Aid Melvin Bauer's Extended Therapy Costs

On June 11th, my father, Melvin Bauer, was putting new shingles on the shed in their backyard. When he was coming down the ladder, his feet went numb and he fell off from about 4-5 feet up. He was taken to the VA emergency department who then transferred him to Regions because he had too many injuries/high trauma level. Once there, we discovered he had 17 broken bones; his right femur, 11 ribs, collarbone, clavicle, sternum and a few vertebrae in his back and a bruised lung. He ended up having surgery to put a rod and pins in his leg. He spent a week at Regions and then was transferred to Augustana in Hastings.

Once we had him situated there, he developed pneumonia. With him having Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, his progress and healing has been a slow process. He is doing great and pushing through the pain every day in his Occupational and Physical therapy. We are so proud of everything he has accomplished so far. Mom has been by dad’s side every single day from 8 am to 9pm helping him. He’s been at Augustana for 3 weeks now and his insurance has denied his request to cover his extended stay. We appealed their denial and they have also decided to deny that as well. The doctors would like to keep him there for about another two weeks. We just don’t think he is ready to go home as he still needs lots of help with his day to day activities.

My parents are very stressed about the costs they will incur due to his extended stay. Because he is in Augustana, the VA will not cover the costs because it’s not a VA approved center. His Medicare and supplemental will not cover any more days. My parents are on a fixed income and they just weren’t prepared for this. I’m worried dad will try to rush through his therapy to get out of there sooner to cut back on the cost. I just want him to focus on getting better and not worrying about how much it will cost. I would like to try to raise as much as I can to help them out. If you can donate, I know they would be so thankful.