But anyway, hopefully it won't be too long before I'll be able to go to Meisa. I'm really anxious about getting on that because they serve you breakfast and lunch and snacks (and as I only get $51 per month in Food Stamps that would really help out financially) and they take you grocery shopping and on field trips too (which is great because I can't drive), do your laundry and give you haircuts, and they have exercise classes and lectures and movies and what sounds like a fairly wide variety of social activities to do (so hopefully that will be fun). And hopefully it won't be too long before they can get it set up in my apartment building itself so those of us enrolled in the program who live in Fridley won't need to be taken over to their currently up and running Minneapolis location for that. (I'll be the 3rd person enrolled here once I can get this CADI waiver approved, but they said they need at least between 10-15 participants daily here before it would be worth it to them to open it up here in my building). It's just kind of a chicken and the egg problem here because while I'm sure probably alot of seniors and the disabled here (we have 101 apartments) would like to participate in it (who wouldn't like free meals, transportation, social activities, etc, etc?), until they get enough folks approved and enrolled here, they have to take us to their Minneapolis location for it.
But while I don't know what seniors have to deal with to get on their Elderly waiver (which also qualifies you for Meisa), trying to get a CADI waiver (for the disabled) from the county wasn't all that bad to deal with. Your income has to be low enough to qualify you for Medical Assistance (Medicaid), which I'm pretty sure everyone living here is already either on or would qualify for (since we get our subsidized housing through HUD and you have to qualify as low income or extremely low income to be eligible for HUD) and hell, all you do is call the county then and they set up an evaulation with one of their registered nurses to see if you qualify under their guidelines. It was a kind of a minor pain in the ass having an RN sitting here in my apartment filling out their forms and asking you alot of personal questions about your health and disabilities and your life in general for neaarly three hours to get through their paperwork, but all I had to do was to fill out a very short application form initially, answer alot of questions she asked and just sign the paperwork, she did the vast majority of the work involved in it (as far as her filling out this huge long form). I just don't understand why I'm only the third person out of 101 apartments here to be trying to get enrolled in this when its really pretty easy to go through the process of trying to get a waiver (either an Elderly or a CADI waiver), especially when this program sounds so cool and its a free service for those who qualify (and I'm sure everyone who's living here would qualify, we're all on Social Security (whether its through retirement or through disability) and its subsidized housing for the poor and I don't think theres anyone here who isn't getting Food Stamps and Medical Assistance already. Well, hopefully I won't have any trouble getting the bureaucrats to approve my CADI waiver in their commitee meeting next month and I'm really glad their nurse recommended me for two days a week at Meisa and also for that Homemaking Services too - even though I don't want anyone doing my cooking or cleaning for me in my own apartment now, it's really nice knowing that is an option available for the future in case if I might want it in years to come.
Oh, and for anyone who might think adult daycare (like this Meisa thing) or the county providing Homemaking Services is a waste of government money, it's not. It's actually saving the government a helluva lot of money in the longrun because it's meant not only to give the poor and vulnreble adults (whether through old age or disability) a better quality of life in their own homes/apartments - but to keep those at risk from ending up in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, or to at least delay that from happening for as long as possible; which not only would suck big time for the person involved, but would also cost the government a helluva lot more money too. Anyway, they just have an RN do this lengthy evaulation to determine who's at risk for nursing home placement and what needs doing to aviod that and I understand this commitee determining whether you're approved/denied or put on a waiting list for a waiver is set up to "triage" things so they can give the help to the most in need first as their budget allows for. Anyway, I'm glad their nurse thinks I need more help than what I'm asking for here now and that she would recommend I get two days a week at Meisa (BTW, I could go to any Adult Day Care provider I wanted to, I just chose Meisa because they are trying to get this set up in my apartment building), now if only the other residents living here would get off their butts and apply for it like I did we could be having a wonderful time here right at Village Green in Fridley instead of them sending a van out here to take us to their center in Minneapolis. Anyway, it's in the works now and hopefully this commitee will listen to what their nurse recommmended for me and hopefully I'll be going to Meisa soon and hopefully we can get it at Village Green soon too here - I've been farting around with this crap since I attended their first meeting about Meisa coming here back in April, but at least it's out of my hands now and I did what I could here even if the official approval is something I have to still cross my fingers about yet. Now we just need to get alot more folks on board here too, because I'd much rather go to Meisa right here in Fridley instead of in Minneapolis. Anyway, it's still "happy news" for me that their nurse recommended me for this and I don't need to deal with it anymore. Hopefully it'll be in the works soon for me here, but its looking hopeful and I'm just glad to get the worrying and waiting over with here anyway.
