logmoss82 said...
I hate to dash hopes but many places like this one remain but a pipe dream in the modern world of medical insurance profiteering. I followed the innana house as well and there have been no new developments for 4-5 years. They don't even maintain their website anymore. While people who announce these ideas have the best of intentions, they really only serve to get our hopes up falsely. There was another woman in Canada who inherited millions after her husband who owned a large distilery, passed away from suspected Lyme. She announced a similar plan to start a residential treatment center for lyme sufferers. 10 years later nothing. People fail to understand the economics of such a project. The only reason inpatient residential treatment facilities can exist for cancer and alcohol and drug addiction is because they are HEAVILY subsidized by insurance. Initial funding for these places often comes from grants and donations, but in order for them to carry on doing business they have to rely on insurance payouts for over 90% of their revenue. This will never happen in Lyme land as many of us already know.
While I believe such a place is greatly needed for lyme patients, it isnt really possible logistically. There are too many unknowns. Imagine having to house people for an undetermined amount of time using undetermined treatments. As hit and miss as cancer and addiction treatments can be, there is more accepted scientific certainty in the medical community as far as diagnosis and treatment goes. We can't even accurately diagnose Lyme and coinfections, much less treat them effectively or consistently. We happen to have one of the many diseases that science is ignorant to. So we are left to the care of private outpatient doctors, who are willing to treat us or attempt to treat us as long as it is economically sustainable for them to do so.
Unfortunately, as you can tell from reading posts on this site, Chronic lyme and coinfection treatment is for most simply not effective. Private doctors can pursue ineffective and uproven treatment attempts because they are paid by us the patient. They are willing to throw darts blindfolded and hope to hit a bullseye. The rest of the medical and insurance community refuses to do this. As lyme patients it's really all we have. But to expect this in a systematic institutional inpatient setting is unrealistic in the current economic and medical environment.
All that being said, such a place is exactly what is needed in theory, and I would be the first to signup if I could, but the realities of the situation prevent this from happening.
I think the G. Magnotta Foundation is still active...I didn't realize she was planning a treatment facility.
I thought the focus was more on research for better testing and treatment.