Elena Rivas's medical costs ❤️
Donation protected
My beautiful mother, Elena Rivas, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in 2014. Since then, her health has deteriorated quite rapidly. She can no longer talk, and she is now barely mobile. She cannot walk, eat, go to the bathroom, or bathe without assistance.
Since 2015, she has been living with my aunt (her sister) in Mexico. She is cared for full-time by two truly extraordinary women that my aunt has hired. She is peaceful and extremely loved and well cared for. We anticipate and hope that she will be able to remain there until her death.
The costs for her care have, so far, been able to be paid for with the pension my mother receives from the Boston Retirement System (she worked as a Boston public school teacher for nearly 30 years). But as her condition has worsened, there are things she now needs that we cannot afford.
She needs a hospital bed to make it easier for her to be lifted in and out of bed. We are anticipating that there is a day when she will no longer be able to stand and move without risk, and when that happens she'll need to spend the majority of her time in bed. A hospital bed, which is much more comfortable than a standard bed -- and with its capability for raising and lowering so that she can be fed and moved more easily -- will become essential.
She also needs a better wheelchair; she has one which was relatively inexpensive, but as she needs it more and more, a sturdier and better one is required.
We need to do some construction on the bathroom, to make the shower wheelchair accessible so that she can continue to use it for as long as possible.
We also need to add another woman to her team of caretakers, as she is requiring around the clock care. The women my aunt has hired are incredibly hard workers; they lift her out of bed, take her to the bathroom, bathe her in the shower, patiently feed her (each meal takes nearly two hours), give her physical therapy and massages, and keep her company, talking to her and singing to her and playing all her favorite kinds of music. They're incredible and I don't know what we'd do without them.
My family is doing an absolutely magnificent job giving my mother the kind of care she would never be able to receive in this country, or in even the best assisted living facility in the world, in my (unbiased!) opinion. My mother couldn't be in a better place. It would mean the world to us if you could donate in any way you are able to help my mother and my family be comfortable despite this difficult and painful circumstance.
Thank you!!!
xo
Carmen Zilles
Since 2015, she has been living with my aunt (her sister) in Mexico. She is cared for full-time by two truly extraordinary women that my aunt has hired. She is peaceful and extremely loved and well cared for. We anticipate and hope that she will be able to remain there until her death.
The costs for her care have, so far, been able to be paid for with the pension my mother receives from the Boston Retirement System (she worked as a Boston public school teacher for nearly 30 years). But as her condition has worsened, there are things she now needs that we cannot afford.
She needs a hospital bed to make it easier for her to be lifted in and out of bed. We are anticipating that there is a day when she will no longer be able to stand and move without risk, and when that happens she'll need to spend the majority of her time in bed. A hospital bed, which is much more comfortable than a standard bed -- and with its capability for raising and lowering so that she can be fed and moved more easily -- will become essential.
She also needs a better wheelchair; she has one which was relatively inexpensive, but as she needs it more and more, a sturdier and better one is required.
We need to do some construction on the bathroom, to make the shower wheelchair accessible so that she can continue to use it for as long as possible.
We also need to add another woman to her team of caretakers, as she is requiring around the clock care. The women my aunt has hired are incredibly hard workers; they lift her out of bed, take her to the bathroom, bathe her in the shower, patiently feed her (each meal takes nearly two hours), give her physical therapy and massages, and keep her company, talking to her and singing to her and playing all her favorite kinds of music. They're incredible and I don't know what we'd do without them.
My family is doing an absolutely magnificent job giving my mother the kind of care she would never be able to receive in this country, or in even the best assisted living facility in the world, in my (unbiased!) opinion. My mother couldn't be in a better place. It would mean the world to us if you could donate in any way you are able to help my mother and my family be comfortable despite this difficult and painful circumstance.
Thank you!!!
xo
Carmen Zilles
Organizer
Carmen Zilles
Organizer
New York, NY
