Vladimir Konstantinov swapped the hockey sticks for Uno. In fact, the ex-Soviet and Detroit Red Wings star player plays so often he’s going through a pack a week, wearing down the cards with the hands that made him one of the best. defenders of his generation.
Posted at 11:17 a.m.
During a recent visit to the Konstantinovs’ suburban Detroit condo, he easily defeated his longtime nurse, Pam Demanuel, and smiled. That’s the best he can get these days.
Since suffering severe brain damage when his drunken limo driver caused an accident while Konstantinov was celebrating the first of consecutive Red Wings championships in the late 1990s, the former NHL team captain and the Red Army had to rebuild his life. Now 55, he needs help with walking, eating, drinking and brushing his teeth, and a caregiver stays awake while he sleeps in case he needs to go to the toilet. Although he seems to understand the questions, his answers are limited to a few words and are not always easy to understand.
Photo Andrew Cutraro, archives Associated Press
Next week, Konstantinov risks losing the 24-hour care that kept him at home. Due to high costs of care and changes to a Michigan law, he could be moved to a facility where restraints or medication would be needed to keep him safe.
Konstantinov is the standard-bearer for a difficult situation facing approximately 18,000 Michigan residents who have suffered serious injuries related to traffic accidents and lost their state-funded unlimited lifelong medical care that each driver had to pay by law. A bipartisan change to the law that had helped Michigan have the highest auto insurance rates in the nation went into effect last summer and left Konstantinov and the thousands of others who depended on it with the worst options.
Faced with the specter of losing 24/7 care, Konstantinov’s family asked for help from the legislature and the public, launching an online crowdfunding campaign to help offset their significant expenses and giving journalists a behind-the-scenes look into their lives.
Photo Carlos Osorio, Associated Press
“This is the first time we’ve let people see the battles he fights every day,” his wife, Irina Konstantinov, told The Associated Press earlier this month. Fans see him at a Red Wings game greeting people and think he must be fine, but he isn’t. »
Konstantinov was 30 years old and had just finished a championship season in which he was voted the NHL’s top defenseman when the accident, which occurred on June 13, 1997, ended his career and changed the course of his career. life forever. His friend and teammate Slava Fetisov, another member of the famed Russian Red Wings quintet, was also in the limo but did not suffer career-threatening injuries.
Photo Tom Pidgeon, archives Associated Press
Konstantinov’s wife and daughter, Anastasia, tried to care for him after he emerged from a two-month coma, but soon found they needed constant professional help. After years of round-the-clock professional care, therapy and a lot of determination, Konstantinov learned to walk and talk again.
But seeking to cut top car insurance policies, the Republican-led Michigan Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2019 passed a law that went into effect last July allowing drivers to choose their level of injury protection and opt-in — repealing the previous requirement that provided unlimited lifetime coverage. Among other changes, the new law also reduced reimbursements from the state fund for health care providers who treat accident victims.
Although the law reduced Michigan auto insurance premiums to some extent and led the state to issue reimbursements of $400 per vehicle in an election year, it left Konstantinov and others like him face the prospect of losing the constant care they need. Reimbursements for some post-acute services under the new law have been reduced to 55% of 2019 levels, which home care agencies say is financially unsustainable.
“We’re incurring about US$200,000 in (losses) just for Vlad’s case,” said Theresa Ruedisueli, regional director of operations for Arcadia Home Care & Staffing, which provides Konstantinov’s home care.
If the company can’t deal with Konstantinov without losing more money, it plans to drop him as a customer on 1is June.
Photo Carlos Osorio, Associated Press
Anastasia Konstantinov launched a crowdfunding campaign three years ago to help pay for her father’s care, but it raised less than 10% of her $250,000 goal. The Red Wings and NHL Players’ Association are also exploring ways to help maintain Konstantinov’s home care.
“We are actively working with him and plan to host a fundraising event to help maintain his care and provide more resources to extend it in the future,” the Red Wings said in a statement.
The NHLPA has been in contact with the family and is working to determine how to resolve the issue, according to spokesperson Jonathan Weatherdon.
However, few if any others affected by this law change have Konstantinov’s notoriety in Michigan, and many are also struggling to find the money to keep their care at home 24 hours a day.
Some lawmakers have said they never intended the revisions to apply retroactively to crashes that occurred before the new law was signed. But their efforts to amend it have stalled.
“I don’t believe the legislature intended home health care workers to experience this kind of reduction,” said Republican state Rep. Phil Green, who sponsored a bill that would increase reimbursements for rehabilitation treatment and home care.
“The proposition was, ‘Both on the health care side and the insurance side, we needed a haircut.’ The reality is that for home health care as well as rehabilitation facilities, it was more of a scalp than a haircut. »
But Michigan Republican House Speaker Jason Wentworth, who backed the current law, pointed out in March that efforts to change the law during this year’s session had stalled, pointing to the savings it brought to drivers. He declined an interview request.
As for Konstantinov, who met lawmakers on Capitol Hill, he seems well aware that his quality of life is in jeopardy.
“I love living here,” he said when The Associated Press visited his home.
Why ?
“My house,” he replied.