McMacken wanted to move her mother, Margaret Skovran, at once to another nursing home. But as she drove through Macomb and St. Clair counties looking for a suitable place within reasonable distance of her home, she saw that the search wasn't going to be easy. It's no hope. The main problem was money. Skovran has lived so long in nursing homes that she totally depends on Medicaid to pay her bills.
Nursing homes have few beds available for new patients in that situation, the lowest-paying.
Some homes were willing to take her mother but they looked worse than the place in which she lived, McMacken said. I don't know what I'm going to do. It's a dilemma hundreds of families face each year in Michigan, and it may not end with the choice of a facility. You also have to know how to get the best possible care at any home, and when it's best to uproot a loved one and try to move them elsewhere. You need to know what questions to ask, and how to interpret the questions that will be asked of you.