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My grandmother is 78 and has Schizophrenia, its a little hard to communicate with her because she thinks we are all trying to kidnap her. We really need to get her into a facility that will insure she is taking the right medication daily. We are getting the run around from APS (which also seem to have "lost" $8000.00 my grandmother was carrying in her scooter) Right now she is in the hospital she was complaining of chest pains. She should be released soon, however APS is telling us there is no where for her to go.
We have looked into ALF but they cost $5000.00+ a month. That kind of money is hard to come by to support my own family.
We are at a loss right now. We dont know what to do or where to turn. Are there any government grants that can help with paying for this? My grandma doesnt own any property to put up for collateral, neither do we.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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By the way, I'm pretty sure that APS has a duty and so does the hospital to find her appropriate placement upon discharge. As Jeanne mentioned, does she qualify for medicaid and what about Medicare. You might also try contacting legal services to see what they can do to help her. and if she is not mentally stable at this time, perhaps she can be involuntarily committed to a hospital psych ward to get her on the right medications and stableized and give you time to work on permanent housing. If APS, which I assume is adult protective services is not helping you, you can also try contacting your state representatives to intervene. She is not only mentally ill but also elderly and needs protection. What does the hospital social services office have to offer? They also have an obligation to assist in placement. Don't buy it if they say the family is responsible. They are being paid and there are govt programs and all these "professionals" should be doing their jobs.
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I agree with 2much2cover, that as a society we have not yet come up with practical and reasonable ways to care for our mentally ill. Sigh. I am so glad there are organizations working on that.

I'm not sure if she would qualify medically for Medicaid, but it sounds like she would qualify financially. That might be worth pursuing.

Hugs to all of you!
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Try contacting your local National Alliance on Mental Illness. You can find your local one at their main site
nami.org/template.cfm?section=your_local_nami

or go to the website and open the find support

nami.org/Template.cfm?section=Find_Support

The members can try to give you advice based on their own experiences with family members, etc as to what resources, etc are available in her area.

Unfortunately, this country does not care to make sure that safe clean affordable housing is available for the mentally ill. But they don't seem to mind paying for expensive hospitalizations, and courts costs when the system fails them.

I hope you can find help for her. She needs to be on the right medication and monitored to make sure she can take it.
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