Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 23, 1993 TAG: 9311230211
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For Nancy and Louis Baublitz of Bedford County, the nightmare has become reality.
A year ago, when they were featured in a Good Neighbors Fund story, they were living in a comfortable mobile home on several acres they had picked out shortly after their wedding in 1983.
It was their dream home, where Louis could putter around with his hobbies and Nancy could work on her sewing and craft projects.
In early 1992, Louis, who is now 51, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He needed constant supervision.
Nancy, unable to afford to hire a companion for him, was forced to retire at the age of 49.
Louis had been a self-employed painter and had no pension plan or medical insurance.
It would be a year before he would be eligible for Medicaid, and their only income was from a monthly $525 disability check.
Nancy would not be able to collect her retirement benefits until she turned 54, in 1997.
That summer, the couple went to Roanoke Area Ministries for help with their mortgage payment and utility bills.
They were given money raised through the Good Neighbors Fund drive.
Because of this and other donations, they managed to hang onto their home until October, when they were forced to put their property on the market and move to a rented house.
"It's a nice house," Nancy said, with three acres for Louis, a lifelong hunter and outdoorsman, to roam around.
They might have been able to find cheaper housing in a more crowded area, but the change "would be awful. I don't think he could cope with it," Nancy said.
Louis' condition in the past year has been "so-so," Nancy said, with no improvement but no setbacks either.
The Baublitzes don't have much equity in their property, which hadn't been sold by November.
Any leftover proceeds from the sale will go toward paying bills, Nancy said. But in the meantime, new bills have begun to pile up.
Their rent payment is $342 less than their mortgage payment, but as a result, their income is considered to have increased, Nancy said.
As a result, Louis' disability check and the food stamps they receive will be cut.
His Medicaid benefits will be affected as well.
"It doesn't seem like we can ever get ahead," Nancy said.
To make ends meet, Nancy returned to RAM for help with electric bills for both houses.
If she can take care of the debts on the old property, she said, "things will be looking up."
It was hard to leave their old home, she said.
Louis held up well until the last moments. As for her, "I do my best to cope," she said.
Checks should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not the amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed.
Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Gifts cannot be earmarked for any particular individual or family. Gifts are tax-deductible.
by CNB