MESA, AZ (AZFamily) \u2014 Carol Colborn cares for her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease in 2018 and is now in the moderately severe stage, while also undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and targeted therapy herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to give up. But then I couldn\u2019t. I love him. And he took care of me before all this,\u201d Colborn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got cancer, that was when I said, \u2018How can I do it?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Health guide helps with daily needs<\/p>\n
Colborn said she found EZ Health, a personal health care guide service that helped her navigate paperwork and connected her with services.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody comes here to give me rest, respite, and looks after my husband while I\u2019m going through my things at the cancer center,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Colborn said the program saves her $1,000 a month on a caretaker and another $500 a month on transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have 400 miles per month of $3 Uber rides. So guess what it did to us? We didn\u2019t become prisoners of our home anymore. We were able to go out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The rides help them get to appointments and go out to dinner, church and the theater.<\/p>\n
Medicare benefit<\/p>\n
The Medicare benefit connects eligible patients with a dedicated guide to help identify resources. Community health integration aims to help people overcome social determinants of health.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour guide is also completely independent. They\u2019re completely unbiased to any; they\u2019re only working on you,\u201d Colborn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were prisoners. Now we\u2019re kind of free again,\u201d Colborn said.<\/p>\n
Through their health guide, Colborn said she also got three wigs and a home safety inspection for free. <\/p>\n
Seniors can ask their health care provider about Medicare\u2019s health integration benefit or go to EZHealth.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n