Recent events have gotten me thinking now about the need for linkage with services to help chronically ill people when it becomes necessary to seek help outside their local communities. To know just how big a need there is out there you have only to look at GoFundMe, Youtube, and a variety of other public online forums. There is help available but it’s not always well-publicized. The financial cost alone to travel out of state can end up more than you have.

Most of the specialty clinics don’t cover lodging, and consultations are usually done on an outpatient basis, so that often requires staying in a hotel for several days on your own dime. For many on a low income and/or uninsured, this is impossibility without some financial assistance. The question is; where to look? When I found out that my local Medicaid transportation broker doesn’t transport people for over 50 miles, and the hotel fee for 4 or 5 days in just one of the two cities I need to travel to next month was going to cost most of my Disability check and that I would be forced to default on my regular monthly bills (already behind) in order to go and receive the more advanced medical help I need I was frantic and really bummed out. 

I was able to find a non-profit organization called The Georgia Medical Care Foundation that covers airfaire, lodging, and food for the time one has to be away for special testing, assessment, and/or treatment. This organization is connected with DFACS (Dept. of Family and Children’s Services).

If you live in Georgia and need financial assistance for such a medical trip have your doctor call (678) 527-3000 and have them fax him/her their application form. They will want to know your name, date of birth, dates and addresses of your travel, and possibly some medical information. Once the doctor fills it out, faxes it back, and you’re approved it then goes to Ginger Henry, the contact person at DFACS who cuts the check (404) 657-3596.

At first somebody gave me incorrect information that the funding was probably by reimbursement (which would have made this an inaccessible option for me), but when I spoke with another representative I was told that it is issued to the patient and/or airline/hotel up-front.

My neurologist, Dr. V. left word yesterday through one of her nurse practitioners that she’d be the one to fill out the form ( a big relief, since as of my last post no doctor had yet committed). I need to call my contact at Medicaid in the morning to follow up on where my application is in the process. I hope Dr. V. got it filled out and faxed back yesterday.

In my search earlier for other resources I found this webpage you might find useful which covers resources throughout the US that are available to help with various medical needs. There is also a section where you can search by state. You can also contact your state legislature to find out if they have set aside an indigent care fund (many states do). Your local representative can probably tell you if such a fund exists where you live and find out what the process and criteria is to access it.

There are also some illness-specific groups and organizations that will help financially.

I’m having alot of pain extending from the center of my spine inward to my abdomen, feeling as if someone has kicked me in the stomach, and waking up every few hours each night now with my body temperature all dysregulated; burning hot, then freezing cold, so I hope that the doctors at these clinics can find out what’s causing this and that there is some treatment that will get it stabilized at least. It is getting to be a bit too much.

I had about 2 weeks reprieve from the GI symptoms but they are back again. Now when I go to the bathroom my bowels feel like I’m passing shards of glass, and yesterday evening I noticed the toilet paper dotted with blood, and both back and front feels raw. I can’t tell whether I have another infection or if it’s something related to my Dysautonomia, or a combination of both. It’s 5:42 in the morning and I just took some pain medication so that I can hopefully get some sleep before the personal assistant comes at 9:30 AM.