Recently, I had received a shocking word from Tulsa, OK, that my brother John WAS MISSING from the nursing home in which he had been placed following his terrible 5 month ordeal in the hospital since December of last year.
John almost died of double pneumonia at Christmastime in Tulsa. In order for him to survive, he spent 5 months in intensive care in St Francis Hospital. Emergency surgery had to be provided, cutting through several ribs to scrape some tissue out of his lungs as well. Finally John pulled through to survive and was sent by the hospital to a health care facility.
Unfortunately, it was not a top quality one. It had lost it's certification, in fact. And my brother John found himself without a care facility. And due to shortage of beds in nursing homes in Tulsa, John was finally OUT ON THE STREETS..in a wheelchair, weak and unable to do anything for himself. The facility NEVER contacted me to warn me that my poor brother was in this situation! And the excuses they gave me, were unable to be confirmed even by law enforcement in Tulsa.
I performed research on the Internet, and discovered that this facility the hospital had transferred him to, on a 1-5 star ratings scale, did not even rate a ONE star in many of the categories concerning quality of care, professionalism, etc. I was outraged.
And so, having located the person who had literally taken my brother John temporarily into his care and off the streets, I made an emergency trip to Tulsa (just in time) and picked John up, and have transported him back to my tiny one room cabin in NC.
That trip 9almost one thousand miles) was hard for John, in chronic pain due to a broken foot that never healed properly, plus fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and other health complications. We even has to stop at the emergency room at the hospital in Memphis, TN, to obtain emergency pain medications, due to having travel for hundreds of miles, very uncomfortable for John.
Also difficult was the fact that due to shortage of finances, we could not afford to sleep in motels each night, sleeping instead in various truck stops along interstate 40, in the car, very hard on John's health.
But finally, WE MADE IT! However, we soon encountered one immediate problem:one problem: my one room cabin is up a steep hill, accessed by stone stairs, and John could not climb stairs.
We sat outside that cabin that night, praying for God's solution. And finally, I received the inspiration to call the local fire department/rescue squad. They responded wonderfully to our crisis and said they were happy to come out and transport John both up and down the mountain for medical visits, etc.
And so the rescue workers arrived and strapped my brother into a special STRYKER frame chair used to rescue local hikers in crisis (broken legs, etc) and two strong men carefully transported my brother up the hill into my cabin. How relieved we both were! Thank you Jesus Christ! And the rescue workers as well. John was finally "home at last,' safe off the streets of Tulsa.
But now, grim reality has set in. John remains in chronic pain day and night. Previously I was barely able to provide for my own needs, due to varying work hours available through my home health agency. What I had written about not even having food at one point for my rescued kitten was no exaggeration.
John's needs are many: medications, food, special health equipment, etc. Although his public legal aid provider is working on his SSI and MEDICAID getting restored after being suspended over legal glitches, we have no assistance as of yet. My funds have been exhausted, due to the costly trip and now taking care of him here in my cabin.
Please pray for us at this critical time. Your love and prayers mean so much now.
-Pamela Schuffert, and John also
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