Voices Institute Graduates - May the Root Thrive!

We just completed another historic and successful step forward for the movement to empower direct care workers and to fix our broken long-term care system!

It is clear that Direct Care Workers want a voice and to have their voices heard to improve the profession and the quality of care and services. It was fitting that direct care workers from 12 states met at a place whose motto is: May the Root Thrive! The 25 leaders from 12 states gathered at the DeKoven Center are the roots of our growing movement! I have no doubt that each and every one of the attendees will ensure that the long-term care care-gap is avoided and direct care workers are empowered by applying the powerful tools we all learned at our five day training program.

The events I witnessed at the Voices Institute Inaugural class reminded me of the gracious, generous and powerful nature of direct care workers and their ability to meet any challenge and thrive: flexibility, ability to solve problems, address crisis situations, balance challenging schedules are the stuff that the daily care-giving experience is made of. And so, all the Voices Institutes leaders gathered and we learned speech making, fundraising, organizational and self empowerment strategies and we all thrived in the intense and challenging environment Bob Hudek designed for us. Thank you Bob Hudek for locating the perfect learning environment and for designing a curriculum that gave us comfort, hope and thought us powerful tools that along with Vera’s empowerment tools will lead us to success.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

My Caregiver Magazine

The National Association of Health Care Assistants- NAHCA- used to have a magazine for CNA’s called “CNA TODAY”- it ceased publication a couple years ago. NOW, they introduce a new magazine for ALL direct care workers in the nursing field, titled, “MY CAREGIVER”.

From the MY CAREGIVER web site:

My Caregiver is a quarterly magazine published by the Academy of Certified Health Professionals (ACHP) for and about health care assistants and their role in long term care. It is a special magazine, a publication virtually every person in the long term care industry will want to read.

With a circulation of 10,000, we reach nursing assistants, Directors of Nursing, facility Administrators, nursing home residents, and their families, product manufacturers, policy makers, and other health care associations.

The first issue of My Caregiver debuted March 2008. It evolved from the original CNA Today magazine to focus on health care assistants from diverse settings in long term care. The original magazine, CNA Today, launched June 2001 and was unveiled at the NAGNA National Convention.

Now My Caregiver will prove to be a remarkable resource for information on long term care for all who perform the role or duties of a nursing assistant, regardless of title.

The magazine is published quarterly and costs $15.00/year for non NAHCA members; $10.00/year for members.

NAHCA’s main web site is HERE.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

House measure would outlaw nursing home arbitration clauses

Nursing home operators would be unable to subject residents and prospective residents to binding arbitration clauses under a bill introduced Thursday afternoon in the U.S. House. When a companion bill was introduced in the Senate in April, consumer groups enthusiastically praised it and provider advocates roundly criticized it.

"This legislation will not prohibit arbitration. Instead, it will simply ensure that residents have the choice whether to arbitrate a dispute after it has arisen," said bill co-sponsor Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), whose father recently entered a nursing facility.

Sanchez said hosting three recent hearings on the Federal Arbitration Act as the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law helped form her opinions on the topic. "The long term care industry is one stark example where businesses draft take-it-or-leave-it admission agreements for prospective residents that include pre-dispute, mandatory arbitration clauses."

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Elderly In Long-term Care Setting Suffer Depression More Than Those Cared For At Home

t some point after they were admitted, compared to only a quarter of the home-cared elders.

Jodi Shapuras and Lindsay Egan, undergraduate students in the social work program at ISU, conducted the research at their internships as part of a senior-level field practicum class.

“We are both interested in working with the elderly population in our careers, so we conducted this research to get a better feel for the prevalence of depression in those who need some level of outside care,” said Shapuras of Mitchell, Ind. “As social workers, it is important to understand the mental health issues, such as depression, within the different care settings.”

Shapuras and Egan said they weren’t surprised by their findings.

“We actually hypothesized that the long-term care patients would utilize antidepressants more and would self-report depression more,” said Egan of Terre Haute, Ind. “When an individual moves to a long-term care facility, they undergo a tremendous amount of changes. They are no longer able to live independently and are relying on others for care, and this greatly affects how they feel about themselves and the world around them.”

Shapuras added that in the home-care setting, elders are still residing within a familiar environment.

People First Theatre Troupe dramatizes the stories of persons with intellectual disabilities.

As his wheelchair is pushed through the doors of the nursing home, Michael (Gordie Arsenault) wipes a tear from his eye.

The actor is portraying a man with an intellectual disability who has had an accident.

Michael has fallen off a stepladder and broken his leg.

But that’s not what hurts him the most. Michael has a broken heart. Ever since the accident happened, his

sister has wanted him out of her home. She is going to have a baby and can’t take care of him anymore.

The Guardian photo

That is why he is moving into a long-term care facility.

And he’s not happy about it.

“Bingo and no beer, boy this place is going to be hard on the head. The only thing left is solitaire,” says Michael as he listens to the orderly, Ralph (Norman Pickering), listing off house rules.

It’s a scene from a new play by Vian Emery. From Pillar to Post will be performed by the People First Theatre Troupe at The Guild in Charlottetown on April 24.

The play deals with what often happens to persons with intellectual disabilities, following an accident or the death of a parent, when they are placed into long-term care facilities because there’s nowhere else for them to go.

DRA and long-term care for senior Americans with disabilities

Here is the conclusion to her article:

There is no question that this nation needs to look closely at the means by which long-term care for elders with disabilities-indeed, all heath care, for everyone-is financed. Many options for restructuring the financing of long-term care for the elderly are available-including adding a long-term care benefit to Medicare or following the leads of Japan and Germany in creating a separate social insurance program to provide long-term care for older Americans. These will require additional taxes and may involve some general cost-shifting back to consumers who use government-financed health care services. But such cost-shifting should impact everyone, not just the elderly and disabled.

The DRA's solution to a crisis (that at the moment is largely manufactured) entailing the shifting of additional burdens onto groups that already bear most of the tremendous economic and emotional burdens that long-term disabilities implicate should not be considered acceptable. Nor should taxpayers be forced to support the long-term care partnerships, which amount to government sponsored discrimination benefiting a small group of wealthy, non-disabled Americans. The asset-transfer and LTCP provisions of the DRA should be repealed while Congress seeks gender- and ability-neutral solutions to the nation's future financing of long-term care for the millions of seniors who will need it in the coming decades.