About a month ago on November 6th, our father was admitted into St. Mary's Hospital in PA and was diagnosed with a stroke. It seemed minor at first and he was going to be started on a few new medications. But the next few days were a roller coaster of emotions as his stroke symptoms continued to evolve and his deficits developed into a complete left-sided paralysis. He is only 61 years old, lives alone, is self employed and drives for a living. This has flipped his entire world upside down. The great news is that he has a shot at a great recovery with extensive therapy treatment and he has such a positive outlook and attitude. 

As mentioned above our dad is self-employed. Fortunately, his insurance is covering the majority of his hospital stay. But we’ve found out through this process that his insurance is very limited and does not include any type of therapy (inpatient/outpatient) or home care services at all which is devastating considering he had a stroke. The doctors have recommended acute inpatient therapy (speech, occupational, and physical) as being medically necessary and an essential part to the success of his recovery. And this type of inpatient acute therapy at a rehab hospital is extremely costly. 

We, his children, have been communicating and advocating for him to receive this necessary medical care that he needs (alternative would be sending him to a nursing home). After 2 weeks of uncertainty of whether or not he would even be accepted, we were able to get him partial medical financial assistance. Then, under the agreement to self pay $1000/day to the acute rehab hospital, he was finally accepted into the acute inpatient rehab hospital. He's expected to be in here for a minimum of 2 weeks.

We need to pay in advance every few days. It's adding up quickly and we've already had to sell off a portion of his business during all of this. Covering his rehab is the immediate need but there will also be more medical costs post rehab center for his continuing recovery process.

Our ultimate goal is to get our father better so that he can take care of himself, live on his own again, drive again, and get back to work eventually. He is already making great improvements now that he is over at St. Mary’s rehab hospital. He will be staying with Jillian and her husband after he is discharged from the rehab hospital until he is independent enough to be on his own. At that time, we also will be looking for anyone with PT or OT experience that would be able and willing to possibly offer their services (possibly at a discounted rate). Please contact one of us directly if you know of anything that you think might help.

Anything at all you can put forward to help during this difficult time is truly appreciated!

Thank you so much!

The Hofmann Children 

(Jared Hofmann, Jessica Lauck, Jillian Wilderman, Taylor Marsh)