A DAUGHTER'S

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH REPORTER
EARS ARE NEVER FAR AWAY WHEN Donna Tunno talks about having to move her mother from an assisted living facility to a nursing home.
"She's simply not ready to be moved to an institutional setting where she will lose most of the memory she has left," Tunno says of her mother, 82-year-old June Megela, who has Alzheimer's disease.
"I recently visited five nursing homes and cried through every one of them. It's worse than death," Tunno said.
"It's not that nursing homes are bad places. There is a need for them. It's just that my mother does not need that level of care yet," she said.
Bringing Megela home is not an option, and financial reality is facing Tunno and her husband, Bernie, of Canfield.
Megela has gone through $60,000 the past two years, all that she had, and the Tunnos can't afford the $2,300 a month it costs to keep Megela at Alterra Clare Bridge Cottage in Austintown, a facility for memory-impaired adults.
At the end of March, at the latest, they will be forced to move Megela to a nursing home so she will qualify for federal Medicaid dollars.
Comparative costs
Tunno says it makes no sense that Medicaid will pay $5,200 a month to keep her mother in a nursing home, but will not pay half that amount to keep Megela at Alterra.
Medicaid could save $36,000 a year and let her stay where she is better off, Tunno said, as more tears fell.
Megela does not have long-term care insurance. Her Social Security check is $907 a month, less $128 for secondary insurance with AARP, leaving only $777 toward Alterra's monthly bill.
"We just didn't think about long-term insurance," said Bernie, who owns the Tunno Insurance Agency on South Street in Boardman. Donna, who used to be a social worker for Mahoning County Children Services and a purchasing agent for Youngstown State University, works in the office of Tunno Insurance.
Donna Tunno, who grew up in Boardman, hopes some agency, organization or individual will come forward and help with the expenses to "buy" her mother more time in Alterra.
Legislative effort
State legislation -- Senate Bill 129 -- has been introduced by State Sen. Eric Fingerhut of Cleveland, D-25th, which would permit a Medicaid waiver for assisted living.
Assisted living refers to a type of residential facility that offers personal care, a supportive environment, and a limited amount of medical care. A nursing home provides intermediate or skilled nursing care for up to 24 hours a day for people who do not need to be hospitalized. Both types of facilities are licensed by the Ohio Department of Health.
Currently, Medicaid regulations do not permit paying for assisted living. A waiver would set aside those rules.
But passage of the bill could be two or three years away, and Donna Tunno said it will not likely help her mother.Change in temperament
Looking back, Tunno said she did not realize what was happening to her mother when she was becoming mean and paranoid.
"She would call me and talk ... and say I was worthless."
"She would tell people in the store that I'd taken her money. As time went on, I wondered if she had ever loved me," Donna said.
Megela began acting so mean, even her grandchildren won't come to see her, Tunno said.
But her mother wasn't always like that.
Megela was a "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II, had worked at Gray Drug Store and Homestead Restoration, and was a cosmetics buyer for Strouss' in Youngstown.
"Even at this stage, she puts on makeup and dresses up every day," Donna said.
Megela also cleaned the kitchen, pews and windows at St. Charles Catholic Church in Boardman.
"They let her clean here. It's more like a home," Tunno said.
Tunno said a new doctor, a geriatric specialist, has adjusted her mother's medication and she is calmer. Also, Tunno said the Alterra staff is specially trained to deal with the memory-impaired.
"She has never gotten so much love as here. Because she's loved, she's become sweet and loving, like she used to be the first 25 years of my life," Tunno said.
Back to herself
"My mother, as I knew her, has returned to me in some fashion. She actually seems to like me ... and even told me she loved me. She laughs and smiles a lot these days."
"She is a favorite of the staff because she can walk and talk, take care of herself, and causes lots of excitement.
"She 'hangs' with the staff because she thinks the other residents are insane," Tunno said with a laugh.
"For the first time in the last 34 years, I see my mother feeling loved, feeling special, feeling popular, smiling and at peace. I don't want that to end before it has to," Tunno said.
Seeking assistance
Tunno has sought financial help from the Department of Veterans Affairs because her father was a World War II veteran. But because her parents were divorced at the time of his death, Megela was refused services, she said.
She contacted county agencies, the Alzheimer's Association, an attorney specializing in elder law, and elected officials, all to no avail.
Tunno recently heard from a representative of U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, who said the office is looking for a Medicaid program for which her mother might qualify. She even wrote to Oprah Winfrey. Both are long shots, she acknowledged.
"I know my mother's [high] level of functioning won't last, but it would be unbearable to move her to a nursing home now. She deserves this level of dignity, respect and love at the end of her life," Tunno said.
alcorn@vindy.com