Caregivers for Debbie

My mother's name is Debbie. She is an incredible woman. She spent most of her life saving the lives of new born babies in the NICU unit at St. Peters University Hospital in New Jersey. 9 years ago she was diagnosed with a terminal illness called ALS. This sadly made her no longer able to care for these babies and their families. She had to leave her home of Middlesex, New Jersey and move in with her parents in Charleston, South Carolina. At this point in her progression she is completely physically disabled and no longer able to speak or communicate. This means she needs total care. Total care comes at a very high price. Right now she requires care for a minimum 12 hours a day, this is 84 hours a week. We realistically need more; however, financially that is not an option. Her insurance will pay her caregiver $15 an hour and will only cover 30 hours a week. This means that even though some of these hours are covered by insurance we have to pay extra to get quality care. To get the level of care she needs it costs quite a lot of money. We currently pay over $2,500 for a week of care and she does not bring in enough money to cover that cost.  And sadly that is not even enough care and money. We cannot afford to pay our caregivers what quality total care truly costs. Due to this we are constantly having caregiver turnover. It is really hard to keep quality care when you sadly cannot pay them what they deserve to get paid. Each time we lose a caregiver it can take weeks or even months to find, interview, and train a new caregiver. This is an extremely difficult process for my mother. We are asking for help so we can hire quality caregivers and pay them a wage that would encourage retention. We have tried very hard to only ask for financial assistance a handful of times for her. However, it is time we put our pride aside and let the amazing community she has created over her lifetime work for her. We ask that you share this and donate as you are able. We thank you for any and all contributions.