Help Patti Jo Glowacki Packard

Patti Jo, my friend for more than fifty years, may lose her home to extortionate medical bills. Most of us probably have at least one Patti Jo in our lives. She has worked hard all her life, kept putting one foot before the other despite setbacks, stayed kind, and lived honestly. Patti Jo doesn’t have much in the way of material things, but what she has ought to be hers for the rest of her life. Instead, she is at risk of losing what she has to our broken healthcare system that is disproportionately harsh on women.

Patti Jo had heart bypass surgery on July 1 and was sent to a rehabilitation facility as she has no possible caregiver at home. A known complication of bypass surgery that is unique to women then sent Patti Jo ricochetting between the hospital and the rehab facility. Her incision had torn open because her breasts were improperly bound after cleaning the incision.

No additional time in rehab is approved by Medicare or her supplemental insurance for this particular complication. Patti Jo went back to the hospital for treatment, then back to rehab. Finally released from rehab on September 2 after a third trip to hospital, Patti Jo is now back in the hospital because of excess fluid retention.

Patti Jo, who was a postal worker, lives on her disability pension, with Medicare and a federal supplement insurance for medical care. She does not have the money for the incremental medical expenses because she “stayed too long in rehab.”

Please help if you can. No woman should lose her home because of a known complication of bypass surgery.

{If this complication affected men would it be covered? We don’t know.}