Child needs Home health help! Please Advise!!

[kwagner_51]

I work for Head Start and have a child who is severely handicapped. He can run and jump like a 4 y/o but is legally blind and has microcephaly, brain damage, seizures and a G-Tube.

We think his congnetive [sp?] level is between 8 mo. and 1 yr.

He can't speak, nor can he sit still. we don't know if he can eat table food, and he has a hx of aspiration.

The hx I got from his mother is sketchy.

She says he is on topamax for seizures but has never seen him have one. He can see out of the top right portion of his eye.

He is fed pediasure and she said if he is fed too fast, he has reflux.

We tried to get him into home health so he could have a personal assistant in the classroom. He was turned down because his mother doesn't work. From the intact application she is also disabled.

I am soooo confused. One of them is on SSi and on foodstamps.

PLEASE advise!! I want to help this family so much but don't know where to turn!!

Thanks!!

________________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

Failure is NOT an option!!

[cookie102]

have you contacted the dept of social services in the city they live in? i am not sure getting him an aide while he is in school, but he should be eligible for a personal care aide thru medicaid to get him ready for school. regs to vary state to state tho. wish i could help more.

[homehealth43130]

If your state has a medicaid waiver program, he should qualify. He would have a case manager and maybe could be approved for an attendant at school. Start with the local Welfare agency or the State bureau for medically handicapped children. If he has a diagnosis of mental retardation or developmental delays you could start there also.

[happylvn]

what state do you live in? Does your state have a program for Developementally Disabled Children such as Regional Center? (Regional centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the Department of Developmental Services to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities) If so, this child should apply to be a beneficiary/consumer. Then this child should some how get into the medi-cal/medi-caid system. If he is not eligible by financial eligibility, from what you stated about his medical conditions... he should be able to qualify under a DDS waiver. Once in the medi-cal system, the department of health/social services - in home operations division can help with private duty & respite nursing.