Advocacy As AARP Sues Nursing Home To Stop Illegal Evictions

A California judge could decide Tuesday if Gloria Single will be reunited with her husband, Bill. She's 83 years old. He's 93. The two have been married for 30 years. They lived in the same nursing home until last March, when Gloria Single was evicted without warning.

article by Ina Jaffe for NPR | Nov. 13, 2017                                                                                  

Gloria Single and her husband Bill Single in the dining hall of the skilled nursing floor at Pioneer House nursing home in Sacramento. AARP Foundation attorneys say California needs to more tightly enforce laws that prohibit evictions of the sort that separated the Singles, and sped up her physical decline. photo -Aubrey Jones 

Her situation isn't unique. Nationwide, eviction is the leading complaint about nursing homes. In California last year, more than 1,500 nursing home residents complained that they were discharged involuntarily. That's an increase of 73 percent since 2011.

loria Single has a number of ailments. One of them is Alzheimer's disease. So when her son Aubrey Jones comes to visit her in her new nursing home, he brings old photos to show her. She can still recognize faces from long ago — one picture shows her three sons when they were just little kids.

Jones says the photograph makes him and his brothers look like real troublemakers. "You are troublemakers," his mom teases.

Jones also shows his mother a more recent photo. It was taken at Pioneer House, the nursing home where Gloria Single and her husband Bill lived together before her eviction. They're gazing into each other's eyes and smiling.

When Jones tells her he loves that photo, Gloria Single slyly replies that's "because [Bill's] got his hand on my knee."

In court documents, Pioneer House paints a more troubling picture of Gloria Single. They say that she became aggressive with staff and threw some plastic tableware. So Pioneer House called an ambulance and sent her to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. The hospital found nothing wrong with her, but the nursing home wouldn't take her back. They said they couldn't care for someone with her needs.

Jones protested his mother's eviction to the California Department of Health Care Services. The department held a hearing. Jones won.

"I expected action — definitely expected action," says Jones.

Instead, he got an email explaining that the department that holds the hearings has no authority to enforce its own rulings. Enforcement is handled by a different state agency. He could start over with them.

This Catch-22 situation attracted the interest of the legal wing of the AARP Foundation. Last year, attorneys there asked the federal government to open a civil rights investigation into the way California deals with nursing home evictions. Now, they're suing Pioneer House and its parent company on Gloria Single's behalf. It's the first time the AARP has taken a legal case dealing with nursing home eviction.

"We certainly hope we can get Mrs. Single some relief," says William Alvarado Rivera, the foundation's senior vice president for litigation. "But we also hope that there is a lesson to be learned by facilities — that there will be accountability for their failure to respect the due process rights of their residents."

Nursing home residents have a lot of rights guaranteed in state and federal law. For example, they have to be given 30 days' notice before they're moved involuntarily. And the nursing home has to hold their bed for a week if they're in the hospital.

Rivera says Gloria Single didn't get any of that. As a result, she was stuck in the hospital for four and a half months before being accepted by another facility. During that time Single received none of the services and activities she would have had in a nursing home. She lost her ability to walk and now relies on a wheelchair.

Rivera says that "in the absence of state enforcement, it will depend on individuals like Mrs. Single having to advocate for themselves to get their rights respected and enforced."

Fourteen years of public records obtained by NPR show that nursing homes rarely pay a price for illegally evicting residents. Just 7 percent of nursing homes that were found to have violated the law in California were fined by the state. With just a couple of exceptions, the highest fines assessed were $2,000. The majority were $1,000 or less — and most fines were never paid in full.

Diana Dooley, California's secretary of health and human services, declined NPR's request for an interview, citing pending litigation against the state on a similar issue.

Frustration with the lack of state enforcement led the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association to join the Single lawsuit as a co-plaintiff. The organization represents long-term-care ombudsmen. Those are the public officials who track complaints about nursing homes and advocate for residents. But Leza Coleman, the group's executive director, says the spike in complaints about evictions is so overwhelming, that it's "impacting our ability to handle other complaints."

Coleman believes another reason that eviction complaints are going up, is that the number of nursing homes is going down. State records show there are about 2,300 fewer beds in California than there were six years ago.

"Those residents that are more challenging — those that have to be repositioned often, those that don't want to sit quietly and watch television — ... they're more expensive," she says. "They can be very taxing on the staff of a facility, and if a facility has one bed and two people looking at it, they're going to take the person that's easier to care for."

But eviction complaints need to be seen in a different context, says Jim Gomez, CEO of the California Association of Health Facilities. "We have a very low rate of complaints regarding discharge," he says, adding that roughly 1,500 complaints is "less than a half of 1 percent of some 300,000 discharges" a year.

And when residents are involuntarily discharged, Gomez says, "it's for the safety of staff and other residents.

"We've had many attacks on residents and staff," he says. "Are you going to allow that person back to the facility?"

Pioneer House and its parent corporation, the Retirement Housing Foundation, declined to be interviewed for this story. They sent a written statement which says, in part, "We intend to vigorously defend the allegation set forth in the lawsuit."

Meanwhile, Aubrey Jones says the lawsuit is not just about his mother any more.

"If anything," he says, "I want the dial to be turned a little bit so this thing doesn't happen again —[so] it's less likely to happen to someone else."

Most of all, Jones says, he wants to see his mother and stepfather reunited, so they can be together for the little bit of time they have left.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/13/563710785/aarp-foundation-sues-nursing-home-to-stop-illegal-evictions

For more on AARP, and Nursing Homes Issues: 

http://blog.aarp.org/?s=Nursing+Homes&submit=Go   

Illinois Residents of State-Licensed Facilities Never Received Increase In Personnel Care Allowance

Advocates for developmentally disabled and mentally ill residents of state-licensed facilities fought for years to win an increase in the small monthly stipend those individuals are allowed to keep for their personal needs.

article by Mark Brown for the Chicago Sun-Times | November 13, 2017                                
They appeared to have prevailed in July with approval of a new state budget and an income tax increase to help pay for it.

Legislators set the new “personal needs allowance” at $60 a month, up from $50 for some individuals and $30 for others.

But more than four months later, some of the would-be recipients say they still aren’t receiving the modest increases owed them and haven’t received a good explanation for why not.

The failure to pay the increase appears to be affecting only residents of nursing homes that care for the mentally ill, not the developmentally disabled, according to the advocates.

Organizers with the community group ONE NorthSide say they have identified at least three long-term care facilities for mentally ill individuals in Chicago where residents say they are still waiting for their raise.

One of those is The Clayton Residential Home in Lincoln Park, where resident Larry Bender Jr. said administrators have put the blame on the state.

Bender said residents of The Clayton received the extra $30 in September, but not in October or November. And he said they are still looking for a retroactive increase for July and August.

The personal needs allowance is intended to be exactly that — the amount of money that individuals residing in certain state licensed facilities are allowed to keep from their Social Security disability checks — of about $735 monthly — to spend on their personal needs. The rest of that money goes directly to pay for their care.

Bender, 46, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, said he needs the extra $30 to buy clothing or occasionally something to eat beyond the nursing home’s daily fare.

“Some nice bacon, scrambled eggs . . . a hamburger,” Bender told me wishfully, before mentioning personal hygiene products like soap, deodorant and toothpaste.

The personal needs allowance is basically the only money these folks get to spend in a month, said Sam Wickham, a community leader for ONE Northside’s mental health justice team.

“You need a birthday card, it comes out of that money,” she said.

Wickham, who suffers from severe depression and PTSD herself, said she has never lived in a nursing home-type setting but has been told by friends that the low personal needs allowance was one reason many of them turn to panhandling.

“It was dehumanizing to them,” Wickham said.

I could not get a return call from The Clayton, which I’m told is a decent enough place, so I don’t know where the fault lies.

More than 400 mentally ill individuals live at the three facilities that haven’t paid the increased allowance. Three other facilities surveyed by ONE Northside are paying the new higher amount.

The affected facilities are called Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facilities, which is only worth mentioning because of the acronym, SMHRF, which is pronounced “smurfs” by those in the field.

In an August 29 memo, the Illinois Department of Human Services Director Felicia Norwood notified all the service providers for the developmentally disabled and mentally ill, including the smurfs, that the increase to $60 was effective July 1.

Advocates say they are concerned there appears to be no clear plan for facilities to come up with the back pay.

I realize that the developmentally disabled recipients of this allowance are generally a much more sympathetic group to the public than those suffering from mental illness. When I first went to bat on this subject, it was for their benefit.

But the mentally ill folks in these facilities have some seriously debilitating issues of their own, and they’ve waited long enough.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/developmentally-disabled-mentally-ill-allowance-increase/

Developmentally Disabled Patients Continue To Die Under State of Georgia Care

The state of Georgia continues to have developmentally disabled patients die while under state care, with 160 deaths in the past fiscal year, according to a court-appointed observer.

article by Tom Corwin for The Augusta Chronicle | Oct 7, 2017                                                      

The state often overlooks potential neglect or mistreatment uncovered by its own investigators, such as a woman who drowned in a bathtub this year, independent reviewer Elizabeth Jones said.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia over the conditions in its state hospitals, and the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities agreed to a settlement in 2010 that requires moving patients from state institutions to the most appropriate integrated setting, and to provide greater services and support for those patients in community settings. Jones is monitoring the state’s compliance with those provisions and reporting to the U.S. District Court in Atlanta on the state’s progress.

Site visits to current providers also found some are employing poorly trained and supervised staff. One patient, referred to only by the initials B.B., ended up hospitalized and recovering in a nursing home after she refused to eat and lost weight due to poor care in the home.

“The apparent indifference shown by the residential staff was equally disturbing,” Jones noted. With another patient referred to as J.B., the nurse consultant found the patient apparently heavily drugged, noting the man “was slouched down in the chair with his head hanging down” and had a black eye the staff could not explain.

An Augusta Chronicle investigation in 2015 found nearly 1,000 deaths in two years among patients in the community under the state’s care, and the state later agreed to a more robust system for investigating and reporting deaths. In fiscal year 2017, there were 160 deaths and 68 investigations, but “the findings and recommendations in certain investigations raise concerns about thoroughness, and, even more importantly, the legitimacy of the conclusions drawn from the investigation,” Jones wrote.

One glaring example is a patient known as C.Bi who drowned in her bathtub Feb. 17 despite a care plan that required caregivers to keep her in “line of sight at all times,” the report said. Yet there was no finding of neglect, Jones noted, despite reports that the staff had left the patient at other times to go to McDonald’s and “conflicting statements” from the staff about what they were doing that day.

“Multiple elements of this death are consistent with a finding of neglect,” Jones wrote. “It is disturbing that that conclusion was not reached.”

Some investigations are not completed yet, including one from January where “there was a concern about neglect” and another from June in a home where three patients have died since 2014. Jones wrote she “has identified five agencies that require additional, more intensive review due to the number or circumstances of unexpected deaths.”

The department would not answer detailed questions about her report, but said Jones “continues to provide reflections and recommendations that are valuable to DBHDD,” Press Secretary Angelyn Dionysatos said in a statement. “As we progress toward the end of the extension agreement, DBHDD is focused on sustaining the significant system gains that have been achieved and addressing remaining areas of required compliance.”

Because the state failed to meet its original deadline, the settlement agreement has been extended and the latest deadline is June 2018. As of June 30, there were 167 patients still in the Gracewood wing of East Central Hospital in Augusta and 366 developmentally disabled patients to be moved overall, according to Jones.

With the state moving 26 patients in fiscal year 2016 and 29 in fiscal year 2017, moving all of the patients to community settings “would take the state a dozen years or so,” she noted. A “substantial barrier” to those community placements is a lack of appropriate providers, but the state has failed to recruit a “single new provider” to provide care in those community settings since agreeing to a recruitment plan, Jones said.

Staff writer Sandy Hodson contributed to this report.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-10-07/georgia-continues-see-developmentally-disabled-patients-die-under-state-care

EEOC Sues Prestige Care / Prestige Senior Living For Disability Discrimination of Employees

Companies' Inflexible Leave and 100% Healed Policies Violate the ADA, Federal Agency Charges

FRESNO, Calif. - Prestige Care, Inc., Prestige Senior Living, LLC and their affiliates violated federal law when they refused to provide accommodations for employees with disabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. The EEOC further alleges that the named companies engaged in the practice of denying light duty and leave as an accommodation to employees with disabilities.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, the Vancouver, Wash.-based companies and their affiliated skilled nursing and/or assisted living facilities had a written policy that required employees be 100% healed while at work. Moreover, the companies would not allow employees to return to work after a medical leave unless they did so without medical restrictions. The EEOC further charges that Prestige and its affiliates discharged employees for exceeding the companies' restrictive leave policy. By doing so, the EEOC alleges that the companies' long-term practices violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (EEOC v. Prestige Care, Inc, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-01299-AWI-SAB) under the ADA after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement. The EEOC's suit seeks back pay, benefits and compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief intended to prevent any future discrimination in the workplace.

"We continue to see too many cases where employers implement inflexible policies and procedures that undermine the ADA," said Anna Park, regional attorney for EEOC's Los Angeles District Office, which includes the Central Valley in its jurisdiction.

Melissa Barrios, director of the EEOC's Fresno Local Office, added, "Health care is an industry in which one might expect to see little disability discrimination - but, sadly, the EEOC sees too much of it there. A rigid policy of denying leave or light duty to employees with disabilities without a meaningful interactive process frequently leads to violations of the law."

According to the company's website, www.prestigecare.com , Prestige Care provides independent living communities, assisted living, memory care, home health and rehabilitation and post-acute care to senior citizens. Prestige and its affiliates provide services throughout the western United States including Washington, Oregon and California.

Eliminating qualification standards and inflexible leave policies that discriminate against individuals with disabilities is one of six national priorities identified by the Commission's Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP).

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.

Source: EEOC press release

Wade Blank 1940-1993, Disability Rights Movement Advocate Remembered

The following history of ADAPT's founder Wade Blank, a non-disabled former nursing home recreational director who assisted several residents to move out and start their own community. The Atlantis Community. The below article from the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993 will offer a look into the history and achievement's of Wade Blank and fellow advocates. Also below is a remembrance by Justin Dart after the unexpected passing of his friend, and fellow advocate.
# # #

Article published by the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993.

Wade Blank

The death of the Reverend Wade Blank on February 15, 1993, left a profound emptiness in the hearts of many people who loved and respected him. But any void in the disability rights movement is only momentary, for Blank left behind scores of human values, a keen analysis – and scores of skilled, committed leaders ready to carry the movement forward.

American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) and its mother, the Atlantis Community in Denver, both embody the spiritual, organizational and strategic lessons Blank carried over from the 1960s black civil rights movement. He had been a Presbyterian minister, a War on Poverty field organizer and a disciple of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., before becoming an orderly, then an assistant administrator, in a Denver nursing home.

Liberated Community
Early in his career as a iconoclastic minister and civil rights worker, Blank developed the concept of a "liberated community" – a society where human beings could live in equality and develop the power to effect change. When, at the Heritage House nursing home, he found himself in the midst of a "community" of people with severe disabilities, whose only community structure was one of oppression – the confines of the institution – he took on the challenge of making the "liberated community" a reality.

It all started when Blank came to Denver seeking a change. "The nursing home industry in Denver recruited its nursing home administrators from the ranks of ex-ministers," he recalled recently… A nursing home executive called Blank. "They said, ‘You’re young. You’re hip. Could you start a youth wing for us?’ So, I started a youth wing."

Hired by Heritage House in December 1971, Blank went to visit the residents the evening before he began his new job. "I remember for dinner that night we had baked potatoes, applesauce and scrambled eggs, and that was near Christmas. The place was like a morgue. The food was cold." Blank chatted with severely disabled individuals, some of whom would later become ADAPT organizers. "Little did I know," Blank recalled, "that I was to enter the most important moment of my life.

"I had 60 young people I recruited. Every morning at 7:30, they’d get dressed and get on a school bus, and go to a workshop and count fish hooks. Called it (a) work activities program."

At council meetings of the young people, the residents made simple requests, and an idealistic Blank tried to implement them. "I let them evaluate the nurses," he said. "They wanted co-ed living. They wanted to have pets. They wanted to have rock ‘n’ roll bands. So three years into this experiment, the nursing home is just like a college dorm on a crazy weekend all the time.

"I was trying to change it from inside, and I didn’t understand the monster I worked for," he recalled.

Outside of the Home
In 1975, Blank proposed "that we move a few of them out into apartments, and we let the aides and orderlies punch in at the nursing home, then go to the apartment and give them service." That idea got Blank fired. "The nursing home saw where I was going, and they couldn't let me go in that direction."

Once Blank was fired, the nursing home erased all his reforms. "They came in and they took all the stereos and TVs out of everybody’s rooms, had the dog pound come by and get all the animals and in one day it went from everything I’d built for four years – to that."

But Blank wasn’t about to give up. Thinking to himself that he’d "recruited all these people to this hell," he decided simply to move them out "and do the care myself…

Atlantis Community
"Within the first six months, I’d moved 18 severely disabled people out. So now I was wed to the concept. You know, I couldn’t walk away from it."

That exodus laid the foundations for the Atlantis Community and its political-action offshoot, ADAPT. "We began t learn about power and what empowerment is, and how to use it," Blank said. While Atlantis was liberating people from nursing homes, ADAPT (which then stood for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) took on discrimination in Denver’s, and then the nation’s, bus systems. Using non-violent, direct-action tactics similar to King’s movement, ADAPTers made bold demands and achieved extraordinary results.

Blank had found himself at the center of another civil rights campaign, similar to the one he had seen African Americans wage. "All the issues are the same," Blank asserted. "The black movement wanted to ride the buses equally. The black movement wanted to eat at the Woolworth’s counters. The black movement wanted the right to vote. The black movement wanted the right to keep their families together. The black movement wanted the right to be integrated into the school system. That’s what the disability rights movement wants, exactly…

"My members are into confrontation. We’ll tell somebody what we want, and we’ll talk about it once or twice, but that’s it. Then we deal with you. Either we’ll shut you down or whatever."

Confrontation worked, Blank believed, because it took society’s fears – those fears we’re always trying to dispel in disability awareness workshops – and turned them to a new use…

"So I said," (Blank explained, recalling earlier successes in the black civil rights movement), "…‘Let’s take 25 wheelchairs and go out and surround a bus and hold it and see what happens." Bam! Just like magic. It worked. Total power. Police couldn’t move the wheelchairs because they were afraid. The mayor said, ‘Don’t arrest disabled people.’ We win…"

Focus on Fundamental Human Rights
Blank’s focus on fundamental human rights and on the most impoverished members of the disability community distanced him from more affluent groups. In this, too, he emulated Martin Luther King. "King involved the poorest in the community," Bank said, "and a movement cannot really change things unless they address the poorest, the least. When King was shot, he was beginning to attack the ghettos." For Blank, "Our ghettos are the nursing homes, and we need to address the ghetto."

Blank attacked not only the mainstream disability movement’s economic hierarchy but also its disability hierarchy. "You go around to independent living centers and you’ll see a lot of post-polios and a lot of spinal cord injuries," he said. "But you won’t see people that slobber and can’t speak clearly…" These are the people often excluded or left behind by more "respectable" advocacy organizations, he pointed out…

Blank found leadership qualities in people who had never before thought of being leaders: former nursing home residents, people with speech impairments, people labeled retarded and others typically disenfranchised both by society at large and by traditional disability organizations. Blank had little patience for people who put their own egos or their own careers above the movement.

But more people were and are being empowered every year to free Americans with disabilities from institutions. All are encouraged to help plan protests, identify issues and targets, hold press conferences, and become a part of the "liberated community."

# article originally published in the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993

# # #

photo: Wade Blank with his son Lincoln and fellow Atlantis cofounder Michael Auberger celebrate the laying of the plaque, dedicated to the original protesters - The Gang of 19 - who blocked the intersection to protest the inaccessible buses in 1978.

# # #

The Reverend Wade Blank, 1940-1993 is a tribute to Wade Blank written by Justin Dart in 1993.

Press Release in 1993:                                                                                                                            

The President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities 

Justin Dart, Chairman

The Reverend Wade Blank, 1940-1993

Disability rights leader Wade Blank died on February 15 in rough seas off of a beach at Todos Santos, Mexico. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to save his drowning eight year old son, Lincoln.

It is always a tragedy when great lives are cut short by apparently preventable events. But to dwell on the tragedy of Wades Blank’s death would be a very large disservice to the future. Wade’s life is the message. His existence was a towering triumph that demands to be shouted, to be heard, to be acted on.

Unlike others who participated in the sixties revolution for a rational society, Wade did not give up the struggle when it became unfashionable. In 1974 he founded [the first Center for Independent Living in Colorado,] the Atlantis Community in Denver – a radical program to enable people with severe disabilities to leave the isolation of nursing homes and live in the mainstream. Atlantis was a success. But it soon became apparent that the mainstream itself was polluted by devastating discrimination which prevented people with disabilities from fulfilling their humanity.

In the tradition of Martin Luther King, Wade made equal access to bus transport the symbol of full equality: “Rosa Parks protested the indignity of being forced to sit in the back of the bus. We can’t get on the bus at all.” On July 5th and 6th, 1978, he and nineteen people with disabilities illegally detained an inaccessible bus at the intersection of Broadway and Colfax in Denver. ADAPT was born – American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. During the next twelve years hundreds of ADAPT activists blocked buses, streets, hotels and government buildings across North America. They filled the police records of the jails of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Reno, Montreal and Washington, DC. Wade, Mike Auberger, Bob Kafka, Mark Johnson, George Roberts, Larry Ruiz, Rick James, Stephanie Thomas and Anita Cameron were arrested 15-30 times each. Molly Blank, Babs Auberger, Frank McComb, Lori Eastwood, Bobby Simpson, Melvin Conrady, Beverly Furnice, Joe Carle, Karen Tarnley, Ann Sawtel, Sue Davis, Diane Coleman and many others were co-heros in the long struggle.

In March of 1990, with the fate of the ADA hanging in the balance, Wade organized the historic march of disability rights leaders from the White House to the US Capitol to demand a law that would provide full equality, “with no weakening amendments.”

People with severe disabilities crawled up the Capitol steps and were arrested demonstrating in the rotunda. ADA passed in July – with no weakening amendments. Without the courage and inspiration of Wade Blank and his colleagues, the world would not have its first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities.

After the passage of ADA, knowing that the job of justice was far from completed, Wade and the members of ADAPT refocused their advocacy. They demanded that the federal government provide funds for personal assistance services that would enable persons with disabilities now trapped in nursing homes to live free in their communities. The demonstrations – and the arrests – continue. Progress is being made. President Clinton has promised to form a task force that will create a national program of personal assistance services.

Some – mostly those that didn’t know him – have said that Wade’s methods were “extreme.” They said that civil disobedience in the eighties and nineties is “passe,” “obsolete,” “inappropriate.” The same kinds of things were said about Washington, Jefferson, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. What is extreme, what is inappropriate is millions of human beings living with less dignity than we accord to our pet dogs and cats. What is inappropriate is American citizens imprisoned without due process of law in oppressive institutions and rat infested back rooms. What is inappropriate is people with disabilities living and begging in the streets. What is inappropriate, what is unspeakably immoral, is a society that cannot be bothered to make the simple changes necessary to give its own children the opportunity of full humanity.

It has been my privilege to work closely with Wade Blank during the last several years. He demonstrated against a meeting I chaired – when HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan spoke at the 1991 PCEPD annual conference in Dallas. We counseled together by telephone at all hours of the day and night. We served together on the ADA Congressional Task Force and in negotiating ADA with the President of Greyhound. We marched together for equality in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington. We were together in the freezing midnight outside the barricaded Department of Transportation in Washington. I never put myself in a position to be arrested. Wade said that was alright, because I could play a positive role within the system. I was never sure in my heart that I was on the right side of the bars. I knew he was.

Wade Blank was a sensitive philosopher of Democracy. He was a superb organizer. He was a mature, sophisticated politician. He had total honesty and total follow through. You could take his promises to the bank. These are rare and good qualities, but they alone would not have enabled him to use an unfashionable method to lead an unfashionable cause to an historic victory.

Wade had a magic sword. It was love. Unlike many with religious labels, he understood and lived the central commandment of his God, “that ye love one another as I have loved you.” He understood that love is not just smiling at nice people, but passionate, lifelong action to preserve and enlarge the joy, the dignity, the quality of every human life. He understood that love does not smother with criticism, care and control; it encourages, emancipates and empowers. He understood that love for all means justice for all.

Wade’s leadership of love made ADAPT the family for those who had no family, the family with justice, with hope, with transcending fulfillment. Wade’s love warmed and empowered us all. It breached the defenses and won the respect of Congresspersons, businesspersons, policepersons, jailers, judges and mayors. Again and again, it lifted my heart and my mind from selfcentered desperation of Washington politics to the dream.

Before he died, Wade planned a series of demonstrations for personal assistance services to be held in Washington, DC, on May 9th, 10th and 11th. These will go forward in his honor. There will be a tribute to him on Sunday, May 9th, at the Lincoln Memorial. Let us join together in memory of Wade – on May 9th, today, tomorrow, as long as life remains – to continue his struggle for a truly human society.

Let us pick up his sword of love and truth and courage, and use it – each in our own way – to cut the chains of all who are slaves to pity, prejudice and paternalism. Let us join in one voice to shout his shout – “free our people.” Let us embrace his golden heritage of responsible action for life, enlarge it in our own lives, and invest it in the lives of all who will come.

Wade, we love you. That’s easy. We will try our best to love each other as you loved us.

– Justin Dart
# # #

"How Wade Blank Became a Disability Activist"
John Holland of Denver, Colorado speaks about working at the forefront of disability civil rights law as he protested and advocated alongside Wade Blank.
The is part of the "It's Our Story" project, there are many additional videos telling of the history and the people of the Disability Rights Movement.

YouTube published by It's Our Story

Illinois Nursing Home Violations for 2017 Second Quarter

July 18, 2017 – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced the following type “AA” and “A” violations of the Nursing Home Care Act processed during the first quarter of 2017.  An “AA” violation is cited when there is a condition or occurrence at the facility that proximately caused a resident’s death.  An “A” violation pertains to a condition in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result, or has resulted.

The Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators can be found on IDPH’s website and contains additional information about the violations.

April

• Harmony Nursing & Rehab Center, a 180-bed skilled care facility located at 3919 W. Foster Avenue, Chicago, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to conduct a follow-up assessment of an eye condition in which the resident was admitted to the hospital with conjunctival infection, and conduct a skin assessment in which deep tissue injuries were found. The facility has requested a hearing.
• Hope Creek Care Center, a 245-bed skilled care facility located at 4343 Kennedy Drive, East Moline, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident resulting in the resident sustaining a broken femur.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.
• Lexington Health Care Center of Lombard, a 224-bed skilled care facility located at 2100 South Finley Road, Lombard, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident resulting in the resident sustaining a fractured femur.   The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.
• Midway Neurological/Rehab Center, a 404-bed skilled care facility located at 8540 South Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent a resident from entering a restricted room and falling five stories down a laundry chute.  The resident sustained multiple broken bones requiring hospitalization and surgery.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $25,000.
• Mulberry Manor, a 64-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 612 East Davie Street, Anna, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $10,000 for failure to provide oversite on policies concerning resident elopement, ingestion of non-food items (PICA), investigation of peer-to-peer abuse, reporting of incidents, documentation of pressure ulcers.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $6,500.
• Pleasant View Rehab & HCC, a 74-bed skilled care facility located at 500 North Jackson Street, Morrison, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to for failure to provide care in a safe manner and prevent a resident from falling from a chair and suffering several fractures.  The facility requested a hearing.
• Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg, a 180-bed skilled care facility located at 1250 West Carl Sandburg Drive, Galesburg, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to provide immediate treatment for a resident suffering a femur fracture.  The facility requested a hearing and paid $12,500.
• Sharon Health Care Elms, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 3611 North Rochelle, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent falls resulting in injury to a resident.  The facility requested a hearing and paid $9,821.
• Washington Christian Village, 122-bed skilled care facility located at 1201 Newcastle Road, Washington, has been cited with two “A” violations and fined $50,000 for failure to properly administer one resident’s medications resulting in emergent hospitalization, and prevent stage four pressure sores.  The facility requested a hearing and paid $27,776.50.
• Wentworth Rehab and HCC, a 300-bed skilled care facility located at 201 West 69th Street, Chicago, has been cited with two “A” violations and fined $50,000 for failure to provide emergency care to a resident involved in a fire, and to report to the physician the inability to follow a resident’s care plan.  The facility requested a hearing.

May

• DuPage Care Center, a 368-bed skilled care facility located at 400 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safety transfer between a chair and a bed, residents who are dependent upon help, resulting in three residents sustaining injuries.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Manorcare of Westmont, a 149-bed skilled care facility located at 512 East Ogden Avenue, Westmont, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent an avoidable accident when an employee ran over a residents feet with a heavy metal food cart causing multiple injuries.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Meadows Mennonite Home, a 159-bed skilled, intermediate, and shelter care facility located at 24588 Church Street, Chenoa, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to protect six residents from a staff member who mentally abused and humiliated the residents by taking unauthorized pictures and video, which included partial nudity, and posting them on social media.  The facility also failed to report the known unauthorized pictures.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Willow Rose Rehab & Health Care, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 410 Fletcher, Jerseyville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to include a resident’s Advance Directive in their care plan, resulting in the death of a resident for whom cardiopulmonary resuscitation was not being performed.  The facility has requested a hearing.

June

• Addolorata Villa, a 141-bed skilled, intermediate, and shelter care facility located at 555 McHenry Road, Wheeling, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to supervise a resident at risk for falls, who fell and sustained fractures requiring hospitalization.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Covenant Health Care Center-Batavia, a 99-bed skilled care facility located at 831 North Batavia Avenue, Batavia, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident who suffered a fracture, was admitted to hospice, and later died.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Lydia Healthcare, a 412-bed intermediate care facility located at 13901 South Lydia, Robbins, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to supervise a resident to prevent the ingestion of non-edible objects.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.
• Mado Healthcare – Douglas Park, a 172-bed intermediate care facility located at 1550 South Albany, Chicago, has been cited with an “AA” violation and fined $50,000 for failure to intervene when a resident physically assaulted another resident, resulting in hospitalization due head inquiries and subsequent death.   The facility has requested a hearing.
• Morton Terrace H &R Centre, a 166-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 191 East Queenwood Road, Morton, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to provide prompt medical care for a resident with a worsening lack of blood flow to the leg, contributing the resident’s death.  The facility has requested a hearing.
• Pleasant Hill Village, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 1010 West North Street, Girard, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to assess and monitor the positioning of a resident in bed, which may have contributed to the resident’s death.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $17,680.
• Regency Care of Morris, a 123-bed skilled care facility located at 1095 Twilight Drive, Morris, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to identify worsening wounds, notify the physician, and treat the wounds for residents with pressure sores.  The facility requested a waiver. 
• Rosewood Care Center of Peoria, a 120-bed skilled care facility located at 1500 West Northmoor Road, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to identify and prevent pressure sore from worsening, notify a physician for treatment, and maintain clean hand hygiene while providing care to residents.  The facility has requested a hearing.

Attachments

• IDPH Nursing Home Violations

source: State of Illinois e-News Release

2017 State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports, AARP report

Washington State and Minnesota are top-ranked states again, but all states lag in helping care for the growing populations of people aging and living with disabilities

With baby boomers beginning to turn 80 in 2026, states must accelerate the pace of improving long-term services and supports (LTSS) for older people and adults with disabilities, according to AARP’s new state scorecard released today. The report, Picking Up the Pace of Change: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers (“Scorecard”), shows that although most states have made some progress, the pace of change overall remains too slow and has not kept up with demographic demands.

LTSS include assistance with activities of daily living provided to older adults and people with disabilities who cannot perform these activities on their own because of physical, cognitive, or chronic health conditions. The types of assistance include such things as help with bathing, dressing, managing medications, preparing meals, and transportation, as well as support for family caregivers.

“This Scorecard sounds the alarm, but it also provides a range of tools states can use to spark new solutions and create systems that are aligned with the new realities of aging and living with a disability,” said Susan Reinhard, R.N., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Director, AARP Public Policy Institute. “The proposed cuts to Medicaid—the largest public payer of long-term assistance—would result in millions of older adults and people with disabilities losing lifesaving supports.”

The Scorecard was funded by AARP Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and The SCAN Foundation. This is the third edition of the Scorecard.

How States Are Ranked
The Scorecard ranks states based on their performance on LTSS in five main categories:

• Affordability and access
• Choice of setting and provider
• Quality of life and quality of care
• Support for family caregivers
• Effective transitions between nursing homes, hospitals, and homes.

Within the five categories, states are scored on their performance in 25 specific indicators, including such things as Medicaid spending, nursing home cost, home health aide supply, antipsychotic medication use in nursing home residents, long nursing home stays, employment rate of people with disabilities, and support of working caregivers. (See report for full list.)

“This new Scorecard shows that it’s time for all states to accelerate care improvements for older adults and people with disabilities,” said Bruce Chernof, M.D., FACP, President and CEO of The SCAN Foundation. “States that consistently rank at the top have strategically planned for their aging population across the main sectors of health, housing, transportation and family caregiving.”

Good News/Bad News
Overall, states made incremental LTSS improvements since the previous report in 2014, but the pace of change has been slow and uneven. However, two states—Tennessee and New York—showed the most improvement across measures since the last Scorecard.

States made the most significant progress in reducing inappropriate “off label” use of antipsychotic medications among nursing home residents and increasing support of family caregivers.

In general, states showed the most significant declines in employment rates for people with disabilities and rates of transitioning long-stay nursing home residents back into the community. Notably, the majority of states showed no real change on “Affordability and Access,” meaning that the cost of LTSS over time continues to be much higher than what the majority of families can afford.

5 Top-Ranked States	5 Bottom-Ranked States
#1 Washington	#51 Indiana
#2 Minnesota	#50 Kentucky
#3 Vermont	#49 Alabama
#4 Oregon	#48 Mississippi
#5 Alaska	#47 Tennessee

Looking Ahead
“Millions of baby boomers will be facing greater health needs over the next few decades, and this scorecard shows we are still falling short of where we need to be to address those needs,” said Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D. “We need to begin now to make care for elders and people with disabilities more available in homes and communities—where many people prefer to be—instead of in institutions like nursing homes.”

Ideally, all states would have high-performing LTSS systems in which older adults and people with disabilities:

• Can easily find and afford needed services;
• Have choices in both services and providers;
• Have access to quality care to help maintain their quality of life;
• Avoid unnecessary hospitalization and nursing home stays; and
• Receive help from family caregivers, whose needs are addressed and supported.

To view the full report, go to www.longtermscorecard.org.

source: AARP press release June 2017

Doctors & Owner of Psychological Services Centers Convicted in $25 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Clinical Psychologist and Owner of Psychological Services Centers Convicted in $25 Million Psychological Testing Scheme Carried Out Through Eight Companies in Four Gulf Coast States

Two owners of psychological services companies, one of whom was a clinical psychologist, were convicted yesterday for their involvement in a $25.2 million Medicare fraud scheme carried out through eight companies at nursing homes in four states in the Southeastern United States.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite of the Eastern District of Louisiana, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office and Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office made the announcement.

Rodney Hesson, Psy.D, 47, of Slidell, Louisiana, licensed clinical psychologist and owner of Nursing Home Psychological Service of Louisiana LLC, Nursing Home Psychological Service of Mississippi LLC, Nursing Home Psychological Services of Florida LLC and Nursing Home Psychological Service of Alabama LLC (collectively NHPS), and Gertrude Parker, 63, of Slidell, Louisiana, owner of Psychological Care Services of Louisiana, Psychological Care Services of Mississippi, Psychological Care Services of Alabama and Psychological Care Services of Florida (collectively PCS), were convicted following a seven-day jury trial in the Eastern District of Louisiana.  They were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to make false statements related to health care matters.  The jury verdict included a money judgment of $8,956,278, as well as forfeiture of Hesson’s home and at least $525,629 in seized currency.  A sentencing hearing for both defendants is set for May 4, 2017, before U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana.  

According to evidence presented at trial, the defendants’ companies contracted with nursing homes in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to allow NHPS and PCS clinical psychologists to provide psychological services to nursing home residents.  Hesson and Parker caused these companies to bill Medicare for hours of psychological testing services that these nursing home residents did not need or in some instances did not receive.  Between 2009 and 2015, NHPS and PCS submitted over $25.2 million in claims to Medicare, a significant amount of these claims being fraudulent.  Medicare paid more than $13.5 million on the fraudulent claims.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case, which was brought by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  Senior Litigation Counsel John Michelich and Trial Attorneys Katherine Raut and Katherine Payerle of the Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged over 3,000 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for over $11 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-individuals-plead-guilty-55-million-health-care-fraud-scheme-two-brooklyn-medical

Washington state Disabilities Advocates Sues State Over State Institutions

A lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks to force Washington state to speed up the transition of adults with developmental disabilities from institutional settings to homes in the community.

report by Susannah Frame, for KING5 News | Aug. 2, 2016  
Disability Rights Washington (DRW), a nonprofit with the mission of supporting persons with disabilities, filed the suit in U.S. District court. It asks the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the state’s Health Care Authority to develop plans and procedures to move people out of institutions who have been identified as able to do so and have expressed that they would like to move into regular neighborhoods with appropriate support and care.

“Defendants have no effectively working plan to ensure that Plaintiffs….will avoid institutionalization. This failure violates their rights under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” wrote attorneys for DRW in the complaint.

DRW attorneys said they filed the suit after conducting an eight-month investigation. They also cited the public awareness of the issue brought about by the KING 5 series "Last of the Institutions," an investigative series that explored why Washington has failed to follow the lead of many other states in closing its state-run institutions for disabled adults.

“We know that living in an institution is not the same as living in the community and people have a right to live in the community when they want to. So this is about people’s choice of where they want to be, how they want to spend their days,” said Sarah Eaton, lead attorney on the case for DRW.

According to the suit, 91 people have been identified in the state as either wanting to leave an institutional setting or they are at great risk of becoming institutionalized because of the state’s inability to support their transition to the community. DSHS contracts with vendors that operate supported living housing, set up specifically for people with high needs, such as those waiting to move out. Currently, the state does not have enough staffing or resources to meet the demand.

FOR A VIDEO REPORT, VISIT:http://www.king.com/news/local/investigations/disabilities-group-sues-state-over-institutions/286359243

A spokesperson for DSHS said the agency is doing everything it can to help people transition into the community but a current lack of staffing is challenging.
“We want what our clients want. Unfortunately at times there are not supports in the community to accommodate every individual,” said DSHS spokesperson Kelly Stowe. “We want people to live in the community if they want to, however the supports necessary to make sure they are successful need to be in place.”

Johanna Pratt, 32, is one of those people. She has intellectual and emotional disabilities, but she doesn’t want that to keep her from living in the community.

Pratt has been living at the Rainier School for four years while waiting for a community placement with enough staff to meet her needs. She is one of the named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit.

“I get frustrated every day because I want to leave. I want to live close to Tacoma so my family can see me more often,” said Pratt. “I want to live in the community and meet new friends. I have friends here but I want to leave and do things with my own staff.”

Washington's four institutions are: the Rainier School in Buckley, Lakeland Village in Spokane, Fircrest in Shoreline and the Yakima Valley School in Selah. Approximately 800 people reside in them. Only a handful of states operate more than four institutions, including Texas, New York, Arkansas, Mississippi and Illinois.

Washington's practice bucks a decades-long trend to stop the segregation of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

In all, 16 states have closed all of their large facilities for the developmentally disabled, including Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico and Oklahoma. These states are serving this entire population in community settings. Many live in homes with two to three residents and full time staff to meet their needs. Several agencies in the Northwest offer an array of support services, such as assisting with medical needs, transportation and job coaching. Two more states, California and Georgia, have announced concrete plans to close the remainder of their institutions.

DRW in its complaint asks a federal judge to declare that the defendants have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“(We ask that the court) Declare that the Defendants’ failure to implement an adequate system of ensuring the choice of integrated community based services results in unnecessary segregation and institutionalization of Plaintiffs and the class, or places them at risk of unnecessary institutionalization, and violated the Title II of the ADA,” wrote the attorneys.

DRW also requests relief for the class in new “policies, practices, and procedures” to make sure their clients are “provided with appropriate community-based residential services with reasonable promptness.”

The filing of the complaint came after an exchange of correspondence between DRW and the two state agencies. On July 20, DRW wrote a letter to DSHS and the Health Care Authority that laid out their findings and requested a meeting to “engage in structured negotiation to reach an agreement to…actually ensure …services are reliably available to all individuals who need supported living to avoid segregation and institutionalization”. On Monday, top officials from DSHS and the Health Care Authority responded by offering to meet for “discussion purposes”…but not to engage in “settlement discussions”. The agency directors said they disagreed with DRW’s allegations.

“We also find the legal conclusions contained in your letter and your request for settlement discussions concerning and premature given we have not been engaged in a discussion about your concerns,” wrote Patricia Lashway, Acting Secretary of DSHS, and Dorothy Teeter, Director of the Health Care Authority.

Johanna Pratt hopes the lawsuit will help her to move into the community and pursue her dreams that include swimming, playing softball, getting trained to work at a job with animals, and visiting her friends when she wants to.

“I’m trying every day to think positive. Every day I wake up and (think) ‘Oh, no I won’t be able to get out of here’. I don’t want to be here anymore, it’s frustrating,” said Pratt.

The state has 21 days to respond to the complaint. The agencies could state their defenses, move to dismiss the lawsuit, or engage in settlement discussions.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/investigations/disabilities-group-sues-state-over-institutions/286359243
Copyright 2016 KING

Justice Dept Finds South Dakota Unnecessarily Relies on Nursing Facilities to Provide Services to People with Disabilities

from a Press Release on May 2, 2016
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

Following a comprehensive investigation, today, the Justice Department released its findings that South Dakota unnecessarily relies on nursing facilities to provide services to people with disabilities, in violation of the community integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.

South Dakotans with disabilities do not have a meaningful choice to receive the services they need in their own homes and communities.  The ADA and the Olmstead ruling require states to make services available to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, regardless of age or type of disability.

The department’s findings, detailed in a letter to South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard, follow an investigation into the state’s system of care for people who receive services and supports in nursing facilities.  The department found that thousands of people who rely on South Dakota for needed services must live in nursing facilities to receive those services, isolated from their communities.  With access to adequate home- and community-based services, these individuals could instead live in their homes and communities.

“Regardless of their age, people with disabilities deserve privacy, autonomy and dignity in their everyday lives,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “Our findings reveal how South Dakota’s current system of long-term care violates federal law and fails to give people with disabilities the choice to live in their own homes and their own communities.  South Dakota officials have expressed their desire to provide meaningful opportunities for people with disabilities to receive home- and community-based care, and we look forward to working with South Dakota to build a more effective, more efficient and more just service system for all.”

An analysis of South Dakota’s current spending and national data shows that South Dakota – which has one of the highest nursing facility utilization rates in the country – may even realize cost savings and be able to serve more people by increasing the state’s use of home- and community-based services.  The state funds the placement of about 3,400 people in nursing facilities through Medicaid at any given time, and approximately 5,500 people over the course of one year. 

Nursing facility residents in South Dakota range in age, and include many older adults and almost 450 people under the age of 65.  In addition to older adults with age-related disabilities, many of these individuals have disabilities they were born with or acquired at a young age, such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and amputations due to diabetes or mobility impairments due to an accident. 

The findings letter examines the widespread impact of the state’s nursing facility system.  For example, one 51-year-old man told the Justice Department that he had entered the nursing facility to recover after a leg amputation, but had been trying to leave the nursing facility for months, without help. 

The department’s findings letter includes the following key conclusions:

• Thousands of people who need long-term care have no choice but a nursing facility because South Dakota does not adequately arrange for community-based services or identify residents appropriate for transition. 
• Many people who rely on state services do not know that they could choose community-based services instead of a nursing facility because the state has not informed them of or offered them these services.
• South Dakota spends more than 80 percent of its long-term services budget on nursing facilities but could rebalance these funds to prioritize home- and community-based services. 
• Most residents have physical disabilities, chronic illnesses or cognitive disabilities and need some assistance with some day-to-day tasks, rehabilitative therapy or nursing –services that the state can provide in community-based settings rather than in institutions.
• People with similar needs to those living in South Dakota’s nursing facilities successfully receive services at home in other states, and even in South Dakota.  The state already offers many of the services people will need to live in their own homes and can increase community capacity and address service limitations to ensure all individuals can choose these services instead of nursing facility placement.    
• People with disabilities living in rural and frontier areas of the state, including those living on reservations, have particular difficulty accessing services in their homes and communities.

The full findings letter can be found at www.ada.gov.  Please visit www.ada.gov/olmstead to learn more about the division’s ADA Olmstead enforcement efforts, and www.justice.gov/crt to learn more about the laws enforced by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  Additional information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of South Dakota is available on its website at www.justice.gov/usao-sd.

The investigation was conducted by the Civil Rights Division with assistance by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of South Dakota.  The United States is represented by Trial Attorneys Alexandra Shandell, Joshua Rogers and Mathew Schutzer of the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell of the District of South Dakota.

South Dakota Findings Letter

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-south-dakota-unnecessarily-relies-nursing-facilities-provide

Action Alert April 20, 2016: Protect the Rights of Individuals in Nursing Homes in Illinois - PLEASE ACT NOW!

Our colleagues at Equip For Equality (EFE) has issued an Action Alert for the Illinois Disability Community, family, friends & supporters. And Access Living (cil) has also released a Action Alert.

FROM EQUIP FOR EQUALITY:

OPPOSE HB 5601

(Illinois) HB 5601 removes the right of nursing home residents, family members, visitors and staff to file anonymous complaints with the Department of Public Health regarding violations of the Nursing Home Care Act (NHCA).   As a result, only complaints filed by individuals who provide their name, address and telephone number will be investigated by DPH.  The bill also requires DPH to inform individuals making a complaint that they may be subject to sanctions for knowingly and willfully filing a false complaint.  While the bill states that the identifying information of complaining parties will be confidential, recent security breaches at the state, national and global levels render this a hollow promise.

The purpose of the existing complaint process is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of individuals residing in nursing homes. The long-standing right of residents, family members, visitors and staff to file anonymous complaints was established to encourage, not deter, individuals to report violations of residents’ rights and the responsibilities of nursing homes—without fear of retaliation. Combined with the required warning to would-be complainants regarding possible sanctions, HB 5601 will have an extremely chilling effect on the filing of complaints.  In turn, this will prevent DPH from investigating instances of abuse and neglect which may put residents at risk of serious injury or death.

Any purported inconvenience or cost to nursing homes in dealing with the possibility of a frivolous complaint is far outweighed by the need to ensure that the rights and safety of people residing in nursing homes are protected and enforced.   HB 5601 places the interests of nursing homes above the rights of individuals residing in nursing homes to be free from abuse and neglect.  This is a dangerous proposition which should be soundly rejected.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS TO VOTE NO ON HB 5601—TODAY!

• To find contact information for your State Representative: Click

• To find contact information for your State Senator: Click

For questions, contact Cheryl R. Jansen, Public Policy Director, Equip for Equality: 217-544-0464 ext. 6013 or cherylj2@equipforequality.org

# # # 

Also Access Living, Center for Independent Living has shared the following alert - to vote NO on HB 5601;

HB 5601 is a (Illinois) state bill designed to protect nursing homes and institutions by creating an atmosphere of intimidation towards residents. HB 5601 would eliminate residents' ability to file an anonymous complaint, and install a penalty system for filing "fraudulent" reports. While the bill would require all complaints received by the state to be confidential, the reality is the inability to file anonymous complaints may deter many residents from standing up for their rights.

 HB 5601 is a dangerous bill; please urge your state legislators to vote NO on it by using this easy link.

# # # 

PLEASE ACT NOW!
The State of Illinois Legislators have a bill before them HB 5601, that would reduce more of the rights of those that are in Illinois Nursing Homes (Illinois nursing homes system has ranked nationally year after year as being some of the worst in the nation).
Ability Chicago Info oppose HB 5601, Jim Watkins, publisher.