Have a heart for Alice

Dear friends and family on behalf of my mother-in-law Alice Oligario, at which most of you are already aware of her current situation of her triple bypass/open heart surgery that had recently taken place yesterday. She is now in ICU and on a pacemaker until they can stabilize her and take her off the pacemaker and send her from ICU to the Cardiac ward for the rest of her recovery until discharge. Before being admitted on 3/9 her daughter Tonya (Niki) and son Herman had travelled from their home states during this difficult time to care for their mother. Prior to surgery their mom was in the hospital for 10 days -waiting to be placed on the surgery schedule. Unbeknownst to them, the Seattle/Puget Sound Area was in dire straits with a shortage of nurses due to the pandemic. They had encountered a revolving door of travel nurses. Initially, there was not an issue of finding a bed for their mom on admission - there was just a shortage of nursing staff. As far, as getting surgery scheduled there was a shortage of surgical staff for the operating room. In the unit she was in there were about 32 patients with 10 others awaiting surgery. Sometimes her daughter had to help her mother shower and son go find nurse even after pressing the “red call button” for needed items and even to just get bp checked or night time meds. All 3 of them had gone through the roller coaster each night of nurses telling Alice no eating or drinking to have surgery scheduled next day - only to be cancelled and then no food intake until early evening. This added to the stress on their mom’s heart because her heart was producing at 20-25% maybe less and by the time surgery happened she was at 15%. (A normal person’s heart has around 60% productivity). A week before being admitted she was weighing 145lbs and then at surgery, down to 127lbs. With the strong advocacy of her children they got the original surgeon to pass his case to the next doctor partner as there are 5 Cardio-Vascular surgeons on staff there. Her children were also instrumental on getting referral to go to another hospital. Again, the healthcare staffing issue is everywhere however, they preferred not to transfer, but at least have the referral in hand just in case. Now, that Alice has had the bypass surgery, her recovery will be at least 3 months along with therapy. Her son will soon have to head back to his unit as he will have exhausted his military leave. Her daughter will be Alice’s main caretaker. Before Herman leaves they need to ensure Alice’s home is a safe/sterile environment and purchase many after care medical supplies. They will have to send her 2 small dogs to stay with a family member who can be with them and ensure their own needs are cared for, i.e., vet visits, grooming and eating etc. - as this has been traumatic for them. They will not ask for, let alone ask for much- but we all know they will need your support. If at all possible, even just a little bit- they will need assistance with the out of pocket cost that will be incurred and/or has incurred as the medical bills are starting to arrive. All said and done her basic living expenses/bills will need to be taken care of and not to mention that Alice will have spent nearly 1 month in the hospital - these medical expenses will be astronomical. They will also look for a new home for their mother that does not have stairs to get to entrance. We know that this amount asked for in monetary assistance will not cover all- but I know they would be ever so grateful by the love, generous support and anything that you can possibly send to help a friend, a Mother, a Nana, and a Grandmother of the community in helping families through her organization from work. Thank you and God Bless.