Newsletter
January 2006
1. Please join us at our next statewide meeting on January 21, 2006
from 10:30 - 2:30 in the Lake Superior Room, Library of Michigan, 717 West
Allegan, Lansing. (And please plan to join us on at the same time
and place at our next meeting on March 18, 2006). We love to see both new and
familiar faces!
2. Don’t Miss the PBS
Documentary “Almost Home” on January 31; This Important Film on Culture Change
in Nursing Homes Highlights One Facility’s Struggle to Transform Itself from an
Institutional, Medical Model to a Place that Feels Like Home– PBS
will be airing this illuminating documentary on culture change in a Midwestern
nursing home on the evening of January 31–check your local listings for the
exact time. The film has been described as: “A stunningly intimate documentary
shot on location in a nursing home, [It] tells the unflinchingly honest stories
of couples both bonded and divided by disability and dementia, children torn
between caring for their parents and caring for their children, nursing
assistants doing unsavory work for poverty wages, healthy elders fearful of
moving to the dreaded nursing home, and a visionary nursing home director
committed to transforming his century-old hospital-like institution into a true
home.” Additional information is available at
www.almosthomedoc.org.
3. Tragic Fire in Ishpeming Claims Nursing Home Residents’ Lives;
Campaign Continues Its Vigorous Advocacy for Improved Fire Safety in
Nursing Homes– A fire at Mather Nursing Center in Ishpeming early on
the morning of December 12 claimed the lives of two residents, sent more than 60
residents to the hospital, and caused the emergency evacuation of approximately
50 others. Like the majority of nursing homes in Michigan, Mather did not have
a sprinkler system in residents’ rooms even though there is widespread agreement
that sprinkler systems prevent multiple deaths in nursing home fires.
Five days before the fire, the Michigan Campaign for Quality Care
wrote to state officials to warn them that Michigan nursing homes were a fire
tragedy waiting to happen. Sadly, we were right. As noted in the last
newsletter, the federal government has documented that Michigan has the
lowest percentage of nursing facilities in the country with sprinkler systems
throughout the facility--only 36 percent--compared to a national average of 80
percent. And many states have full sprinkler systems in 90 -100 percent of
their facilities. But the bad news does not end there.
According to another federal study in 2004, 92 percent of
Michigan nursing homes were cited for fire safety violations in their last
survey.
Although the federal government plans to require sprinkler systems in
all nursing homes eventually, it has not done so to date because it is concerned
about the cost to facilities of installing sprinklers. A new bill introduced in
the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 4491, would provide loans and grants to
nursing homes to cover the cost of retrofitting nursing homes to install
sprinkler systems. Michigan Reps. Joe Schwartz and Bart Stupak are co-sponsors
of the bill which has bipartisan support and which is supported by both the
National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform and the American Health Care
Association, the national trade group representing for profit nursing homes.
As a result of the fire and the Campaign’s zealous advocacy, both the
Granholm administration and legislators are reportedly looking for ways to
improve nursing home fire safety. But Campaign members must be active to ensure
this issue does not fall between the cracks. Please
take a moment today to do one or more of the following:
�
Write, email, or call the Governor’s office to demand that the state require
sprinkler systems in nursing homes and strengthen enforcement of other fire
safety requirements in nursing homes;
�
Call your United States Representative to ask him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 4491
to provide loans or grants to nursing homes to install sprinkler systems. If
your Representative is Rep. Schwartz or Rep. Stupak, thank them for already
agreeing to co-sponsor this important legislation in Congress.
�
Call your state legislators and ask them to introduce or co-sponsor legislation
requiring nursing homes to install sprinkler systems and increasing penalties
for fire safety violations.
�
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper–as a number of Campaign members
have already done-- demanding that Michigan improve fire safety in nursing homes
by requiring sprinklers and vigorously enforcing other fire safety requirements.
The Campaign sends our deepest sympathies to the families of the residents who
died or were harmed in the Ishpeming tragedy and pledges to keep fighting to
ensure other residents don’t suffer the same fate.
4.
Campaign Joins “Friend of the Court” Brief in Federal Court of Appeals
to Protest Government Regulation That Permits Feeding Assistants in Nursing
Homes– The Campaign has long opposed feeding assistants in nursing
homes. Last year, we joined a court case challenging the federal government’s
decision to allow states to permit the use of these single task workers who
receive far less training than nurse aides. The federal district court
determined the Campaign did not have standing to pursue the case, because we did
not yet have feeding assistants in Michigan nursing homes, and ruled in favor of
the Government on the merits of the case. The remaining plaintiffs have now
appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Campaign has
signed on to an amices (“friend of the court”) brief opposing feeding
assistants.
The brief argues that in enacting the Nursing Home Reform Law in 1987,
Congress intended to improve the quality of care in nursing homes by
strengthening the training all staff providing hands on care to residents. It
therefore required that all direct caregivers receive a minimum of 75 hours of
training. The new regulation which permits feeding assistants with as little as
eight hours of training to feed residents is contrary to the law.
The feeding assistant regulation may pave the way for a troubling
array of poorly paid single task workers with little training who perform
discreet tasks like bathing, dressing, or toileting residents. The brief also
argues that single task workers are contrary to widely accepted progressive
notions of “culture change” in nursing homes (See #2 above!). A
multitude of studies demonstrate that both residents’ and staff’s experience is
greatly enhanced when residents establish consistent relationships with their
care givers and when care givers are respected, empowered, and engaged in the
lives of the residents. Single task workers would be a huge step backwards from
this concept.
In addition to the Campaign, the amicus brief was filed on behalf of
the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, the Long Term Care
Community Coalition, the New York Nurses Association, the Coalition of the
Institutionalized Aged and Disabled, and the Alzheimer’s Association, New York
City Chapter. The brief was filed in support of the remaining plaintiffs in the
case: Resident Councils of Washington, a grassroots group of residents and
advocates, and the Washington State Ombudsman Program.
5. White House Conference on Aging Highlights Long
Term Care Advocacy Issues–At the White House
Conference on Aging in December in Washington, D.C.,
more than 1200 delegates from around
the country voted on resolutions and implementation strategies concerning a
multitude of pressing issues confronting seniors. Although the discussions
covered everything from transportation to social security, long-term care was on
everybody’s mind. Among the resolutions garnering the most votes were “Develop a
Coordinated, Comprehensive Long-Term Care Strategy,” “Promote Innovative Models
of Non-Institutional Long-Term Care,” and resolutions to strengthen Medicaid and
Medicare, to ensure an adequate number of well-trained healthcare personnel
specializing in geriatrics, and to address the often neglected issues of mental
health care for seniors. Delegates also voiced support for the Long Term Care
Ombudsman Program and urged the federal government to provide full funding for
long-term care through the Medicare program. Campaign member Alison Hirschel was
appointed by Governor Granholm to serve as a delegate to the Conference; she
replaced Campaign member Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi who had been appointed by the
Governor but was unable to attend because important votes were scheduled in the
House of Representatives during the Conference. More information on the White
House Conference on Aging is available at
www.whcoa.gov.
6.
Medicare Part D Affects Prescription Drug Coverage for Many Nursing Home
Residents; New Fact Sheet Available–A very
helpful new fact sheet on Medicare Part D for nursing home residents has been
developed by the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform and is
available at
www.nccnhr.org.
7.
Raffle to benefit Michigan Campaign for Quality Care! Great prizes!! You can
help!! –The Kalamazoo-Portage Moose Lodge is holding a raffle and
all proceeds will benefit the Campaign. Only 100 tickets will be sold–first
prize is $500 and second prize is $250! Tickets are $20. To buy a ticket or to
volunteer to sell tickets, contact John Weir at 269 373_5157 or 1_800 332_4802.
The prize drawing will take place at our March 18 meeting at 2 p.m.
Please help the Campaign continue its work by purchasing or selling raffle
tickets.
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The Campaign
wishes a Happy New Year to all and hopes this year brings peace, dignity, and
better quality of care and life to Michigan’s nursing home residents.