God Did It!

God moved the mountain and soon Mike will be living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains! Woo Hoo! Thank you, Jesus! Praise God! Thank YOU our wonderful prayer warriors! This was truly and totally of God in answer to all of our prayers and in His time!

Here's the story:

I really wanted to get up there this week, so Tuesday I asked Diane if she could take Mom to her doctor's appointment on Thursday (today). She could (thank you, Diane!) so then I called Liesa to see if she and Denise were available to meet today. They were and so we planned to meet at 10AM.  I left the farm at 7:15 and arrived about 9:45 at The Harbor. Stanardsville is a small town and The Harbor is situated on 20 acres of land. As I drove onto the street, it just looked like a residential street. There are 3 facilities owned by the parent company, Grace Retirement Village, all on this one street. The first one is assisted living, then there are single homes, then there is the Rehab facility and then the street dead ends into The Harbor. It is beautifully landscaped, quiet and homey with rolling hills.

There are 2 secure wings, one on either side of a sitting area and the staff offices. One side is for those residents with higher cognition and the other for lower cognition. I think the higher is called Skyline and the lower is called Blue Ridge, but might have them mixed up. Mike will begin on the lower cognition side, but they believe he will soon transition to the higher cognition side. They are flexible; however, and have found that some of the higher functioning residents actually do better living on the lower side, but going to the higher side for activities during the day. Most of their residents are in their 70's or older and have Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia. As you can imagine, it is a much slower and calmer pace than CSH.

First Liesa took me on a tour. It is set up like a typical nursing home. Long wide hall with bedrooms off of each side. Mike will be in a semi-private room. Each room has a sink against the wall by the bedroom door and then two rooms share a bathroom between them. All bathing takes place in rooms at the end of the hall with staff assistance. There is a common area where meals and group activities take place and on the other side of that is a small sunroom. The sunroom looks out on a long beautiful garden, with a windy sidewalk which runs the length of the wing (each wing has this). This is enclosed by a very tall wrought iron fence, so they are secure, but can see out and not feel closed in.

I told Liesa that Mike liked to pull weeds and usually knew a weed from a flower, but....she said they have had patients pull out the plants too, but it's their garden and no big deal. :-)  I also told her Mike wanders around and often goes in other's rooms - she said "they all do that". There was not one thing I said that fazed her in the least. I told her that when Mike was agitated, it often seemed that he was worse with me than with others and she said that is typical with their dementia and Alzheimer patients, as well. 

At the end of the higher cognition hall, they are creating a new area for cognition stimulation and memory activities. I am so excited that they are incorporating newly researched ways of working with their residents to stimulate their brains and keep them active. The Simple C program sounds wonderful and they will soon be adding another program that she thinks will be on a mobile cart that can be wheeled into a residents room. She said this would be especially useful if the resident is agitated. They can stay in their room and a staff member can come in there to work with them. 

After the tour, we met with Denise and talked more about Mike's fall risk and other questions we each had. We all believe that being in a smaller, quieter, slower pace facility will greatly reduce the risk of his falling and I can't see anyone there ever pushing him. We all are aware and unsure of what his behavior will be like, but since their day is so well planned, we hope he'll be busy enough not to get bored or agitated. They will also set him up with Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy as needed which will be covered by Medicare. During their little unplanned time, he can go out to the garden, wander the halls, sit and read in the sunroom, take a nap, or go to the cognitive area. 

After 20-30 minutes, Denise had to go. As Liesa and I continued to talk, I realized that she was not saying "if", she was saying "when Mike comes" and was pulling out papers. I tentatively asked: "Are you saying that Mike is really coming here?" She said: "Absolutely" or "Definitely" something like that and I lost it. I told her of the blog...mustard seed faith....God-sized miracle.....everyone praying. She said: "You've seen our website, so you know we are a faith-based corporation. We've already spoken with Corporate, told them about Mike, how he was a missionary and Central State was not a good fit for him. We all believe that Mike would do well here and that we can help him." I praised God and gave her a hug!!

Now I know EXACTLY why The Madison House did not work out and I am SO VERY THANKFUL that it did not!! I am truly happy for Mike to be going to The Harbor. It is a beautiful area and home and seems every bit as good as a TBI facility and so much less financially! With Mike's SSDI, part of his LTD plus the DAP funding which has already been approved, the financial portion is covered. I just have to get some furniture for his room and Lord willing, we will move him on Monday! My sister, Gayle, and her husband, Tom, are going to go with me to pick Mike up and take him to The Harbor. So exciting! Please, pray all the details get worked out smoothly. I have a thick packet of papers to fill out and a bed, night stand, and dresser to buy. Fun! Praise God!

Lamentations 3:25 & 26

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, 

to the one who seeks him; 

it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.