.

Your Area Agency on Aging might have a list of SNFs that accept Medicaid or give you more information about the Assisted Living Waiver program in your state. If there's a local support group, the members there will likely know which places will have beds available for residents using Medicaid. A private geriatric care consultant should have some ideas about what is available near you. 

FWIW, it is more difficult to find a bed for a man as rooms are semi-private and beds that do open up are already occupied by a woman- there tend to be significantly more women in SNF and MC.

Good luck.

HB

Tagimit

I don't know how much help I could be but I can give you my own personal experience and hope that you can use something from it. I just placed my dad in a secured facility with a memory care unit. I'm in Southern California and didnt have much luck finding many facilities with open beds especially those that take MediCal. The one I did find didnt allow tours because of covid but I just had to take the jump because of the limited choices I had. I might have had more options if he wasnt a "wanderer" and hadnt walked out of the last SNF. I sincerely hope you dont run into the same issues. Before he needed a secured unit I placed him on a waiting list for a bed in one of the few government appointed assisted living facilities. They told me the current wait time was a minimum of one year. Its only been just over one month and my dads condition has already drastically changed. I dont believe he'll ever get to benefit from this wait. I'm looking for alternate options right now. I hope you have better luck finding the right place for your dad.

LevisHouse

Hi Sara - 

I don't have any specific memory care centers for you, but my aunt's doctor at the Center for Aging & Memory at UCSF suggested I contact the Family Caregiver Alliance (caregiver.org) in San Francisco. Maybe someone there could help? I have also been working with a dementia specialist at JFCS in San Rafael - she is amazing and always seems to have resources or is willing to find them. I hope this helps a little!

-sarah

Lindsay22

Hi Sara, 

It's really bad right now, my mom's MC is actually closing because they don't have sufficient staff.  I'm not in CA but here in PA most places will accept someone private pay until a "medicaid bed" opens up.  This is what we are doing, the facility doesn't have medicaid beds available right now but they will take her and then "move" her to a medicaid bed when one comes available.  They don't actually move, it's within the same facility but categorized differently.  Medicaid will pay retroactive for 90 days so as long as there is a spot within 90 days you will be reimbursed or the facility might be able to just not bill until the medicaid bed is available, not sure how it works in CA.  The first question to ask when you call places is "do you have a medicaid contract?" and "would you accept someone private pay until a medicaid bed is available?" Then you can go from there negotiating on costs out of pocket. 

I'm sorry, it's such a difficult position.