Yeah, getting preventative maintenance is entirely too difficult, imo, not to get political, and not to point to the bloat in the healthcare industry, but just, blegh, sorry, that your mom has to deal with that.
EDIT: My mom spent near 30 years with a pinched nerve in her neck from an accident where a truck ran over her car at high speed on my second birthday. She used ice packs... in a nice universe it would have been treated, was in her neck though so it could have paralyzed her, she only could get it fixed recently, up until then, she'd just use ice packs and make stifled, pained noises.
ETA: It was an eighteen wheeler, just, crushed her, she drug herself out, then limped home, and... pretended like nothing had happened, before, collapsing.
ETA2: It was an MGB, which was a tiny car, even if a bit sporty... wasn't the first time it had to be repaired.