AC Care Alliance care navigator Nikki High, left, visits with a client family at her home in Gardena, California. Photo: Harrison Hill
By Heather Stringer, California Health Care Foundation, August 25, 2023
Leslie Arnold’s 87-year-old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 10 years ago, and caring for her has become increasingly difficult as the disease has progressed. Sometimes his mother is resistant to changing out of soiled clothes or going to bed, and she stays up reorganizing dishes in kitchen cabinets throughout the night.
Arnold lives near his mother’s house in Gardena, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, where he takes turns with his two brothers caring for her for a week at a time. During his shifts, Arnold cooks, cleans, shops, and takes his mother to doctor’s appointments. He is also careful to keep the door locked so she doesn’t leave the house unsupervised and get lost.
His brothers, who both live out of state, pay out-of-pocket for a home health aide 21 hours a week. Despite the fact that their mother served in the Air Force, the sons’ repeated efforts to secure assistance through the Veterans Administration (VA) and Medi-Cal have been unsuccessful.
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