ON, ON U OF K

The University of Kentucky apparently will one day have a new complex of independent living homes, assisted living and nursing facilities built on its Spindletop farm. The idea, which we reported to you sometime ago, was originally to build this continuing care community on the UK Coldstream Research Campus. But objections from trustees and noise from Interstate 75 caused the university to shift gears and look at Spindletop. A developer from Florida – The PRAEXIS Group -- is set to build the facilities there and remodel Spindletop Hall, a faculty, staff and alumni club, on the grounds. A non-profit corporation, independent of the university, has been formed to own the development and oversee operations.

WHAT’S MISSING?

We have said all along that something is missing in the plans just announced by UK to build the continuing care community. We think the Spindletop site is fine, and in spite of some objections from Spindletop club members, should provide excellent living facilities for people who want to grow old in place. Retirees living in the new community would be able to go from their garden home to an assisted living facility and then to a nursing home – all on the Spindletop grounds -- if need be.

But there should be more here than building a retirement community and renovating Spindletop. There is an opportunity for UK to become a leader nationally in research on long-term care. That is what we proposed in a March 2003 commentary in the Lexington Herald-Leader titled, "UK could be expert in elder care."

What happened after that was a growing interest at UK in using Coldstream Research Campus for the site of a continuing care community. UK officials at the Sanders Brown Center endorsed and expanded upon our proposals. The president of the university said he was for it if money could be found. We also lobbied the Board of Trustees, and on Sept. 21, 2004, the board voted to go ahead with the project. Out of that emerged The PRAXEIS Group from Florida. They made a proposal that UK liked.

WHAT SHOULD UK DO NOW?

UK should avoid shortsightedness and announce right away that it will move to develop a complete program in long-term care, not only providing a retirement place but also working on ways to make long-term care living better for Kentuckians.

We suggest a three-part project:(1) Build the continuing care community but make it available to be used by UK researchers to study long-term care. Residents in the independent living houses, the assisted living facility and the nursing home could become the "living laboratory" so necessary to studies on long-term care. Almost every discipline at UK could participate and utilize the facilities and occupants for study and research. The PRAXEIS Group has done just this with a similar situation at the University of Florida. A spokesman for the group said that almost all of the colleges at UF have signed on to use the retirement community in furthering studies and research.(2) Establish a research program in long-term care. The university could become a national leader in long-term care research by hiring a nationally-renowned researcher. If UK researchers take advantage of the new Spindletop continuing care community, they can, for example, find out exactly how much it costs to provide quality care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, something that is much debated by the nursing home industry and advocates for nursing home reform. They can further make a determination on how many front-line caregivers there should be a nursing facility in order to offer residents safe, quality care. (3) Utilize the UK Cooperative Extension Service. This old, dependable program could deliver results of UK research on long-term care to people in all the counties of the state just as it does now in sending farmers in Kentucky the results of UK agricultural research.The end result? With this three-part plan, UK can emerge as a leader nationally in long-term care. Even if UK does not win a NCAA basketball championship this year, it could soon become No. 1 nationally in long-term care, something that is badly needed as the state and nation’s population quickly ages.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Tell UK you are behind their efforts to set up a complete, three-part program like we describe above. Write to President Lee Todd and give him your support.

Here’s a sample of what you can say:

Dear President Todd:

We hope UK will develop a continuing care community at Spindletop and we hope that besides providing a beautiful place to live for everyone that it also will be used as a "living laboratory" to study long-term care. We also hope that you will immediately fund a chair in long-term care research and utilize the UK Cooperative Extension Service to deliver the results of that research to every county in the state.

Write your own comments today. Send us a copy, too.

FEEDING ASSISTANTS COMING

You will soon be seeing feeding assistants in some nursing homes. The regulation authorizing them hasn’t gone into effect, but already we have received reaction from Newsletter readers. Here are two examples:

"The ones they have now that are licensed have no common sense."

"This is a way for nursing facilities to get around hiring more CNAs…. The only plus side may be that some well-meaning seniors may be able to do the work which would result in companionship for lonely residents."

Both writers wanted to remain anonymous. But what is your comment about having feeding assistants in nursing homes? E-mail us your opinion.

SHORT STUFF

This from Ellen Kershaw of the Kentucky Alzheimer’s Association: "The Alzheimer's Association CareFinder™ is our new online tool to help people living with Alzheimer's and their caregivers make informed decisions when selecting a care provider for home-based or residential care. Visitors can use the tool to choose dementia care options personalized for individual needs and preferences. CareFinder offers ways to recognize good care, communicate effectively with care providers, plan and pay for care, and find local resources. Visit CareFinder at www.alz.org/carefinder.
 

• In July, a new law about where sex-offenders can live will go into effect in Kentucky. According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, some of them could be living in nursing homes. As of January 2005, the report said, there were five convicted sex-offenders living in nursing homes in Kentucky. Our request to Kentucky officials on the current status of sex-offenders living in nursing homes has gone unanswered.

• Glenn Jennings of Lawrenceburg is the new head of Medicaid for the state. He succeeds Shannon Turner who left big slippers to fill.
   

• A new report says that researchers have once again found that the quality of care in non-profit nursing homes is usually better than in the for-profit ones. A similar study was done by the University of Toronto a few years ago with the same results. The new study also said that for-profit nursing homes are superior at keeping costs down (Editor’s note: yeah, by not hiring enough staff!).
   

• The nursing home industry nationally is fighting to keep the allowable provider tax rate. You may remember that Kentucky raised the provider tax to 6 percent in 2004, the maximum allowed. This was the tax that legislators agreed on because the nursing homes told them it would help them give better care to residents. This isn’t the kind of tax you think about, however. Nursing homes leverage the tax in Kentucky by getting back up to four times the amount they pay in a matching deal with the federal Medicaid program. Nursing homes in 32 other states do the same thing. To the uninformed the federal proposal has sounded like nursing homes are in favor of paying more taxes. Not so. Advocates all know that the industry seldom does anything it doesn’t get money back for.

 

• Somebody wants to buy the ill-fated Lakeside Heights nursing home in Campbell County. It was closed by the state and federal authorities. The potential buyer, George Hagan from Ohio, says he will fix the place up including flat screen television sets in the private rooms. But he also said, "I don’t care how many nice things you buy, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough staff." (Hey, we need this guy in Kentucky badly!)

P.S.

An old man and woman entered a fast food restaurant and ordered one
hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. The old man
unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed
one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the French
fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front
of his wife. He took a sip of the drink. His wife took a sip and then
set the cup down between them.

As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them
kept looking over and whispering.

You could tell they were thinking, "That poor old couple -- all they can
afford is one meal for the two of them."

As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table. He
politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple.

The old man said they were just fine. They were used to sharing
everything.

The surrounding people noticed the little old lady hadn't eaten a bite.
She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns
sipping the drink.

Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another
meal for them. This time the old woman said, "No, thank you, we are used
to sharing everything."

As the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin,
the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat
a single bite of food and asked, "What is it you are waiting for?" She
answered
"THE TEETH!"

(Thanks to Bob Pfeifer for this.)

 

DON’T FORGET….

MORE THAN 23,000 PEOPLE IN NURSING HOMES IN KENTUCKY NEED US. THEY ARE KENTUCKY’S FORGOTTEN PEOPLE.

 

BERNIE VONDERHEIDE

KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM

E-mail: KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com

Telephone: (859) 312-5617

 

Special Editor’s Note:

This will be the last issue of Newsletter until the fall when things begin gearing up again for the 2007 General Assembly and when we probably will begin some educational seminars. However, if something of a very important nature pops up, we will do a Newsletter Special to keep you informed. Have a good Summer!