Hi DAS,

I have never heard of Medicare covering something like this, and serious doubt it is true.

Is your mother over 65? In my area, the department of social services will help with cleanups for the elderly . . . and serious cleanups, one involved lots of adult diapers and lice. If you have anything along the lines of a commission on aging, they might be able to provide some guidance (also in terms of the likely consequences of contacting particular authorities).

Another place people find help is religious communities. Has your mother been a member of any church?

It does seem likely that your mother might have gotten the MRSA from the hoard, or at least that it contributed. So you really would need to be careful about the safety of anyone who might help.

Above all, though, your mother needs to acknowledge that the environment is not safe and needs to cooperate in any clean up.

It's only going to get worse, and be more dangerous for her (and you).

Keep us posted. Best wishes.

Hi,

My mother is a hoarder and has been for a very long time. However, as the years have gone past she continues to get worse and worse. Two weeks ago she was hospitalized with an abcess that had become badly infected. When the test results came back she has MRSA. I have been doing some research on this and I know it can be caused by an unclean environment. Well her hoarding has led to a rat infestation in her house. She is completely sane but has come to believe that her situation is normal. I have been trying to clean a little at a time because of course she does not want to get rid of anything including the garbage. We live in a state that if I talk to medical help regarding this situation they will send in the Health dept and since she is not capable of doing things right now, I will be the one stuck. Someone told me that Medicare could help with the clean up. Do you happen to know if this is true? And would this result in the authorities coming in and taking over?