May, 2010
NEWSLETTER
A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the “Forgotten Kentuckians”
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR JULY 18
This is going to be a GOOD ONE!
Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform is pleased to announce that our next educational seminar will be Sunday July 18 at 2 p.m. at Sal’s Restaurant in the Lansdowne Shopping Center on Tates Creek Road near New Circle Road.
The subject: “NURSING HOME ABUSE OR NEGLECT…. YOU MAY NEED A LAWYER”
A panel of experts will answer your questions. They are Bob Edwards from Arkansas and Lisa Circeo of Lexington, both lawyers with the nationally renowned Wilkes & McHugh law firm, and Wanda Delaplane of Lexington, a retired attorney whose family won an acclaimed lawsuit against a nursing home in Kentucky.
Don’t miss it. These lawyers will tell it like it is. Should you sue that nursing home for what they did to mom or dad? How do you go about doing that? What are the risks?…. What are the gains?…. And many more helpful tips.
We get questions all the time from people who allege they or a family member has been harmed by poor care in a nursing home. So if you have your own questions, bring them to this seminar on July 18.
It is free and open to the public.
Questions: (869) 312-5617.
DID YOU SEE IT?
The Lexington Herald-Leader became probably the first newspaper in the nation to begin carrying nursing home ratings on a regular basis when it published the federal Five-Star Quality Ratings for nursing homes in Fayette and five surrounding counties in last Sunday’s edition. Editor Peter Baniak agreed to the idea after being approached by representatives from Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform. Enterprise Editor Sharon Walsh is coordinating the project. The updated ratings will run every three months on the first Sunday of the month. It will be a unique and meaningful service to newspaper readers in the Herald-Leader main service area.
But what about your local newspaper? Ask your editor if he or she will run the ratings. All the editor has to do is say yes and give us a deadline. We will prepare the ratings for nursing homes in their circulation area and send the list to them by email, to be published. Contact your editor now and call us at (859) 312-5617 with the details, or email KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com.
SOME GOOD NEWS FROM FRANKFORT
State Long-term Care Ombudsman Kimberly Baker has launched a statewide campaign to recruit volunteer ombudsmen for nursing homes. You can get certified as a volunteer ombudsman or you can participate in the Friendly Visitors program – both of which are designed to be of help to nursing home residents. This is probably the first time in Kentucky that anyone has designed a campaign to increase the number of active ombudsmen. “This program is the perfect opportunity for people who truly want to make a difference for a particularly vulnerable segment of our population,” said Deborah Anderson, commissioner of the Department for Aging and Independent Living where the ombudsman program is located. To volunteer, just call toll free (800) 372-2991.
This Kimberly Baker is a busy gal. A public service announcement on elder abuse, produced by her, will be used as a pre-movie trailer in movie houses across the nation in June. The spot features Kentucky native and actor William Mapother. Ms. Baker got the spot produced when she worked in elder abuse for the state.
SEBELIUS AND HER CURVES
Kathleen Sebelius, head of federal Health and Human Services, has some curves she is worried about, the ones she says that are in the new federal Five-Star Rating System for nursing homes. The nursing home industry, always ready to criticize anything that would air their dirty laundry, says the ratings are flawed because the system is set to give stars – from one to five – based on a percentage formula rather than the actual grade the nursing home has. They are trying to say that some of the nursing homes might be downgraded in ratings, but what they are not saying is that the way the system is currently set up actually covers up some of the bad performers – because of the curve. The nursing home industry killed a bill Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform had in the 2009 session and again in 2010 to post the facility rating in every nursing home by whispering to lawmakers that the system is flawed. Ms. Sebelius says she is going to look into this “problem.” We hope she does, and we hope nursing homes will be given the rating they deserve – which means that in Kentucky we could have many of the nursing homes getting one star, the worst rating possible.
BURCH DISAPPOINTS
Rep. Tom Burch of Louisville is head of the legislature’s House Health & Welfare Committee. So it was with great disappointment when we read in The Courier-Journal that he does not support legislation to set minimum staffing standards. The nursing homes have obviously done a better job of convincing him then reform advocates have. So, Rep. Burch needs someone to tell him what is really going on, and that is where you can help. Send him an email (tom.burch@lrc.state.ky.us) or write him at Capitol Annex, Room 332E, Frankfort, KY 40601 and tell him of your experiences with staffing shortages in nursing homes. Rep. Burch is a man of goodwill, and he will listen to real life stories. Write him now because we will be back again with a minimum staffing bill and we want him to support it.
MORE ON STAFFING…..
In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing increasing that state’s minimum staffing standards at nursing homes. The nursing home industry, of course, is fighting him. Gov. Quinn wants Illinois standards by 2014 to be 4.1 hours per day for each resident in skilled care facilities; and 2.8 hours per day for residents needing intermediate care. Kentucky, as you may know, has no minimum staffing standards and years of effort to get them has been rebuffed by the nursing home industry.
In Florida, they have a good staffing standards system, but the nursing home industry down there is on a tear to get them lowered from 2.9 hours per day for each resident to 2.7. This, in spite of a study by the University of South Florida which concluded that “the quality of care has substantially improved since the introduction of increased nurse staffing levels in 2001.”
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHOICES…..
(The following advice is from one of our favorite nursing home lawyer blogs by the Frith Law Firm in Virginia.)
Families are amazed to learn the following:
- They have a choice as to whether to send their loved one to a for-profit or not-for-profit nursing home.
- Once in the nursing home, they have a choice of doctors and can continue to use their Primary Care Physician for care if he or she agrees to come to the facility.
- Once in a nursing home, they have a choice in pharmacists. It is only when you agree in writing to use their pharmacy that you waive that choice.
- That families have a choice whether or not you as the responsible party will agree to pay for the care should the resident be unable.
- You have a choice not to agree to arbitration.
- You have a choice to move your loved one from the facility.
- You have a choice to call 911 when you deem emergency care is necessary (don't let the nurses talk you out of it).
Choice is good.
Know what choices you can make in care.
QUOTABLE….
- Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, said this about a recent attempt by legislative leaders to obtain big donations to support a conference they are having: “…..the more you pay, the more access you get. That access, I believe will cost the general public in Kentucky.” And on the same subject, Terry Brooks, head of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said, “….the appearance of buying influence and the reality of buying influence both contribute to citizen cynicism about Frankfort.” Well said, and may we add: It’s that “access” and that “influence” that the nursing home industry buys all the time to the detriment of good care.
- “This is so sad but it is so true. The nursing assistants who do care get so burned out they have to usually leave or become so apathetic like the rest of the staff there. I blame the corporations that are running these facilities on a shoestring and making huge profits as a result. I lost my dear father in December at one of these facilities just after nine days being there due to the total neglect of his care. My family was there several times a day pleading with them to do their job but to no avail. Therefore, I am doing everything I can to keep this from happening to other families (I am also pursuing litigation AND anything else I can do to bring attention to this travesty). Thank you for all you are doing!”... Janet E. Hicks, RPh.
SHORT STUFF
- Nursing home giant Signature HealthCARE which is moving its national headquarters to Louisville amid much fanfare by Gov. Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says it will hire more people for jobs paying up to $95,000 annually, according to a story in The Courier-Journal of Louisville. What Gov. Beshear and Mayor Abramson are not telling is that Kentucky taxpayers are giving the company up to $400,000 a year in tax breaks. And of the company’s 17 facilities in Kentucky, more than half of them (9) are at the bottom of the federal Five-Star Quality Rating of nursing homes. No mention of whether the governor or mayor will tell Signature to use some of the hand-out to hire more nurses and front-line caregivers.
- A new top boss has been named for Kindred Healthcare, headquartered in Louisville and operator of nursing homes in Kentucky. He is Benjamin A. Breier who succeeds Frank J. Battafarano. Mr. Breier currently heads Kindred’s hospital division. In the first quarter of this year, Kindred – with nursing homes all across the country, including Kentucky – made $1.1 Billion, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous year’s first quarter. Write to Mr. Breier and ask him why his company does not spend some of that revenue on hiring more nurses.
- If you are on Medicaid, a program called Money Follows the Person may let you get out of the nursing home and live in the community with Medicaid support. There has just been a big change in the rules of the program – you now have to live in a nursing home for just 90 days to be eligible for transition. It used to be six months. Call 502-564-0330 for more information.
- Carespring Health Care in Highland Heights tried but failed to get legislation passed in the just-concluded session that would have allowed them to move some of their 286 nursing home beds to Boone County. Carespring took over the license of Lakeside Heights Nursing Center when it was closed amid allegations of abuse and neglect. But an amendment stuck on a bill by Rep. Denins Keene, D-Wilder failed to get approval in the Senate. No word on whether the nursing home will try again.
- ElderServe of Louisville has given its 2010 Champion for the Aging award to Nikki Henderson, an investigator with the Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Unit of the state attorney general’s office. Ms. Henderson retired from the Louisville police department where she helped start a Crimes Against Seniors program.
- Moses Young, the fired assistant director with the state Office of Inspector General in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, has been indicted on federal charges that he and an associate in the cabinet had an unethical relationship with a nursing home operator in Northern Kentucky. Mr. Young allegedly lived rent-free in a Lexington Griffin Gate subdivision home owned by the nursing home operator. In exchange, the nursing home operator allegedly got help from Mr. Young in passing state inspections, and other favorable treatment. According to previous news reports, the nursing home operator is Ralph Stacey Jr. who owned the Garrard Convalescent Home in Covington. Mr. Young was one of the key administrators in the office of the inspector general to enforce nursing home regulations. His case has been set for June 17 in Frankfort Federal District Court. He pleaded not guilty.
- Kentucky has joined a pending lawsuit in Boston federal court against drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and two subsidiaries. The lawsuit alleges that the companies paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare, Inc., the nation’s largest pharmacy that specializes in dispensing drugs to nursing home residents. The kickbacks were allegedly used to influence the purchase by Omnicare of Johnson & Johnson drugs including the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal. It’s anti-psychotics like this that can demobilize residents so the nursing home doesn’t have to hire staff to take care of them.
- Dates to Note: Kentucky Guardianship Conference, May 18, Holiday Inn Hurstbourne, Louisville… Senior Expo, June 2, Christ Church United Methodist Church, Louisville, call Nancy Trentham (502) 649-7919 for information.
YOUR DOLLARS CAN HELP
This Newsletter is published by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a non-profit organization comprised of volunteers working to improve the lives of the 23,000 "Forgotten Kentuckians" destined to live out their lives at the mercy of nursing homes. If you would like to assist in our work by helping underwrite expenses of conducting educational seminars, lobbying for residents' rights in the state legislature, or publishing informative materials, you may send your contribution to Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, 1530 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington KY 40503. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. To volunteer, write to the same address or e-mail KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com. Thank you.
P.S.
TWO WOLVES
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."