October 29, 2008
NEWSLETTER
A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the “Forgotten Kentuckians”
YEAH, THESE GUYS ARE REALLY INTERESTED . . .
If Mitch McConnell gets re-elected, or if Bruce Lunsford beats him to win the seat in the Senate, will they support the current key legislation up before the Congress on nursing home reform? We asked them. But guess what? As of our newsletter deadline, none had replied. We asked them if they would support four key bills that were up before the Senate and should be coming up again. Mr. Lunsford’s people did contact us and asked for more information on the bills, but that was it. Not a stir out of the McConnell camp, however. No matter who wins, we will keep asking whoever is our Senator to help us with nursing home reform issues. But if they can’t even respond to a simple survey, don’t count on them to be of much help. Maybe they’ll end up in a nursing home some day and see the light.
CONGRATS TO KIMBERLY BAKER
Kimberly Baker has been chosen the new state long-term care ombudsman. She has been in state government for 18 years, most recently as an elder abuse specialist. She has shown herself to be innovative and hard-working. But most important, she has a passion for helping the elderly. She once worked as a nursing assistant so she knows nursing home care from the inside out. She already has ideas to improve the ombudsman program in Kentucky – like recruiting more ombudsman volunteers and getting nursing home ombudsmen involved in their local elder abuse coordinating councils. She also want to push more activities for residents of nursing homes, like intergenerational learning through the Boy and Girl Scouts and projects with middle school and high school students. You can count on seeing Ms. Baker out in the state. She is a terrific speaker with an engaging manner and smile. We are proud to say that your organization – Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform - had a representative on the committee to choose the new state ombudsman. And we also note that thanks to Gov. Steve Beshear, this job is no longer a political appointment but now a state merit system job, and everyone should be grateful to the governor for that smart move.
COLD WINTER AHEAD
Social program activists meeting in Frankfort recently expressed deep concern about the immediate future of state social welfare programs. The underlying problem: a funding shortfall caused by the downside economy. One of the leaders of the group – called Advocates for Reforming Medicaid Services (ARMS) – said about administrators in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services: “They are being great managers for the money they have; but not for their clients.” One thing pointed out was that a new state program to move people out of nursing homes and into their communities to live, has so far moved only one person. And the program – Money Follows the Person – has been in effect for about two years. Said one of the meeting attendees: “Maybe we should call it the Money Follows A Person.” The advocates are meeting regularly with the cabinet secretary and other administrators to overcome what they see as “barriers” to state services.
THE NOV. 2 SEMINAR HAS BEEN POSTPONED
We remind you again so that you will not make a trip for nothing. Our seminar scheduled for Nov. 2 in Lexington has been postponed.
SHORT STUFF
- Is Rep. Tom Burch getting bolder in his old age (77)? It takes nerve to introduce a bill authorizing video lottery terminals at race tracks and hotels. He’s done just that with his House Bill 32, pre-filed for the 2009 legislative session. An action like that by a veteran lawmaker gives hope that he may even someday move a bill on nursing home minimum staffing standards in the health and welfare committee he heads.
- We received a couple notes asking us to report that Carol Dupin, who has left the district ombudsman job in the Lincoln Trail Area Development District, has remained on the staff of the Legal Aid Society in Louisville.
READ OUR INTERVIEW
Brushing aside all modesty, your humble newsletter editor would like to call to your attention an interview that Paul Glasser, reporter for the State Journal in Frankfort, did. Since we were given an opportunity to expand on a number of things about nursing home reform, we post the interview for you to read in its entirety on the front page of our Web site. Just go to http://www.KyNursingHomeReform.org.
QUOTABLE QUOTE . . .
“ It is in everybody’s best interest to let consumers know which nursing homes repeatedly demonstrate deficiencies and violate government standards. Those homes are obviously not doing their jobs.”
FYI – Sadiqa Reynolds, inspector general in the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and her staff, are working on several projects suggested by Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform that will make the enforcement of nursing home regulations more transparent to the public. Stay tuned.
BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN NURSING HOMES WITHOUT ENOUGH NURSES!
We picked this up from a favorite blog of ours and we reprint it here because the problem it describes happens thousands of times a day in nursing homes in Kentucky.
Read on . . .
Doris Wolfe stayed at Spring Creek Healthcare Center (Colorado) for 17 days to rehabilitate following back surgery. Unfortunately, she broke her ankle the day she was supposed to be sent home. According to an investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Wolfe may have turned on her call light to request help to go to the bathroom. When Wolfe thought an "extended amount of time passed" and no one answered her request, she opted to try to walk toward her walker on her own and fell and broke her ankle. Complications from her ankle injury led to her death.
Jay Reinan, a Denver lawyer who represented the Wolfe family, said Doris Wolfe did push the button. "As a result of staffing deficiencies, Mrs. Wolfe was left to decide between soiling herself or attempting to go to the bathroom on her own, and that eventually led to her death," Reinan said. "With a lot of older folks, dignity is important, and that's what happened to Mrs. Wolfe."
Ask to see the staffing policies BEFORE choosing a nursing home for a loved one. And do not take the administrator's answer as the truth...ask current residents if there are enough staff nurses at the nursing home to provide appropriate and timely care.
If you have stories like the one above, please send them to us. We will pass them on to key lawmakers in Kentucky because so far they have done nothing to remedy the shortage of front-line caregivers that exists right now in most Kentucky nursing homes. Just send your own story to: KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com.
Thanks!
DO YOUR PART: GET PETITION SIGNATURES
Everybody agrees that we need minimum staffing standards for nursing homes in Kentucky. But because of the immense political clout of the nursing home industry, the state legislature has been slow to get interested in this issue. We need to convince lawmakers that many citizens want these standards. YOU can help by getting one of our petitions and getting all your friends to sign it. We have over a thousand names now on the petition, but we need to double that. Time is growing short. The legislature will be back in session in early January. We want to present the signed petitions to them then. So please get busy now. The petition and instructions on just what to do are on our Web site. Just click on http://www.kynursinghomereform.org/petition.html
P.S.
The Kiss
A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring.
He replies: "I have a question to ask, but I don't want to offend you."
She answers, "My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything."
"I' m sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive."
"Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me."
She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do about that –
1) you have to be single and
2) you must be Catholic."
The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and Catholic!"
"OK" the nun says. "Pull into the next alley."
The nun fulfils his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush.
But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
"My dear child," said the nun, "why are you crying?"
"Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish."
The nun says, "That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party!"