Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Legislation would require cameras in group homes

Excerpt from Star Gazette: (click for entire article)

A bill was reintroduced Wednesday that would require the installation of surveillance cameras at all entrances and exits of state-run group homes.

The measure would require facilities run by the state Office of People with Developmental Disabilities to install and operate surveillance cameras on the premises to curtail criminal activity. The bill is sponsored by Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh, Sullivan County, and Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland County.

The legislation comes after the attack of Paula Liblick, a 62-year-old developmentally disabled woman from Sullivan County who was sexually assaulted in her group home in December 2009. Liblick’s home did not have cameras installed and her attacker was never identified.

Study of Residential Care Facility Residents in 2010

Excerpt from ALCA: (click for entire article)

The Division of Health Care Statistics and the Long-Term Care Statistics Branch recently released Data Brief #91, Residents Living in Residential Care Facilities in the United States: 2010.  The report presents national estimates of RCF residents based on various characteristics, including demographics, Medicaid participation and charges, limitations in activities of daily living, and common chronic conditions.  The estimates are derived from the first nationally representative survey of RCFs with four or more beds.   

According to the report, in 2010 a vast majority (91%) of the 733,300 residents of RCFs were non-Hispanic white, and 70% were female.  Residents aged 85 and over made up 54% of the resident population.  Of the remaining residents, 27% were aged 75-84, 9% were aged 65-74, and 11% were under age 65.

At the time the data for the report was collected, residents had lived at their RCFs for an average of 671 days.  Out of all the residents, 19% had at least some of their RCF services paid for by Medicaid.  Medicaid coverage varied by age group, with 56% of residents under age 65 having Medicaid, compared to 39% of residents aged 65-74, 16% of residents aged 75-84, and just 10% of residents 85 or older.

More families react: Christie's proposal to close N.J.'s developmental centers

Excerpt from Newroom Jersey: (click for entire article)

In recent weeks, I have been inundated with telephone calls and email messages from the families of residents of New Jersey’s developmental center. These disillusioned people suggest that their rights have been violated by the Governor who is moving to remove their loved ones from the residential centers, against the will of the families and the residents, and transfer them to the community.

The most recent complaint was shared with me by Peter Banos, whose sister has been a resident of the Woodbridge Developmental Center for forty years. Peter is a member of the Woodbridge Developmental Center Parents Association. His message is clear: there is a need for the developmental centers, and their recommended closing has more to do with dollars than the welfare of the residents. In addition, a sufficient number of appropriate community settings simply do not exist. This writer’s position has been clear: people who choose to be transferred from the larger centers to community placements have a right to do so. However, the families have universally complained that they are part of the decision-making process.

Pater’s sister, Joyce, has a severe developmental disability and requires round the clock care. Joyce depends on the Woodbridge developmental Center for her very survival. The Governor formed the “Task Force on the Closing of New Jersey’s Developmental Centers”. The Task Force is charged with the responsibility to conduct an impartial investigation about the proposed closings and make recommendations to the Governor, However, as this writer has reported in previous articles, a member of the Task Force has indicated that their work is a “set up”, and the decision to close the facilities was made long before the Task Force even began the investigation.

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Assisted-Living Organizations

Excerpt from The Ledger: (click for entire article)

A judge Wednesday denied motions to dismiss a lawsuit by Florida's ousted long-term care ombudsman against the state and a pair of nursing-home and assisted-living trade organizations.

Former ombudsman Brian Lee contends the Department of Elder Affairs violated the state's "whistle-blower" law by forcing him to resign in retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of long-term care residents.

The department gave Lee the option of resigning or being fired after Gov. Rick Scott sent a letter to agency officials saying it was time for Lee "to go" shortly after the Republican governor took office last year.

Michigan's Direct-care Workforce

Excerpt from The DD News Blog: (click for entire article)

Since 1997, my son Danny has lived in a licensed group home, where he is taken care of by a variety of caregivers. Because the residents at his group home have severe disabilities and high medical needs, the home is well-staffed. At times, however, the quality of care has suffered because of the inability of the provider managing the house to retain good workers. The job is difficult, demanding, requires a high degree of responsibility, and comes with obscenely low pay. I remember many years ago talking to a full-time house manager and discovering that her daughter qualified for food stamps. I naively thought it was not possible to work full-time and still not have enough money to feed your family.

I do not believe that money is the solution to every problem with providing care to vulnerable people. It is hard to put a price-tag on the qualities that make a person an ideal caregiver, starting with a good heart and a genuine desire to help people in need, but the importance of direct-care workers in the lives of people who depend on them cannot be overstated. The way direct-care workers are treated and compensated for their work is in many respects a reflection of how society values the people they care for.

My feisty grandmother is being forced to move

Excerpt from The Globe and Mail: (click for entire article)

My 102-year-old grandmother is causing a ruckus at her retirement home and we have been told she must find a new place to live.

I don’t share this because I want to start a social movement or online petition (“Let Nanny stay!”). I share it because I hope one day someone writes a similar statement about me.

I don’t know what part of this is most striking. Nanny’s age? The fact that she is causing a ruckus? The fact that I used the word ruckus? Or maybe it’s that one of the homes under consideration for her has an eight-month waiting list, and not one of us worries she won't last that long.

There are several reasons why Nanny is facing relocation: Apparently she has begun to curse like those kids your mother warned you not to pal around with in school; she puts up a physical struggle (all 70 pounds of her) when nurses try to ready her for bed; and she has taken to wandering out of her suite in the wee hours to pay visits to other residents (or inmates, as she refers to them) while they lie sleeping.

Mom's private-care costs shock family into action

Excerpt from Edmonton Journal: (click for entire article)

Everything changed the day Grace Denyer's daughter found her sitting in a dirty diaper, wailing in agony as her own waste seeped into the open, bleeding wounds on her skin.

After pleading with staff to change the diaper, Denyer's daughter and her siblings returned every day to check on their mother. Four days later they again found her soiled and miserable, so they called an ambulance and had her admitted to an Edmonton hospital.

It was Dec. 4, 2011, and it was the final straw. Denyer's six children pledged they would never allow their 80-year-old mother to return to the public long-term care home where she was receiving care for dementia.

The National Survey of Residential Care Facilities: Survey Findings and Upcoming Webinar

Excerpt from ALCA: (click for entire article)

In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistics conducted the first-ever national survey of residential care facilities.  The survey collected data on residential care providers and their staffs, residents, and services in an effort to provide a better understanding of the residential care facility segment of the long-term care industry.

To qualify for the study, facilities had to be "licensed, registered, listed, certified, or otherwise regulated by the state; have four or more licensed, certified, or registered beds; provide room and board with at least two meals a day and around-the-clock on-site supervision; and help with personal care such as bathing and dressing or health-related services such as medication management."  ABIGAIL J. MOSS ET AL., NAT'L CTR. FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, DESIGN AND OPERATION OF THE 2010 NATIONAL SURVEY OF RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES, 1(54) Vital and Health Stat. 1 (2011). 

Digital revolution changing lives of students with disabilities

Excerpt from KMS Blog: (click for entire article)

Kyle Beasley is a smart second-grader with an infectious grin.

He’s also functionally blind.

Until last fall, the 7-year-old used 8-by-11-inch Braille texts that teachers printed for him on a special machine.

Each page cost about $1. He once had four lockers just to store his textbooks.

Today, the student at Roosevelt Elementary School in Janesville, Wis., easily carries his own iPad and a special Braille translator that allow him to read all his textbooks, send eMails, access the internet, check the weather, and do just about anything anyone else can do with a computer.

Deducting Assisted Living Costs

Excerpt from Maryland Elder Law: (click for entire article)

With the due date approaching for the filing of an income tax return, some may wonder if the costs paid to an assisted living facility are deductible.

In order to deduct assisted living costs for income tax purposes, an individual needs to obtain a written statement from her doctor which states that:

1. The client is a chronically ill individual

2. The client is unable to perform without assistance at least two of the following activities of daily living: eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, and continence, OR she requires substantial supervision to be protected from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment...