June, 2010
NEWSLETTER
A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the “Forgotten Kentuckians”
‘SUNDAY SEMINAR’ IN LEXINGTON JULY 18
This is a seminar you don’t want to miss, and it is free and open to the public, so bring all your friends.
The subject: “NURSING HOME ABUSE OR NEGLECT…. YOU MAY NEED A LAWYER”
It will be at 2 p.m. at Sal’s Restaurant in the Lansdowne Shopping Center located near the junction of New Circle Road and Tates Creek Road in Lexington.
A panel of expert lawyers will answer your questions. They are Bob Edwards from Arkansas and Lisa and Rick Circeo, a husband-and-wife team from Lexington with the nationally renowned Wilkes & McHugh law firm, and Wanda Delaplane of Lexington, a retired attorney whose family won a big lawsuit against a nursing home in Kentucky.
Richmond attorney Scott Owens, who also is an experienced plaintiff lawyer in nursing home cases, will moderate the panel discussion.
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. The first thing they want to do is hire a lawyer and go after the nursing home. But should they? Where do you start? So if you have your own questions, bring them to this seminar on July 18.
It is free and open to the public.
Call us before if you have any questions: (869) 312-5617
WHAT’S IT COST?
What’s a nursing home cost? We get this question all the time. An answer comes from the annual Genworth Financial survey of long-term care. In Kentucky, the median cost of a private room in a nursing home is $69,350 a year. A semi-private room $62,415.
A private one-bedroom place in an assisted living facility in Kentucky has a median cost of $30,678 a year.
You can get more information on the cost in other localities by going to http://www.genworth.com.
GOOD GUY.
We already are seeing results from the new federal Five-Star Quality Rating System. Take Jamie Gitzinger. He is the administrator of the Richmond Place Rehabilitation and Health Center in Lexington. Used to be Darby Square until Richmond Place took it over. The facility now has only a One-Star rating, the very worst you can get. Mr. Gitzinger wrote a commentary piece for the Lexington Herald-Leader complaining about the flaws he sees in the rating system. Then he sent a letter to his residents’ families telling them not to believe the rating system. He even enclosed a letter that Attorney General Jack Conway – along with a bunch of other attorneys general -- signed asking the feds to suspend the rating system. Sounded like sour grapes. All this means that the rating system is working. It obviously got the attention of one nursing home administrator. The result will be that he, like others, will work to improve his facility’s rating. By the way, we happen to know Mr. Gitzinger personally. You can bet he will be working hard to improve the quality of his facility, which will benefit the residents. He’s a good guy.
SOMETHING TO DO — WRITE REP. BURCH
Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, obviously needs some education on the state of nursing home care. He was quoted in The Courier-Journal as opposing legislation that would establish staffing standards for nursing homes and thus increase the number of front-line caregivers. Anyone who has been in or around a nursing home can attest to the fact that lack of enough front-line caregivers is the biggest problem. Not the only problem, but the main problem.
Said Rep. Burch to Courier-Journal reporter Laura Ungar: “….I am a little leery about mandating staff. I want quality care for senior citizens or anyone in nursing homes. But I need guarantees that if we do that, it’s going to provide better care.”
You can be sure that the rich nursing home lobbyists are bombarding Rep. Burch with every excuse they can come up with to convince him that staffing standards are not the right thing to do. What they don’t tell him, of course, is that hiring more staff would affect how much money they make off the poor residents.
Many of you continually ask us, “What can I do to help nursing home reform?” Well, here’s where you can help:
Write Rep. Burch today and tell him your own personal story about the lack of proper staffing you found in a nursing home and the bad effect it had on the care of your loved one.
DO IT NOW, PLEASE! 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.
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO….
After you write and send your comments to Rep. Burch (above), there is something else you can do to help nursing home reform. Call your local newspaper editor and ask him/her to run the rankings of nursing homes in the paper’s circulation area every three months. All the editor has to do is call us at (859) 312-5617 and we will prepare the listing for the editor. These are the federal Five-Star Quality Ratings which the Lexington Herald-Leader is already running every three months. Call your editor now and see if you can get your local paper doing this too.
ANOTHER THING: If you would have time to be a volunteer ombudsman or a “Friendly Visitor” for a nursing home in your neighborhood, call State Long-term Care Ombudsman Kimberly Baker. Her number is (502) 564-6930. Ms. Baker will tell you all about the program and how it really helps nursing home residents. It will make you feel good, too.
AN EXPERT’S VIEW ON STAFFING….
Jeanie Kayser-Jones, an expert on nursing home issues at the University of California, San Francisco, says that a nurse’s aide should be in charge of no more than three residents during a meal and no more than five to six (depending on the acuity level of the residents) at other times. She says that overnight that ratio can go to one aide per 15 residents. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find ratios like that in any nursing homes in Kentucky. Why? Most facility owners don’t want to pay the money it takes to do the job right. Their motive many times is PROFIT, NOT QUALITY CARE. How do you solve this problem? Mandatory minimum staffing standards.
P.S.
JAIL VS. NURSING HOME
Let's put the seniors in jail, and the criminals in a nursing home.
This way the seniors would have access to showers, hobbies, and walks, they'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc. and they'd receive money instead of paying it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance. Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes, and bring their meals and snacks to their cell. They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counseling, pool, and education, simple clothing, shoes, slippers, P.J.'s and legal aid would be free, on request. Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens. Each senior could have a P.C., T.V., Radio, and daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors, to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct, that would be strictly adhered to.
The "criminals" would get cold food, be left all alone, and unsupervised. Lights off at 8 pm, and showers once a week.
Live in a tiny room, and pay $5000 per month and have no hope of ever getting out.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
—We received this one from many friends and supporters of nursing home reform. Thanks!