Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 01:11:45 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772946
  • Total Topics: 66310
  • Online Today: 391
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 0
Guests: 351
Total: 351

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Author Topic: The place that's keeping me alive,....  (Read 6143 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline J.R.E.

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,207
  • Positive since 1985, joined forums 12/03
The place that's keeping me alive,....
« on: October 12, 2011, 08:43:12 pm »

Is getting quite the renovation:

Bay Pines VA in midst of $253 million building boom


http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/bay-pines-va-in-midst-of-253-million-building-boom/1196154


ST. PETERSBURG — Charles Boone wouldn't recognize the place.

Boone, who served in the Spanish-American War, was the first patient in 1933 at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, a then-remote hospital where even a few aged Civil War veterans would soon become patients.

From the humble beginnings of that $1 million soldier's home, what became the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg is today undergoing a $253 million building boom, the largest in its history. Facility officials expect to transform the treatment experience for the facility's 114,000 patients while keeping up with an increased veterans population.

The centerpiece of a dozen projects is a new $194 million, 156,000-square-foot Mental Health Center building on which construction began earlier this year. Completion is expected in 2014.

Bay Pines isn't alone in its reinvention. At the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, dozens of projects have been launched in the past two years, including expansions of the facility's renowned polytrauma and spinal cord injury centers.

Bay Pines, like many Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, is coping with an increased population of veterans needing medical or mental health care. Bay Pines expects a 4.4 percent increase in veterans enrolled for care by 2015, up to a total of 119,000 veterans.

And in the Tampa Bay area, officials say, patients tend to be older and, as a result, sicker than at other VA hospitals, thus requiring intense and more complicated care.

"We're becoming more patient-centered," said Kris Brown, Bay Pines' interim director. "We're hoping veterans will have quicker access to care. It will be a safer, more peaceful environment that promotes healing. … Some of our buildings are so old, we can't do some of the things we want to do."

Bay Pines' expansion and renovations are based on a new treatment model at VA facilities around the nation. The VA is trying to make veterans' outpatient care more seamless and less scattered, allowing them to make one visit at one location to see anyone from their primary care physician to nutritionist and pharmacist.

This new model is especially critical for Bay Pines, whose services are scattered in several locations on its 330-acre campus.

"We have to provide more space for other members of the care team in our primary care clinic," Brown said.

Perhaps the biggest transformation of care at Bay Pines will come with the new Mental Health Center.

"One thing I'm really excited about is that the treatment of mental illness has become more mainstream and open," said Dr. Dominique A. Thuriere, chief of mental health and behavioral sciences at Bay Pines. "It's an acknowledgement that these things happen to people and they need attention."

Mental health visits to Bay Pines have grown dramatically in the past decade, and the numbers are expected to climb further. Bay Pines officials expect patient mental health visits to climb to 211,000 by 2029, up from 150,000 in 2010.

The new center will increase acute care psychiatric beds from 33 to 40, the VA says.

The design, Thuriere said, will emphasize patient security and privacy with some individual rooms. Architects will emphasize warm colors and aim for a homey, noninstitutional look. "We didn't want the building to look like a spaceship," he said.

Separate areas for the mental health care of female veterans will be available, promoting camaraderie and perhaps a less threatening environment than one where men and women are mixed together, Thuriere said.

"This place is designed with the patient in mind," he said. "We're all very excited to go from a 1933 setting to something state of the art."

Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Contact William R. Levesque at levesque@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3432.

Construction boom

The Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg is in the midst of the largest construction boom in its history. Projects will reshape Bay Pines' 330-acre campus and, officials say, fundamentally change the way veterans get treatment at the facility.

Current Meds ; Viramune / Epzicom Eliquis, Diltiazem. Pravastatin 80mg, Ezetimibe. UPDATED 2/18/24
 Tested positive in 1985,.. In October of 2003, My t-cell count was 16, Viral load was over 500,000, Percentage at that time was 5%. I started on  HAART on October 24th, 2003.

 As of Oct 2nd, 2023, Viral load Undetectable.
CD 4 @676 /  CD4 % @ 18 %
Lymphocytes,absolute-3815 (within range)


72 YEARS YOUNG

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2011, 08:56:01 pm »
 That's great News Ray  ;)  I wanted to ask you a question? what do you know about any VA nursing homes, bob & I are both Vets, and we were looking into that as an option rather than any State-run nursing homes? any info you can provide would be helpful, we do know that we do qaulify for this option.... any thoughts
suggestions?
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

Offline Dachshund

  • Member
  • Posts: 6,058
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2011, 09:17:58 pm »
My dad was in a VA nursing home and I think the only difference was the daily cost (private pay) to a veteran was lower. I think if you have a VA related disabilty the cost is covered. I don't think the care is much different from a standard nursing home.

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2011, 09:23:50 pm »
My dad was in a VA nursing home and I think the only difference was the daily cost (private pay) to a veteran was lower. I think if you have a VA related disabilty the cost is covered. I don't think the care is much different from a standard nursing home.

Cost-wise yeah, I don't really see that much of a difference, there's a VA home in Santa Fe, that's about 70 miles north of me, and they want like 3,500 a month, I mean, SHIT, I don't even make that much  ???
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

Offline Dachshund

  • Member
  • Posts: 6,058
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2011, 09:40:45 pm »
Poor people like us will be on Medicaid, wards of the state. If you have any cash saved you'll have to private pay anywhere you go including a VA facility. Once they've depleted your savings Medicaid will kick in. By that time you won't even know where you are. Hopefully I'll drop dead dramatically at a Walmart or Macy's.

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2011, 09:48:32 pm »
Poor people like us will be on Medicaid, wards of the state. If you have any cash saved you'll have to private pay anywhere you go including a VA facility. Once they've depleted your savings Medicaid will kick in. By that time you won't even know where you are. Hopefully I'll drop dead dramatically at a Walmart or Macy's.

 :D I'll settle for wally world, then the greeter can just move my dead body to the side, and say "move along nothing to see here, just some fart that just kicked the bucket buying shit he didn't need"  ;D

EDITED TO ADD:  I don't even qualify for State Medicaid, I lost that 3 yrs ago, the part that made me dual eligible for the Medicare premium of $96.40 as well as the Extra Help & the Medicare Part D all of that is useless to me @ my current income level.....
« Last Edit: October 12, 2011, 10:02:40 pm by denb45 »
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

Offline J.R.E.

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,207
  • Positive since 1985, joined forums 12/03
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2011, 01:14:57 am »
  I wanted to ask you a question? what do you know about any VA nursing homes, bob & I are both Vets, and we were looking into that as an option rather than any State-run nursing homes?

Hello Dennis,

Honestly, I don't know that much about it. I'm going to have to ask questions the next time I go down there.  Meantime, I found this link, but it doesn't cover costs:

http://www.baypines.va.gov/BAYPINES/services/gecinpatient.asp


http://www.baypines.va.gov/BAYPINES/services/gecoutpatient.asp


Ed's Grandfather spent the last weeks of his life in this facility, back in the late 70's, but doesn't recall the cost, or how it was paid for.  Ed's grandfather had Altzheimers, and no other service related disabilities.


Are you currently getting your healthcare/ meds through the VA?



Ray
« Last Edit: October 13, 2011, 01:27:14 am by J.R.E. »
Current Meds ; Viramune / Epzicom Eliquis, Diltiazem. Pravastatin 80mg, Ezetimibe. UPDATED 2/18/24
 Tested positive in 1985,.. In October of 2003, My t-cell count was 16, Viral load was over 500,000, Percentage at that time was 5%. I started on  HAART on October 24th, 2003.

 As of Oct 2nd, 2023, Viral load Undetectable.
CD 4 @676 /  CD4 % @ 18 %
Lymphocytes,absolute-3815 (within range)


72 YEARS YOUNG

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2011, 10:38:08 am »
Thanks for the links Ray, I'll look into them, and No, when I 1st got my SSDI & Pension back in 98, i was told by the VA, that I made too much, ( they said the cut off was less than 900 a month for Vets) now that sounded like a BULLSHIT to me, but I never followed up on any of what they said, and I don't think that's correct  ???  besides I already had private health care, and 2 yrs later, I got medicare...

Now the VA also told me that if I lived in an area, where there was no heath-care for me (like out-in-the-sticks) then I could use the closest VA for any medical care & Meds   what I got outta this was ( the VA is there if I really needed it, but in my case I don't), also both Bob & I do not have any service related disabilities  :-\

however I think that's a bunch of Bullshit, cause both of us suffer form Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bob was a Vietnam Vet, and went in the Army in 74' but I'm not a Vietnam Vet, I went in the Navy in 77'
to date, both of us have never needed to use the VA for any medical care.....
« Last Edit: October 13, 2011, 11:04:40 am by denb45 »
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

Offline J.R.E.

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,207
  • Positive since 1985, joined forums 12/03
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2011, 04:26:30 pm »
Hey Dennis,

I enrolled in the VA Healthcare system, around November of 2009.  I knew at that time that I would be dropping my group healthcare that I received through work, by January 1st of 2010 , because of the costs.

When I notified the VA that I would have no Healthcare insurance, they immediately enrolled me into the Ryan White program. Everything went smoothly and effortlessly.

I am not on SSDI, or medicare, and have been fortunate/lucky to always have worked throughout these 26 years of having HIV.

I am in group number 5 for the VA ( see link below Non-service related. )

http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/eligibility/PriorityGroupsAll.asp

 I was in the Army ( active duty) from 1971 to 1973, and received my discharge  in May of 1977.



In this group, I make no co-pays, other than the $8.00 per month for prescriptions. ( see link)

Copay rates:


http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/CopayRates/CopayRates.pdf






Financial thresholds :

http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/VAIncomeThresholds/VAIncomeThresholds.pdf




My primary care doctor ( through the VA ) has told me that I can use the VA emergency at any time should the need arise. But I haven't done so at this point.  The last time I used an emergency room was in 2003, when I had 16 t-cells and Pneumonia. I also had group health insurance at the time through work

It's been a life saver for me.  I never thought that when I was drafted back in 1971, that I would need these benefits.

I have no service related disabilities.

Ray

« Last Edit: October 13, 2011, 04:35:27 pm by J.R.E. »
Current Meds ; Viramune / Epzicom Eliquis, Diltiazem. Pravastatin 80mg, Ezetimibe. UPDATED 2/18/24
 Tested positive in 1985,.. In October of 2003, My t-cell count was 16, Viral load was over 500,000, Percentage at that time was 5%. I started on  HAART on October 24th, 2003.

 As of Oct 2nd, 2023, Viral load Undetectable.
CD 4 @676 /  CD4 % @ 18 %
Lymphocytes,absolute-3815 (within range)


72 YEARS YOUNG

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2011, 05:23:33 pm »
Thanks Ray, I bookmarked those VA-links  ;) I'm that glad the VA  was an option for you  ;) it good to know that us Vets can get what we need , if we really need it  ;D

 I would have had to use that VA-option, the one that you are currently on, after I lost my dual eligibility (extra help & Part D Medicare back in 2009) but thanks to my Local State ASO office, I didn't have to do any of that, they had me sign over my Medicare to Blue Cross Blue shield, and they are the ones that pay for my H.A.R.R.T drugs along w/ Ryan White...

 but, all of my other non-HIV drugs have a co-pay of no more than $10 or $15 dollars, my Doctors Visits are covered by Ryan White, however, I still have some co-pays for other things, like specialist, and out-of-network-care  ???  Mark tells me that you don't wanna use out-of-the-network-care, I hear that's very expensive :-[    I hope my States funding doesn't run outta money, if that happens, I'm happy to know, that I could use that VA-option, if there wasn't anything else  ;)
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

Offline denb45

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,048
  • "1987 Classic Old School POZ+"
Re: The place that's keeping me alive,....
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2011, 05:49:48 pm »
OK, this is the part that's a little tricky about me being on Medicare, I don't think that I have that VA-option @ all due to being on Medicare, I know I can sign my medicare over to any other place, but I'm not sure if I can do this w/ the VA, so I don't think I'm eligible for any VA-benefits at all, I was in the Navy form 77' to 85' I could be wrong about that, so I'm not real sure  ???
"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.