Support Obie's 24-Hour Care Needs
Donation protected
Hi Everyone! The purpose of this GoFundMe account is requesting help for a 93-year-old man who will be 94 September 12th. Milford O'brien aka Obie aka Obi-Wan. He is known by so many here in his village that he's loved for so long.
Obie has gone above and beyond for this community for the last 36 years. He volunteered at the Hubbard Museum for more than 25 years, even received the President's award for one of the top Volunteers in America.
He moved here in 1988 with his beautiful wife Dolores. He had been with the government for 38 years stationed all over the world in places like Paris, Spain and Germany. He was honorably discharged as staff sergeant in the Air Force. He went from civilian to a lieutenant colonel. Unfortunately Dolores passed a few years after they bought their home in Ruidoso.
He has put his time and heart into helping every chance he got. During each Winter up until last several years when he could get around and drive he would go to neighbor's homes and scrape the snow off of there car windows and windshields before they got up and headed out to work. If a friend was ill, he immediately had a care package ready for them and would hand deliver to their door.
He has always been a very strong willed and determined man. Unfortunately he suffered a fall July 22nd of this year because of arterial fibrillation. He spent some time in and out of the hospital including a week in the ICU. He is home now and we have all been trying very hard to get him back on track but unfortunately his body is tired. He has recently been put on Hospice and requires 24-hour care and some days his dementia is quite rough.
There are many levels of hospice, this does not mean the doctors see him leaving this world soon, it just means he needs way more care and nursing in his state of decline. His spirit is still young as he talks about being top athlete in high school, winning third place in track in the state of New York and becoming boxing champion in his weight group.
We are needing funds for care giving assistance. We have tried to put posts out for volunteers on Facebook but unfortunately his level of decline some days requires more medical attention than just companionship. We have exhausted all funds saved and have tried everything possible.
It is very rewarding to be able to work for the government and travel the world but unfortunately working out of the States has its downfalls. He does not receive Social Security, does not qualify for Medicaid and for some reason unknown has never been signed up with the VA and as of now wait time for the application to be reviewed is 95 days that we unfortunately do not have to wait. His insurance does not have any personal care options or homemaking services.
We have hired two night time caregivers to help relieve Christa but she is still volunteering between 60 and 90 hours per week to help care for him. We could really use the help right now to get him the best care possible without exhausting the few caregivers we can afford to pay. He has no living family left and did not have children.
We know things are hard right now for our community and don't in any way want to burden anyone with asking for help but we don't know what else to do with the limited resources currently available. Please help if you can or share Obie's story!! We do appreciate the folks who have responded to come and sit with him when possible and will certainly incorporate this time into Obie's care schedule as much as possible.
Please note, if there is an excess amount of funds raised that end up being unused for Obie's care, we would like to let everyone know that we will create a fund for the excess money to be put aside to help others in this same situation. We've learned that even being able to step away from the caregiver role for an hour or two and be able to afford to pay quality, caring help is a huge deal in keeping up with your own wellness to stay strong. So, if we can pay it forward someday in Obie's honor that would be amazing.
- Obie's Volunteering Efforts - Read more
Organizer and beneficiary
Mirissa Good
Organizer
Ruidoso, NM
Milford O'brien
Beneficiary