
Disability Viewpoints – COVID Update from MDH
Host Joan Willshire talks with MDH Covid Community Coordinator Rachel Garaghty for an update on the virus and vaccines,
Host Joan Willshire talks with MDH Covid Community Coordinator Rachel Garaghty for an update on the virus and vaccines,
Three months ago I started on Medicare, and what a nightmare it has been! The first month I was having difficulty getting Medicare set up. Now the second and third months my challenges have been about pharmacy and medication issues; they don’t want to pay for specialty drugs at all! And somehow I’m already in the donut hole even though I just started July 1st. I thought I would miss that donut hole because I wasn’t starting at the beginning of the year but now here I am stuck in the donut hole!
For a person with a disability and many years of extensive experience with most sectors of health care delivery, one of the most scary and fearful thoughts is anticipating going to a transitional care unit (TCU) or rehabilitation center after a stay in the hospital.
This episode of Disability Vewpoints discusses one and one with two individuals with disabilities that had Covid 19 and how they managed through the illness. Mathew, Sanford and Nick Wilkie were the guests with Mark Hughes and Joan Willshire.
Imagine the loss of mobility and independence, the disruption of routines, the day program that doesn’t open, the beloved caregiver who doesn’t come, and the lack of support that leaves some families with now choice but to instituionalize their loved ones, and you have a sense of what many in the disability community are going through every day due to COVID-19.
What’s the worst part about a routine trip to the doctor’s office—the long wait, the old magazines, the fear of needles? Add a disability, and you’ve got a recipe for a very stressful event, instead of a routine medical visit.