0:04
may of 2010 I was engaged to be married
0:09
living a good life and just working and
0:12
they had what they call in aortic
0:14
dissection with a wall of your aorta
0:15
just sort of tears like a piece of paper
0:18
and all the blood comes out and
0:20
fortunately I was at hospital when this
0:22
happened because I wasn't feeling well
0:24
they got me into emergency surgery right
0:27
away I was gosh
0:31
the surgery lasted for about 12 to 13
0:33
hours I was on a heart-lung machine for
0:36
about three hours I know my blood
0:38
stopped circulating for an hour anyway
0:40
long story short as I had two strokes
0:42
one to the back of my occipital lobe
0:45
which left me legally blind so I could
0:48
see your nose but it can't be anything
0:49
else and the other left me paralyzed
0:52
them at3 paraplegic well a bounced
0:56
around this happened overseas and I
0:58
wasn't well enough to get back to the
1:00
States for about a year so it's down
1:02
there for about a year I get back I went
1:05
right to Mass General got me into
1:07
Spaulding rehab I was in Spaulding rehab
1:10
for about three months then I went into
1:12
a nursing home in Attleboro then I went
1:15
back to my sterile then I bounced around
1:17
like this for good three and a half four
1:20
years nursing homes hospitals and
1:23
finally I landed in a place close by
1:26
Wathan nursing home
1:33
I think the three biggest things that I
1:35
wanted to get out of there that I was
1:37
happy to be here was privacy just quiet
1:40
it's noisy
1:42
you just have a place that you can sort
1:44
of feel safe in it's a little cocoon and
1:47
it's um you don't realize what your
1:51
privacy is worth until you don't have it
1:52
very very grateful that I got lucky
1:56
enough to get into this ABI waiver
1:58
program and it was really unexpected it
2:01
just so happened that a nurse in Wabun
2:04
had had someone the transition that the
2:06
year before getting much more of my life
2:09
back kind of having a nursing home it
2:11
was a big change especially the concept
2:13
of living in a house with other people
2:15
you know you're wondering where are
2:17
these people going to be am I going to
2:19
get along with them and what I found is
2:23
there were four other people myself
2:26
being one of the four and we're all very
2:29
very different and for the most part we
2:33
all respect each other and there's been
2:36
no conflict
2:42
and then the other thing of course was
2:44
your individuality comes back people
2:47
look at you for who you are and not you
2:49
know your situation what you are but you
2:52
have your own room the transition
2:56
assistance that MassHealth gives you
2:58
along with the provider who takes care
3:01
of the house is such that you can go out
3:03
you can buy clothes you can get
3:06
everything you need to live on your own
3:09
they provide a television Wi-Fi cable
3:14
it's it's unbelievable that there is
3:18
such a an opportunity for people who
3:21
might be languishing in a nursing home
3:23
thinking that this is the rest of my
3:25
life very autonomous and your wishes are
3:28
respected factor you know more the rule
3:32
than anything else I do an awful lot of
3:36
work on the internet but I'm an IT tech
3:39
person so in the nursing home I really
3:42
couldn't get online very much and do
3:44
anything and keep it touching my friends
3:46
via email and Skype and all of that so
3:49
I've got some really fantastic equipment
3:52
now which allows me to set all my
3:55
medical points up for myself
3:57
I do all my banking online for myself I
4:00
do a lot of research in an outside
4:05
vendors you know you can develop new
4:07
interests and expand your life and give
4:10
your life meaning so one of the
4:11
interests happens to go away for a
4:13
reason you're not stuck oh god now what
4:15
am I going to do you know you can oh
4:17
okay well I think I'll start trying to
4:19
do this and that's the biggest
4:21
opportunity for people in nursing homes
4:23
in my opinion you'll be able to get your
4:25
personality your privacy your health I
4:30
think you'll improve your mental health
4:33
much better outside the nursing home in
4:36
a safe environment I've got my life back
4:38
I've got my life back and the people who
4:41
love you are super happy for you imagine
4:44
the pressure takes off the people and
4:46
your family to know that you're in a
4:48
better place