Brother (57) has been diagnosed with Parkinson's (stage 5) and he has no income or insurance. Where can I get assistance?

Good advice already, I’ll only add not to be discouraged by the disability denial. Nearly all applications for disability are denied on the first time applying. Apply again and bombard them with all the medical records available. Get his doctor to write a letter too. It will go through. It can be almost like some warped game before it’s approved

Your brother, when in the hospital or rehab, is an "unsafe" duscharge. He cannot be returned home because no onebis there to care for him. So don't u pick him up. Then u become responsible for him.

If he has been turned down for Social Security disability, then tme for a SS lawyer if none used the first time. It will cost your brother nothing. The lawyer gets paid from the retro money. If you have a lawyer, he needs to file an appeal. In the meantime, you go to Social Services and see if brother qualifies for Supplimental Income, it usually includes Medicaid health insurance. Talk to them too about the problem he is having getting into a NH.

Good. The hospital is the best place to work forward from.
A) and AT ONCE call in all the Social Workers.
Tell them your brother has been discharged UNSAFELY now ______ times. Tell them he must go to rehab or another facility and cannot return home to live alone unsafely. Tell them it is up to the hospital to get referral to MD for testing.
B) Make it clear you DO NOT WANT TO DO POA nor do you feel fit or able to do that mentally, physically, emotionally or educationally.
C) Inform the hospital that another discharge home without services will result in your informing JCAHO that the hospital's licensure should be overseen because they are practicing "unsafe discharges". Ask that your putting the hospital on notice about unsafe discharge needs to be scanned into the chart (this means you say this in WRITING).

I caution you NEVER to take brother into the home even briefly.
I caution you not to become POA unless you understand how difficult this job is in terms of applying for medicaid, getting placement, dealing with a possibly uncooperative person.

Call APS should he be discharged unsafely.
Let them know you cautioned hospital about unsafe discharge.

It is entirely up to you now how much you choose to take on. I took on financial management. I did this for Trust and POA. I don't know that I would do it again. I believe I would have had a Fiduciary do it.
I, as a retired RN knew I could never do in home care. I hope you understand that it is unlikely that you can either.

I am so sorry. WE have no choice in this, just as your brother doesn't. Time to avail him of all the help the government can provide to him, and the hospitals, rehabs and social workers. Time to educate yourself as well and as completely as you can about Parkinson's.
Again, I have lived this (my bro had Lewy's dementia) and it is very difficult. I truly wish you the best.

Alva is absolutely right, do what she says

You can do this, we will help you though it!

You need to follow AlvaDear’s advice step by step, and you need to be strong. Especially contacting JCHAO if necessary. Some hospitals just don’t do the right thing. The case manager there should be finding a nursing home bed for him that will take him under Medicaid pending. That is what happened with my father who also had advanced Parkinson’s. It took a week, but they did find him a bed. Keep fighting and keep the faith.

Can you clarify your statement that he "has been diagnosed with Parkinson's (stage 5)" in other words was he told he is already at stage 5 when he was diagnosed?

If this is the case, I realize his financial/insurance situation may not allow you the freedom to pursue a course of action to improve on the care he gets and for that my heart goes out to you. But, while he is in the hospital, you may want to push for a second opinion. Even if that is not the case, a second opinion might be helpful to be sure he is on the right medication.

If he has JUST been diagnosed and is classified as stage 5 already, I would suggest you consider pushing for him to evaluated by a neurologist (especially if he has never seen one)... ideally a movement disorder specialist or a neurologist with a lot of experience with Parkinson's. (A movement disorder specialist is not always a local option.) There are several other diagnoses that are very similar but different from typical Parkinson's but progress at a much faster pace. I have known many people in our support group who were misdiagnosed over the years. Even if it is Parkinson's, it is also possible he has not received the best treatment plan. Many providers still don't understand that Parkinson's does not manifest itself nor progress in the exact same way for each individual. My husband has had PD for 36 years (young onset) and in has been to stage 5 several times, but once his providers found the right "cocktail" (mixture of PD meds) he became a lot more capable once the new treatment plan was in place.

I realize his financial/insurance situation may not allow you the freedom to pursue a course of action to improve on the care he gets and for that my heart goes out to you. But, while he is in the hospital, you may want to check on a second opinion.

The Parkinson's Organization use to provide free "Aware in Care" kits for families to use when their loved one is in the hospital. They now provide the same information online and call it the Hospital Safety Guide. The information is also useful when someone is any type of facility.

https://www.parkinson.org/resources-support/hospital-safety-guide

You can still order the kit that includes everything and pay a small fee.

https://www.parkinson.org/sites/default/files/documents/aware-in-care-overview.pdf

Here is a quote that we share at our monthly support meetings:
“Every PD patient is unique and everything about his or her disease is specific to him or her and ONLY to him or her. PD has only one time - NOW, the present. The previous hours do not forecast how you are going to feel. The only thing that is predictable about this disease is its unpredictably.”
~~Written by Rick Kramer and Margaret Tuchman~~

Once you request to talk to a social worker on his behalf (either in the hospital or by calling that county's social services), and the hospital is told by you in no uncertain terms that he is an unsafe discharge and you are not his caregiver, then perhaps social services will get an emergency guardianship in place and start to find placement for him, or they will move him to another wing of the hospital or rehab while he awaits this.

Do not believe anything the discharge staff "promises" about "helping you" if you take him home. They will bold-face lie to you to get him out of their care.

Once a judge appoints a 3rd party legal guardian for him then all his needs will be taken care of. We personally had a good experience when my SFIL with Parkinsons become incapacitated and also had Lewy Body dementia and no PoA. It went as well for him as it could under the circumstances and the legal guardian was very communicative with us.

social services ai in DHR? Yall please forgive my ignorance. And yall have no idea how much I appreciate this and the support yall are giving me💜

Also see:
APDA.org

or

www.apdaparkinson.org for more suggestions about parkinson's disease and outreach.

This post breaks my heart. I feel for you. I cared for my mother who had Parkinson’s disease. The end stages are very difficult.

I wish you and your brother all the best.