My parent just fell and was hospitalized in Buffalo — what should I do about long-term care in the next 48 hours?
Short answer: Ask the hospital's discharge planner directly what level of care they're recommending, and don't sign a discharge plan you don't understand. You generally have more time and options than the discharge timeline pressure suggests.
Hospital discharge planning in the Buffalo metro (whether from a Kaleida Health, Catholic Health, or Erie County Medical Center facility) moves fast, and families often feel pressured to make a permanent placement decision within a day or two. In most cases, a short-term rehabilitation stay at a skilled nursing facility (often covered by Medicare for a limited period after a qualifying hospital stay) is a reasonable bridge that buys real time to research assisted living, memory care, or in-home care options properly, rather than making a rushed permanent decision from a hospital bed. Ask the discharge planner explicitly: is this recommendation for short-term rehab, or a permanent placement, and what would happen if we asked for more time.
