Michigan Campaign For Quality Care

Newsletter

September, 2005

1. Please join us at our next statewide meeting on September 17, 2005 from 10:30 - 2:30 in the Lake Superior Room, Library of Michigan, 717 West Allegan, Lansing. (And please plan to join us on November 19 at the same time and place!). We love to see both new and familiar faces!

2. AARP/Michigan once again provides generous support for Campaign members to attend the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform Annual Meeting in Washington –As it has for several years, AARP/Michigan is again subsidizing the costs of two Michigan Campaign for Quality Care members to attend the Annual Meeting of the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. This year, NCCNHR’s annual meeting in October in Crystal City, Virginia will celebrate NCCNHR’s 30th anniversary and provide both extraordinary training and networking opportunities for advocates. In addition to the members funded by AARP, we expect several other Campaign members to be able to attend. We will share our newfound knowledge and insights with Campaign members when we return! Thanks again to AARP/Michigan for its support. For information about registering for the NCCNHR Annual Meeting or donating to support NCCNHR, go to www.nccnhr.org or www.nursinghomeaction.org or write to NCCNHR, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20036 or call 202-332-2275.

3. Campaign Statewide Chairperson Nadene Mitcham is honored for her volunteer and advocacy work for the Campaign by the Senior Advisory Council of Blue Cross Blue Shield –The Campaign extends our warmest congratulations to Nadene Mitcham, our long-serving and dedicated chairperson, for receiving recognition for her work from this distinguished group. Nadene and other award recipients will be honored on September 9 at a reception at the Soaring Eagle Resort in Mt. Clemens.

4. Campaign Member Denise Bryant writes a book honoring her aunt who died of abuse in a nursing home and unveils a new foundation in honor of her aunt that will provide free transportation to nursing home residents –Galvanized by her aunt’s tragic strangulation in bedrails in a Detroit nursing home, tireless and amazing advocate Denise Bryant is creating a number of tributes to her aunt that will also provide much needed assistance to residents and their families. Denise pushed through the passage of a law that requires all nursing homes to have copies of the easy to use "Hunt Complaint Form" named after Denise’s aunt, Catherine Hunt. Now, Denise has written a book, Joy in the Fire, about her relationship with Ms. Hunt that also details the ordeal of her neglect and death in a nursing home. With the proceeds of a lawsuit concerning her aunt’s death, Denise has also established the Catherine Hunt Foundation, a nonprofit transportation company that will provide nursing home residents with convenient, low or no cost transportation to allow them to maintain their ties to their communities.

Denise has also organized a formal dedication of her aunt’s grave marker on Sept. 12 at 9 a.m. at Roseland Park Cemetery on Woodward Avenue between 11 and 12 Mile Roads and Governor Granholm is expected to attend. Anyone concerned about abuse and neglect in nursing homes is encouraged to attend. Attendees are also invited to join the fundraiser luncheon following for the Hunt Foundation (cost: $75) at 2328 Seven Mile Road, Detroit at which Denise will provide free copies of her book. If you are interested in attending the luncheon, please call Denise at (866) 486-8674 to see if you can still reserve a place.

We thank Denise for her longstanding support of the Campaign and her dedication to residents and wish her luck in her new endeavor!

5. Granholm Administration and Legislators push forward efforts to implement recommendations of the Governor’s Long Term Care Task Force --The Granholm Administration appointed Jan Christensen, an official in the Michigan Department of Community Health, as the interim head of the new Office of Long Term Care Supports and Services. Mr. Christensen recently reported to advocates that the Administration is moving ahead with appointing a permanent Director to the office and a staff of approximately 18 people who will be responsible for coordinating long term care supports and services in the state. In addition, the Governor will appoint an Advisory Council to oversee the work of the office and to ensure the Task Force recommendations and consumers’ concerns drive long term care reform efforts in the state. The Administration, as well as legislators, are also looking at which recommendations can be implemented through legislation in the next few months and is focusing, among other things, on creating three single points of entry in different regions of the state which will be the clearinghouse and access point for long term care services and supports in that region. The Campaign is especially grateful to Rep. Rick Shaffer (R-Cass and St. Joseph Counties) for his determined efforts to make the Task Force recommendations a reality and to other legislators who are dedicated to ensuring real improvements in our long term care system.

6. Hurricane Katrina causes death and disaster for nursing home residents – The Washington Post reported that after the major hospitals affected by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flood were nearly emptied, emergency services turned their attention to nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other facilities. Tragically, Coast Guard divers reported that there were no survivors at a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish. Rescue workers found only bodies. Similarly, at another New Orleans nursing home that housed 30 residents, there were reportedly no survivors. Media outlets have also been reporting that some residents have been evacuated or are being cared for in emergency shelters.

The National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform has been a relentless advocate in the last week to press for immediate help for residents caught in the hurricane. They suggest that the following resources can help if you are trying to locate residents or family members in the Gulf Coast States:

* The American Red Cross website has a Red Cross Movement Family Links Registry at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina/locate to register yourself, a missing relative, or to view the existing list.

* National Next of Kin Registry, where concerned relatives can post info in order to locate their loved ones: http://nokr.org.

* The Louisiana Times-Picayune website has a place for people to post messages about missing persons. Some of them are people looking for relatives in nursing homes and the messages are very touching "My grandmother was a resident of this home. Does anyone have any information on where the residents were evacuated to??"

* Missing persons: http://www.nola.com/forums/searching/

* Reach Out: http://www.nola.com/forums/reachingout/

7. Proposed cuts to Medicaid put nursing home residents at risk nationwide – The U.S. House and Senate committees are due to finish drafting Medicaid budget bills by September 16. According to the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, one or both bills will include punitive provisions to require states to withhold Medicaid benefits for a period of time if nursing home residents cannot prove they did not give away money for five years before they applied for Medicaid. (Transferring assets could include anything, from a donation to a church or charity to helping a family member in need.) In addition, there are likely to be provisions to make it easier for states to waive federal requirements that protect Medicaid beneficiaries’ entitlement to services. They may make it harder for residents who lose benefits to go to court to restore them. They are certain to make steep cuts in Medicaid funding, further limiting states’ ability to provide services.

What Can You Do Now?

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is asking for personal stories in all 50 states about people who depend on Medicaid for long-term care. They don’t have to be long, they don’t have to be fancy, they just have to be true and heart-felt. Please provide the resident’s first name (and whether we can use the name and whether they or their families would be willing to talk to the press), hometown, age, what kind of work they did most of their lives, what would happen if they lost access to Medicaid or if their Medicaid benefits were reduced, and how to contact you for more information. Congressional defenders of Medicaid need these stories to show how important Medicaid is to real people. Please help them! Send your stories by September 9 if at all possible to Janet Wells at NCCNHR, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20036 or e-mail them to jwells@nccnhr.org.

8. Nursing Homes send letters of intent to work with State to replace existing homes with innovative models that provide a smaller and much more home like environment – Ninety-five nursing home providers have sent letters of intent to the Michigan Department of Community Health indicating their desire to participate in the state’s new "Greenhouse project." Greenhouses are innovative new ways to provide long term care in which 8-10 residents live together with staff in houses in residential neighborhoods. Residents have their own rooms and bathrooms and share a communal kitchen. The state will offer slightly higher reimbursement to facilities that offer these new models of care to nursing home residents. A Michigan Department of Community Health official stated recently that he expects 75 providers will follow through with the next steps in this exciting project.

9. Don’t forget to visit our website at www.campaignforqualitycare.org – The Campaign is proud to offer its website as a resource for consumers who need information about long term care and a way to keep informed about how you can help improve long term care. Every consumer can make a difference!