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KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM |
“A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the “Forgotten Kentuckians” |
NURSING HOME REFORM NEWSLETTER
May 15, 2007 SUNDAY
MAY 20…. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE Kentuckians
For Nursing Home Reform is beginning a series of educational and
informational seminars that are free and open to the public.
The first one will be Sunday May 20 at 2 p.m. at Sal’s Chophouse in
the Lansdowne Shopping Center in Lexington.
The restaurant has generously donated its facilities and the seminar
is also supported by the Kentucky Family Safety Foundation, the Kentucky
Justice Association, and Peoples Bank and Trust of Madison County. Subject
of this first seminar is “What’s Your
Question About Nursing Homes?”
And there is an all-star cast of experts to answer any question you
may have about nursing home care -- Kathy Gannoe,
executive director of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass; Steven
D. Davis, the acting state inspector
general in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; and Wanda
Delaplane, whose family successfully won
their court case against a big nursing home chain with a facility in
Frankfort. This
is a must seminar for people who have loved ones now residing in nursing
homes or those who are considering nursing home care for a family member. There
will be another seminar in the fall in Lexington and two this spring and
fall in Louisville. More about
them later. Need more info or directions on how to get to Sal’s? Just call (859) 312-5617. WAY
TO GO, ‘NICK-NER’ The
National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) is usually
called “Nick-ner” for short.
The head of the organization, located in Washington, is Alice Hedt,
and she was invited to appear before a Senate committee on nursing home
reform issues. Her testimony was carried by C-SPAN and was notable not only
for the good job Ms. Hedt did, but the fact that almost everyone of the
calls concerned understaffing in nursing homes.
After her appearance on the Hill, Ms. Hedt said, “NCCNHR is
addressing staffing in numerous ways, including calling for accurate,
audited data on nurse staffing collected from payroll records to be made
available to consumers…..” What
she is referring to is the fact that the nursing homes sometimes point to
their staffing numbers, particularly the ones on the Nursing Home Compare
Web site, and brag how good they are doing in staffing.
Many people know that the figures do not match what they see for
themselves in nursing homes -- Inadequate
staffing. Could the nursing
homes be fudging on the numbers they submit to the state and the feds? Why doesn’t the Kentucky State Auditor take a look at
these numbers and compare them with actual payroll records? Why doesn’t our Attorney General and the Cabinet for
Health and Family Services audit these numbers?
Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform will be working to get answers to
these questions. But in the
meantime we are happy that our national organization is dedicated to the
same task. Way to go, “Nick-ner.” GAO
POUNDS ENFORCEMENT The title of a 93-page report by
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says it all:
“NURSING HOMES: Efforts
to Strengthen Federal Enforcement Have Not Deterred Some Homes from
Repeatedly Harming Residents.” The
report says fines on nursing homes are not being collected very
“expeditiously,” and that the nursing homes that are penalized often
turn around and do it all over again. The
report recommends improving the system of collecting fines and “expand
oversight of homes” with a history of harming residents.
The report was tough on the nursing home industry.
But how did advocates for nursing home reform react? Read the next item…… VETERAN
ADVOCATE: MORE OF THE SAME… Martha
Deaver has seen it all. She is
a veteran advocate for nursing home reform in Arkansas.
Here is what she had to say about the GAO report which took nursing
homes to task for repeated violations of regulations: “The
current GAO report is one of thousands during the years I have been
involved. Each report tells a worse picture. Knowing the background is
important to understand that the same guys crying about the poor care are
the ones who let it happen. “There
was a time not long ago that civil monetary penalties were imposed by the
states. Not that they were collected but at least they were a threat. Then
when Bruce Vladek was head of HCFA he decided the Feds would do this. He did
not believe in penalties; he felt nursing homes needed help to do better
care. I guess that was the start of quality monitoring which is a joke doing
nothing. Or initiatives. Or other stuff. “All
the emphasis now is on life threatening, egregious. There has to be a
"pattern" of neglect, abuse, or whatever. Every loophole
imaginable is in place including "pending" where a facility can
delay collecting a penalty by not deciding whether to pay or appeal. “I
still maintain the problems will not be solved by the legislators. The
families are to blame. If there is a family council, it is more a social
group than an advocate group. In my experience there is little to no
attendance by family/visitors. “Unless
the public takes over the oversight on nursing homes, holds their local
officials accountable, there is no hope of care improving.” LETTERS…. “….TREATED LIKE ANIMALS.” --
It is a shame that the older people have to be treated like animals.
I have seen them have soup and sandwiches every night, powdered milk
to drink, and if they are lucky they may get a cookie. What kind of food is
that? Some dogs get treated better than that.
If I had to go in a nursing home to live I would rather go out in the
woods. Those people are humans
so need to be treated like humans and not dogs.
Why do you think nursing home staff quit? It’s not just because of understaffing, it is the way they
get treated. One person cannot
change things. So they leave because they have feelings. Sometimes they give
up because you’re fighting a losing battle.
I got tired of seeing people get hurt and you cannot do anything. NAME
WITHHELD AT WRITER’S REQUEST ‘… BEHIND CLOSED DOORS… SUFFERING….” April
8, 2007 Dear
Sir, Having
worked as a nurse in the nursing home industry off and on over the span of
25 years, including hospitals, and agency work, I am begging the public to
get involved to put a stop to the staffing shortage that these places allow
by refusing to pay the price needed to provide quality care. One
nurse cannot care properly for 30 patients at one shift. I recently
got a phone call from a heartbroken tearful nurse venting to me that with 90
patients they were working with 3 nurses, plus nursing assistants.
This is beyond stupid. The nurse was having to go from one side of the
building to the other to pass meds to patients. The observations of
the patients are all up to nursing assistants to judge. This means
that untrained people who are not trained in what to really watch for are
expected to determine when a patient is in need of a nurses intervention,
and when they are not! This means unskilled staff is pretty much left
to themselves and the expectation is that they will provide quality care
without direct supervision. We have many caring nursing assistants
that could and would do the best they could. We have a lot that won't
as well. This
industry is all about making money for the corporation anymore. It is
not about providing quality care regardless. The heart is no longer
there to give what needs to be given to these elderly patients. We are
losing the excellent nurses in the profession, because they refuse to give
such substandard care on their watches. We are ending up with nurses
who tolerate the situation and remain silent. The industry also
targets nurses who complain, and the administrations weed out the nurses who
will not just put up with the money making machines progress. Behind
closed doors our precious elderly population is suffering. They are
not getting to have a say, because many can no longer speak up for
themselves. Like helpless babies, they must suffer whatever situation
they are in because they are unable to speak, or if they do, they are
ignored. Indeed,
nurses who speak up are frequently forced to realize that if they are fired,
another employer may very well be afraid to hire them due to the complaints
of their last employer, and the complaints they were not submissive to
directives from administration will be well heard and acted upon by a future
employer thinking to hire. This is a powerful weapon against many
excellent nurses who are heads of household with minor children to raise!
Nurses are fighting back as only they can....by finding different jobs
outside of nursing. As for pay...nurses right now are very poorly paid
indeed for the work they do, the responsibility they have. A local
hospital ad for a clerk to do admissions with a range to $17.00 an hour.
Many LPN's here make $16.00 an hour with a patient load of 25 or more
patients. Who in their right mind would keep doing that day in and day
out, when they could sit down and make more money and have less
responsibility by far! Nursing shortages is a lie contrived by
administrators who want an excuse to keep up this scam. There are lots
of nurses who would love to work, and give good care, for a fair wage.
By the way...the nurse that called me about the 90-patient load for three
nurses, called me back to tell me later that due to that week-end, two
nurses had given notice and quit. Truth is there is no nursing
shortage...only nurses sick and tired of the threats, poor staffing, and
terrible quality of care administration tolerates. NAME
WITHHELD AT WRITER’S REQUEST CALL
THE MAN The
state inspector general for nursing homes wants people to call him right
away when they have a complaint. He
was disturbed that we ran letters from newsletter readers telling about poor
treatment in nursing homes. He
wants to hear these complaints first, himself, so his inspectors can
investigate. The number to call
is (502) 564-7963. Ask
for acting inspector general Steven D. Davis, and tell him, “Bernie told
me to call.” SECRET
SERVICE The
state won’t release the names and locations of the people they hire to
inspect nursing homes. These
are state employees located at various locations across the state who work
for the office of inspector general in the Cabinet for Health and Family
Services. If any our readers
know members of this secret service, please send this information to us and
we will publish the names in this newsletter. ABOUT
THAT $50 MILLION Kentucky
is getting $50 million from the feds to help move people, who want to, out
of nursing homes and into community and home care. This will most likely cause a big demand for caregivers in
the community centers and homes. The
New York Times carried an article recently that warns about this “gray
market.” Here
is a review of that article: New
options and risks in home care A
recent article in The New York Times examines the changing nature of
home care for the elderly. The article reports that the
“exploding” need for long-term care is remaking the home care industry.
One trend is the hiring of aides, not through a licensed agency, but
from the “gray market.” This market is an “over-the-back
fence” network of women who are usually untrained, unscreened and
unsupervised, but more affordable without an agency’s fee, less
constrained by regulations and hired through personal recommendation.
Gray-market hiring is a solution that middle class families are turning to
in the face of overwhelming home care expenses. Another trend is the
proliferation of national chains with franchises that provide such services
as companionship, medication reminders, transportation and meal preparation.
Policy experts worry that the new home health care businesses could
put profit above quality. “Consumers are always in jeopardy when
there’s an opportunity to make a lot of money,” said Val J. Halamandaris,
president of the National Association of Home Care. “Sometimes it
works out beautifully, and sometimes it doesn’t. But nobody’s
policing it; that’s for sure.” The lack of oversight has some,
like Larry Minnix, head of the American Association of Homes and Services
for the Aging, advocating for national standards. Minnix’s in-laws
were the victims of exploitation while at home, and as a result, he believes
that standards are needed to avoid scandals in the home care arena like
those in the nursing home world in the 1970s. Source:
The New York Times, March 1, 2007 A state news release says that the
$50 million Kentucky gets will pay for moving 431 people out of nursing
homes. That’s at a cost of
$116,000 per person moved.
That’s saving money? SHORT
STUFF
P.S.
OWLS ·
Whether a man winds up with a nest egg, or ·
Trouble in marriage often starts when a ·
Too many couples marry for better, or for ·
When a man marries a woman, they become ·
If a man has enough horse sense to treat ·
On anniversaries, the wise husband always ·
Some people try to turn back time.; not me, I want people to know
"why" I look this
way. I've
traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved. ·
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? ·
You know you are getting old, when everything either dries up or
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Old age is when former classmate are so gray and wrinkled and bald,
they don't recognize you. Remember
this motto:
-- Thanks to my friend,
Larry Hopkins 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.
THAT’S
IT FOR THIS TIME, BUT DON’T FORGET...
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