is self management possible/feasible?

[zach]

is viraday, and its availability from canada, a viable alternative?

[leatherman]

can you explain what you mean? Yes, you can manage your own health care without a case manager. However to have proper access to Ryan White/ADAP you will have to have some contact with a RW case manager.

I read you no longer have insurance in a previous post. Have you applied for ADAP or medicaid assistance to get your medications? Have you talked to an ASO (which might even be able to provide meds)? have you applied at the pharma website for your medication for co-pay assistance or patient payment assistance? there are many programs and agencies available to help patient obtain meds.

[thunter34]

can you explain what you mean?

I'm guessing he means can't he just score some pills from Canada without having to be bothered by all the rest of the whistles and bells involved, go where the wind blows and hope for the best.

As for having to be attached to an RW case manager, maybe I am somehow....but I'll be damned if I know how.  I haven't seen one in years and wouldn't know him or her if my CW stood right in front of me.

[leatherman]

As for having to be attached to an RW case manager, maybe I am somehow....but I'll be damned if I know how.  I haven't seen one in years and wouldn't know him or her if my CW stood right in front of me.

When I lived in OH, in an area without an ASO, I used to get mailed the form from a lady in a family counseling/social services non-profit org - which had nothing to do with HIV except for handling out RW benefits. The case managers at my ASO in SC handle RW down here.

If you're receiving RW/ADAP benefits, then somewhere there is a RW case manager handling your case. somebody is having you sign a document every 6 months (I think that's for many if not all states) to receive RW benefits.

[zach]

i'm not on rw or adap. tim is right on

[thunter34]

If you're receiving RW/ADAP benefits, then somewhere there is a RW case manager handling your case. somebody is having you sign a document every 6 months (I think that's for many if not all states) to receive RW benefits.

Oh, yeah....that's Miss Wanda.  She's not a case manager, though.  She is totally just the "sign here for RW" lady.  She actually does something tangible.  I have yet to see or hear of anybody in the Grady IDP that's tight with their case worker and can tell you anything they've done for them.  And I've been there 8 years. 

Anyway...that was the discrepancy - just a semantics type thing since the CW's aren't really the ones doing the renewals around here.  But oh yes...you'd better believe it's an every 6 months kind of dealie.

Which brings me back to Zach.  I can kinda see where he is coming from with this - although I ain't even gonna lie and say it doesn't make me nervouse as hell - because of who I've learned him to be at heart vs. the way they basically tether you with ADAP and RW.  As things are, if you don't renew on the 6 month mark - every six months - you get booted and wait listed.  You also get wait listed if you miss two appointments or miss picking up your meds for two months running.  You (leather) posted the most recent stats on that, so you know what that means.

Zach, if you have NOT yet missed TWO appointments or TWO meds pickups, then you may not be completely without ADAP/RW yet...but you very soon will be.  I get where you're coming from with this.  I dig it, but I also urge you to think - really think - about where your health stands at the moment and how much wiggle room you really have.  Also - and this does tie in to the other - consider the mental health options available through the IDP.  I'm only saying this based on conversations you've posted in the past, but I'm here to tell ya I'm feeling WORLDS better now than I did when we saw each other last.

Here's the other thing - and maybe leather or someone else would know:  if you ARE on ADAP/RW and move to another state, you used to be able to transfer your status with you without getting booted.  I don't know if that still applies, but if it does get thee to the nearest location stat and problem solved.  But if not, you may be wait listed.

I would STILL go there and get wait listed.  That way, you may only have to catch the gap for awhile rather than from now on.

[Hellraiser]

You can potentially medicate yourself with meds assuming you are perfectly adherent but if there were ever viral replication going on for some reason there is no way you would know if you're not getting your VL/CD4 tested every 6 months at a minimum.  Without insurance you will need RW to pick up the tab for this.