Can you bring a family member home when they are on a ventilator in a nursing home?

I think you mean "pneumonia". He is too critical to be cared for at home. You will not be able to get 24/7 home care from Medicare or Medicaid. I am so sorry, but the next step is hospice.

My dad has been on a ventilator for a few months. He was doing good and was put on a trach and colar.Then he went to nursing home and was neglected to take care of his trach and Collar and now he's on ventilator with a pneumonia not able to breathe on his own .Is it possible that Medicare will pay for home care if we brought him home instead of putting him in a nursing home again. Will Medicare pay for home care being on a ventilator. Can respiratory or nurses come and take care of himat home. Can family members be trained to keep him home. I do have family members that are certified nurses aids. Can someone please help answer questions? We know a few patients at the nursing home die because of neglect not being taken care of I don't my father at 72 years old to die we had a few close calls of him dieting if it's wasn't for my cousin who worked in a hospital as a CNA. Thanks so much Jenny

Jeannie, there could be a few different reasons why your father relapsed and is back on a vent. At 72, he's still young enough to battle his way to better health, depending on other medical issues he has. My father was intubated at 85, had multiple other co-morbidities, but was decannulated 7 or so months later, and is pushing 98 years old now and still living at home (much to my chagrin).

There was a recent question about caring for someone on a vent.

https://www.agingcare.com/discussions/hospice-on-ventilator-209738.htm

You might want to read it; there are discussions on that thread that might help you put things in perspective.

Personally, I think perhaps the rehab facility he's in wasn't up to the task, or didn't have the requisite staff. If there was no respiratory therapist seeing your father, that would be a big clue to the fact that it wasn't an appropriate facility.

I had trouble finding people with the determination that my father and I had. It was just too easy to conclude that he'd have to live the rest of his life on a vent, but in our minds, that wasn't an acceptable alternative. So I did a lot of research, stood firm, and eventually prevailed.

One of the regular posters here is a nurse and wrote sometime ago, if I remember correctly, that someone could be at home on a vent and be suctioned. (Veronica, I hope I didn't misquote you!). To me, it's a daunting task.

I do recall doing research for forums and found on for people with trachs, including little children who for various reasons were living with trachs and would be for the rest of their lives. I was shocked and saddened at the life these little ones would lead. But the forum I found had a lot of strong people, committed to working with trachs and providing the best lives possible for their children.

You might want to google to see if you can find ventilator forums as well.

And I would research rehab facilities, or long term care hospitals which might be another option even for a short stay for vent weaning, followed by a rehab stay, and try to find good ones in your area. To learn more about whether they're up to par, contact them with a list of questions on how they would proceeded to vent wean him and hopefully eventually decannulate him.

Definitely inspect the facilities. Try to meet with the respiratory therapist or speech pathologist if possible. I asked not only what the procedures were for vent weaning (making it clear I expected that), but what were milestones, how they dealt with dysphagia, etc.

Another issue for Someone needing 24/7 ventilator is power. You better have the house done with automatic whole-house or speciality unit generator. So there is a seamless transition if power goes out. They need monthly check & placed so that no has vapor build up & elevated to beyond FEMA requirements. Gennies aren't cheap but you kinda have to have one. Otherwise you will have to hand vent 24/7 for however long power is out. Could be days or weeks.

Lots of folks died post Hurricane Katrina as hand-venting is hard to reliably do & keep up for days.

This is not the first time he got pneumonia .He is very alert, he moves his head he squeezes my hand he moves his hands and feet he's not dead yet. He laughs when and smile etc. We show him things from the past on the iPad and cell phone and he loves it . Ive been an CNA for 25 years and seeing many things to please don't give my father his death sentence.

Note the above was posted by Jeanniemrc as a reply, to my message board.

I am a respiratory therapist, and I can assure you that many many people live at home, on home vents. BUT they must have minimal oxygen needs, and the family needs training on trach care and suctioning. And a genny is a pretty good idea unless they can be on a trach collar for most of the time! The suctioning alone puts alot of families off.. As to medicare paying,, it depends on the diagnosis/prognosis.... That end I do not do! If he was on a trach collar prior to the set back,, he may be able to go back to that once he is better.. and many more folks live at home just fine on a trach collar! Talk to his medical team and see what they think!