Ms.Dee's Opportunity at Better Care
Donation protected
Help Ms. Dee have better living conditions and manage her illness effectively.
My name is Jessica M. Smith and I am a twenty-eight year old classroom Science Teacher. I have taught in North Carolina classrooms for six years. I am also an only child of my mother and I have taken care of her since 2005 (my sophomore year in college). My mother, Dolores or Ms. Dee as she is affectionally known, attended all of my school events as a school aged child. She did her best to be there for me while I was growing up.
My mother was first diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2005. I was only 19, and totally unprepared for the depth of emotions, or the complexity of the decisions I was about to face. Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder. This year makes a decade of providing for her and we have had several dozen hospitalizations and she is current taking 13 different medications for her mind and physical ailments.
During undergrad I worked two and three jobs to pay the bills for her and myself. Then when I graduated in 2008 I decided to move her with me. However due to my teaching and coaching schedule, being an only child, and lack of resources within Mental Healthcare for people with Medicaid/Medicare, I had to make the decision to move her to an Assisted Living in 2010. Over the last five years we have had good, bad, and some horrible experiences with hospitals and Assisted Livings.
When my mother has a psychotic episode I have witnessed my mother being handcuffed and put in to a police car, not because she was a criminal but this is how they handle people being committed to the psych ward. We have experienced in-home nurses stealing her monthly money and spending it on personal items. I have dealt with numerous times of her bedding not being cleaned thoroughly. This month I went to visit and for dinner she and the other residents were eating black beans, canned peaches, canned diced potatoes, and cornbread for dinner. If you are knowledgeable of how much food affects our brains and bodies then you understand why I know that I have to make sure that my mother is receiving a healthy diet and no longer receiving below average care.
I have researched ways to provide her with better care and I realize that a holistic approach will be the best way to provide my mother with better care. I would like to move my mother to a better Assisted Living in Charlotte where I currently live. The best facilities only accept private pay. Currently I am a classroom Teacher and working a part-time job on weekends because I do want to take excellent care of my mother.
The Assisted Living that I would like to move my mother to will cost $3600 a month for a studio living space. They provide daily activities, better quality of food and overall better living conditions. I believe my mother deserves these things and they are the determining factors in her quality of life; its $86,000 for two years of living arrangements. I have no idea right now how I will pay for the other years on a NC Teacher's salary but I believe God for this start and He will work the rest of it out for us.
Raising this money is important to me because my mom’s health has decreased drastically over the last five years due to being overly medicated and horrible food options in these facilities. People rarely like to discuss the ugly truth of mental illness and I have suffered in silence too long. I truly believe that there is more for my mother’s life.
Lastly, I realize that children do take on the responsibility of caring for their parents. However today as a 28 year old woman I need help. My mom is a fighter. She is strong and I believe better care will allow her to thrive and gain some of her independence back. She is 56 years old and I would like to keep her around to one day see her grandchildren. Please donate. Any amount will help. If you know of any facilities or organizations that are providing excellent care in the Charlotte area, please provide that information, it will be appreciated just as much as funding.
Please help Ms. Dee.
My name is Jessica M. Smith and I am a twenty-eight year old classroom Science Teacher. I have taught in North Carolina classrooms for six years. I am also an only child of my mother and I have taken care of her since 2005 (my sophomore year in college). My mother, Dolores or Ms. Dee as she is affectionally known, attended all of my school events as a school aged child. She did her best to be there for me while I was growing up.
My mother was first diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2005. I was only 19, and totally unprepared for the depth of emotions, or the complexity of the decisions I was about to face. Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder. This year makes a decade of providing for her and we have had several dozen hospitalizations and she is current taking 13 different medications for her mind and physical ailments.
During undergrad I worked two and three jobs to pay the bills for her and myself. Then when I graduated in 2008 I decided to move her with me. However due to my teaching and coaching schedule, being an only child, and lack of resources within Mental Healthcare for people with Medicaid/Medicare, I had to make the decision to move her to an Assisted Living in 2010. Over the last five years we have had good, bad, and some horrible experiences with hospitals and Assisted Livings.
When my mother has a psychotic episode I have witnessed my mother being handcuffed and put in to a police car, not because she was a criminal but this is how they handle people being committed to the psych ward. We have experienced in-home nurses stealing her monthly money and spending it on personal items. I have dealt with numerous times of her bedding not being cleaned thoroughly. This month I went to visit and for dinner she and the other residents were eating black beans, canned peaches, canned diced potatoes, and cornbread for dinner. If you are knowledgeable of how much food affects our brains and bodies then you understand why I know that I have to make sure that my mother is receiving a healthy diet and no longer receiving below average care.
I have researched ways to provide her with better care and I realize that a holistic approach will be the best way to provide my mother with better care. I would like to move my mother to a better Assisted Living in Charlotte where I currently live. The best facilities only accept private pay. Currently I am a classroom Teacher and working a part-time job on weekends because I do want to take excellent care of my mother.
The Assisted Living that I would like to move my mother to will cost $3600 a month for a studio living space. They provide daily activities, better quality of food and overall better living conditions. I believe my mother deserves these things and they are the determining factors in her quality of life; its $86,000 for two years of living arrangements. I have no idea right now how I will pay for the other years on a NC Teacher's salary but I believe God for this start and He will work the rest of it out for us.
Raising this money is important to me because my mom’s health has decreased drastically over the last five years due to being overly medicated and horrible food options in these facilities. People rarely like to discuss the ugly truth of mental illness and I have suffered in silence too long. I truly believe that there is more for my mother’s life.
Lastly, I realize that children do take on the responsibility of caring for their parents. However today as a 28 year old woman I need help. My mom is a fighter. She is strong and I believe better care will allow her to thrive and gain some of her independence back. She is 56 years old and I would like to keep her around to one day see her grandchildren. Please donate. Any amount will help. If you know of any facilities or organizations that are providing excellent care in the Charlotte area, please provide that information, it will be appreciated just as much as funding.
Please help Ms. Dee.
Organizer
Jessica
Organizer
Charlotte, NC
