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KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM |
“A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the “Forgotten Kentuckians” |
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THE NEWSLETTER November 30, 2007
A NEW DAY DAWNS... Just a short time after you read this, it will be “Governor Beshear.” A new administration takes over in Frankfort on Dec. 12, and with that rises the hopes of thousands of persons living in nursing homes for a better day. This new administration has promised Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform that it will support minimum staffing standards for all nursing homes in the state and work to have these established as soon as possible. Establishing minimum staffing standards is the single most important thing the new Beshear administration can do for nursing home residents. Imagine having enough front-line caregivers on duty at all times so that residents can get help at their bedside or anywhere in the facility just by ringing their call bell or asking a nurses’ aide. No more, “I’ll get to you later, honey, I have seventeen people to take care of this afternoon.” When there are too few front-line caregivers the nursing home residents suffer from malnutrition, broken bones, painful bedsores and dehydration. There are not enough nurses to help residents eat when they need help, or help get them out of bed when they need to go to the bathroom, or turn them in their bed causing the bedsores. Even a cool glass of water is out of reach many times because of insufficient staff to answer call bells. There certainly are other issues, and we look forward to working with the new administration on them, too. And we will begin keeping you informed on a regular basis about these issues, and how you can help us on them.
BYE, BYE BIRDIE Ever wonder where old health care cabinet secretaries go? The health care community across the Kentucky is awaiting the appointment by Gov.-elect Steve Beshear of his new secretary of the cabinet for health and family services. That’s the spot that daunted Republican Mark Birdwhistell took over after his mentor, Dr. Jim Holsinger, left the post to run for U.S. Surgeon General. At this writing, Dr. Holsinger is still waiting for his appointment in Washington and Mr. Birdwhistell is planning to return to the University of Kentucky, where he came from four years or so ago ……Meanwhile, another cabinet secretary, Jimmy Helton, showed up recently at a conference on transparency and patient advocacy in Lexington. Afterwards, Mr. Helton said he listened to a speech on the necessity of minimum staffing regulations, and said he wasn’t convinced. Not enough proof it is needed, he said…… Then comes along an organization in New York called the Long Term Care Coordinating Council whose latest newsletter said: “Study after study has indicated that sufficient staffing is key to quality of life and quality of care. Yet while we give nursing homes millions of dollars a year, and trust them with our most vulnerable loved ones, we do not require that they maintain adequate staffing to provide decent care. It is time that our elected officials, who sign off on payments to nursing homes, sign on to hold them responsible for having safe staffing levels.” Well said, and so we say, “Bye, bye, Birdie.”
LETTERS A Nurse’s Lament Nursing Homes in Kentucky are worse than they have ever been! The only difference is the staff knows when the State is coming to inspect, and they even have codes and words to warn other employees. It is the same thing over and over again, THE MAJORITY ARE IN IT FOR THE MONEY. Less staffing means more money in the owner’s pocket. People need to wake up and open their eyes and look around in the nursing homes. It does not do any good to tell the immediate staff, If you tell a Nurse’s Aide, and they try to do something to correct, nine times out of 10 their superior will pull rank on them and make their job even more difficult then what it already is. Patients are not turned properly, nor regularly. They have bed sores. And when a staph infection breaks out, it is all hush, hush, and don't tell. I have seen 1 aide trying to actually feed 2 patients at a time. God forbid if the patient is not able to ask for a snack because they are passed on by. The snack distributor isn't licensed by the state, so therefore they are not allowed to do any "hands on" care, and this also means drinks of water, Can you imagine laying and waiting for someone to come into your room to give you a sip of water? Oh, yes, sure their diapers are
changed "regularly," although they may have just been changed 45 minutes
before, but if they soil their clothes, they will lay in the feces for
another 2 hours because it isn't changing time yet, Remember they were
just changed. PEOPLE, OPEN YOUR EYES, ARE YOU IGNORANT? If something doesn't appear
right to you, it's because it probably isn't... There needs to be more laws on behalf of the aged citizens. It must become a "requirement" to have proper staffing. -- NAME WITHHELD for obvious reasons.
A College Student Who’s Been There... My name is Jenna and I am a biology student at a university outside of Kentucky. I am also a certified nursing assistant and have worked in both low-income and upper-crust nursing homes. To be honest, the medical care at both institutions was well below what I would consider good, much less great. It makes me ill knowing the grossly large salaries that the administrators of these nursing homes make, while the nurses (the few that are staffed during any given shift) are paid so minimally. The healthcare providers that are working feel overworked and underpaid, leading to sub-par treatment of the residents. If nursing homes were truly non-profit and the administrators accepted a much lower salary, they could afford to pay the nurses and nursing assistants what they deserve, and have more on staff all the time. I also feel that our country "forgets" our elderly and it makes me so sad. They are an infinite pool of wisdom and pillars of value that should be appreciated and respected. -- Jenna
‘BEE LINES’ (This is a new part of our newsletter by Bee Becker. Ms. Becker is a salty, saucy, satiric advocate for nursing home reform from Indiana. She often shares news stories pertaining to nursing home reform and adds her own commentary, like here.) Bill to combat elder abuse dormant on Capitol Hill by William Neikirk ….The Elder Justice Act, designed to combat abuse, neglect and exploitation of older Americans, still gathers dust in Congress. It has been doing that for five years, odd for a bill with few visible opponents. ( …..) The bill appears to be a victim of Congress' partisan divisions, competing priorities, the draining nature of the Iraq war, constant fights over money, the difficulty of passing a stand-alone bill and too little time. The reason the legislation is not moving faster, is that many seniors are abused at home by family members. "I think because of that, perhaps, there is not as much stir up here to do something," Lincoln said. Kathleen Quinn, executive director of the National Adult Protective Services Association, said funding for protective services for seniors is insufficient and uneven across the country. "It's an invisible population with an invisible social service system," she said. BEE’S COMMENT: “I understand that it is a mere shadow of its former self anyway, stripped of its most potent weapon--criminal accountability.”
P.S. OLD AGE BUMPER STICKERS: I asked my wife if old men wear boxers or briefs? She said Depends.
The only trouble with retirement…. you never get a day off.
GOODBYE tension! Hello pension.
I was at the Beauty shop for nearly two hours. That was only for the estimate.
Sometimes I wake up grumpy… and some days I let him sleep.
Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away.
Retirement is the best medicine.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you recognize a mistake when you make it again.
At my age Flowers scare me.
I'm so old that whenever I eat out, they ask me for money up front.
SUPPORT BINGO: Keep Grandma off the streets.
Retirement: twice as much husband, half as much money.
My wife always gives me sound advice. 99% sound… 1% advice.
You know you're getting older when Happy Hour is a nap.
The older I get, the better I was. -- from Joe Isaac, I think.
MEMORIALIZE YOUR LOVED ONES KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM is a non-profit organization. That means that any donations to the organization are tax deductible by the donor. With that in mind, we offer for your consideration the thought that memorials at the time of death of a loved one or friend could be in the form of donations to KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM, 1530 Nicholasville Road, Lexington, KY 40503.
NEWS NOTES... We get tons of information in here that affect nursing home reform. We want to share this information with those of you who are interested, but rather than putting it all in our newsletter we will post it regularly on our web site: http://www.KyNursingHomeReform.org Go there now and see what we mean.
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