'A Mean Woman': Caregiver Seen Kicking 93-Year-Old Woman in Surveillance Video

A South Florida caregiver is behind bars after she was caught on surveillance video kicking a 93-year-old woman with Alzheimer's so hard that she started bleeding profusely, authorities said.

Martha Diazsanchez, 64, was arrested Monday afternoon at the victim's Little Havana home on SW 29th Avenue and faces charges of elderly abuse, battery on a person 65 years or older and tampering with physical evidence, according to the Miami Police Department.

"That woman is a bad woman. A mean woman," Santiago Sarmiento, the victim's son-in-law, told NBC 6.

Sarmiento said his mother-in-law is in such a frail state, that she could not even tell her own family that she was attacked.

"She has Alzheimer's and she is very weak," he said.

The surveillance video, taken from the victim's bedroom, shows Diazsanchez entering the room after the victim fell off her bed. She kicks the victim in the leg, hard, causing her to bleed and leaving a laceration in her leg. Diazsanchez pulls up the victim and throws her back onto her bed and mops up the blood after she patches up the injury, police said.

"We were able to put this puzzle together, and again, this could have been much worse," police commander Freddie Cruz said. "This elderly female could have been kicked in the head, her life could have been taken away at any given moment."

According to family members, Diazsanchez claimed to have 40 years of nursing experience. She had been working for the victim's family for only two weeks.

"You need to know who you're bringing into your house," Sarmiento said.

Police initially said the victim was 95 years old and later corrected her age to 93.

Diazsanchez was arrested after she was confronted by family members at the house. She was briefly hospitalized for chest pains and was subsequently booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $35,000 bond, according to online jail records. Attorney information wasn't available.



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'A Mean Woman': Caregiver Seen Kicking 93-Year-Old Woman in Surveillance Video

‘The Ultimate Betrayal’: Grandson Of Victim Explains Signs Of Elderly Financial Abuse

As the nation’s Baby Boomers age, more seniors are becoming vulnerable to various forms of financial exploitation.

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report released in June, studies have found that 2.7 percent to 6.6 percent of the elder population are victims of such exploitation each year. The report adds that these studies likely underestimate the true extent of the problem.

One man with very personal experience in this area is Philip Marshall, grandson of the late New York City philanthropist Brooke Astor. In 2006, Marshall took legal action against his father, Anthony Marshall, accusing him, among other things, of illegally scheming to take control of Astor’s $100 million fortune. At the time, she suffered from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Anthony Marshall was later convicted on grand larceny and other counts. The case helped raise awareness of elder financial abuse nationwide.

On Thursday, Philip Marshall will address the issue of elder financial exploitation during a conference in Charlotte. He spoke Tuesday with "All Things Considered" host Mark Rumsey.

Mark Rumsey: Philip Marshall joins me now by phone from his home in South Dartmouth Massachusetts. Mr. Marshall good afternoon.

Philip Marshall: Good afternoon, Mark. It’s great being with you here.

Rumsey: Your family's case was highly unusual in the sense that it was very high profile and involved tens of millions of dollars. What is the broader scope of the problem of financial exploitation of elderly people in this country? What are some of the forms that [the abuse] takes?

Marshall: Well what happens is there's a couple things that occur. Scams such as phone scams and what I'll call “pure financial exploitation” involves straight out theft of money or other assets by a stranger. But sadly, as I know from my grandmother sad circumstances, at least two thirds of elder abuse cases occur within a relationship where there's an expectation of trust. It's illegal, immoral and a betrayal of trust — the ultimate betrayal.

Frequently, seniors are poly-victimized. Basically, they endure more than one form of abuse and are re-victimized, especially when there's an intimate long term relationship between the victim and perpetrator.

Rumsey: How clear is the line between, perhaps, some form of inappropriate treatment towards an elderly person with regard to their finances and actual exploitation that would cross all ethical and legal boundaries?

Marshall: It's hard to draw the line but in essence, it's when finances are going to benefit the alleged or actual perpetrator and compromise the senior that the line begins to get drawn.

Rumsey: In your family's case, the key issue was the mental competence of your grandmother Brooke Astor when she signed a will in 2002, right?

Marshall: In my grandmother’s case, abuse and exploitation happened for several years and it started a bit before she was a hundred years old. My father basically used his power of attorney, and he used it as a weapon and a shield to steal — as chronicled by huge irregular financial transactions. After that happened, he became emboldened and he continued his sort of serial exploitation.

[He had] my grandmother sign three amendments to her will to transfer millions of dollars — which was to go to charity — to his control. But it happened three years after he claims that his mother was delusional in a letter to a neurologist.

One of my big pushes now is to connect healthcare and financial professionals because with communication between these professionals, and with mandated reporting and training, such acts could have been arrested early on. The financial industry can serve as an early warning system. Basically, our personal ability to deal with finances is the first thing to go when it comes to cognitive impairment.

Rumsey: Out of your own personal experience, is there a message for family members — children and grandchildren — to be alert to what would seem like the unthinkable possibilities that this kind of abuse could be taking place in their own families?

Marshall: Really have a conversation with seniors. Our silence protects perpetrators, not their victims. Today, victims of this crime might be strangers. Tomorrow, they may be our loved ones or ourselves.

Rumsey: Philip Marshall is the grandson of the late New York City philanthropist Brooke Astor. Mr. Marshall, thanks very much for talking with us.

Marshall: Thank you very much, Mark.

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‘The Ultimate Betrayal’: Grandson Of Victim Explains Signs Of Elderly Financial Abuse

Owner of Scottdale care home accused of endangering Vietnam veteran she evicted

The owner of a Scottdale personal care home is accused of reckless endangerment after letting a Vietnam veteran who was evicted from her facility walk to the New Stanton area without checking on him, according to court papers.

County detectives on Wednesday filed charged against Leah C. Ilgenfritz, 79. 

The situation was reported in July to the Westmoreland County Elder Abuse Task Force when the victim, who is in his 60s, was seen wandering around the New Stanton area. Police said the victim has schizophrenia and a diabetic condition. 

When county officials investigating the July 6 report found the victim at a convenience store near New Stanton, he was talking to himself, dressed in dirty clothing and appeared undernourished. A doctor who evaluated him during an involuntary mental health commitment told investigators the victim was “at risk of serious bodily injury or death” if his conditions went untreated, police said in an affidavit. 

Ilgenfritz told police she began in May the process of evicting the man from her Park Avenue facility, where he had been treated since 2015, after he began neglecting his medication and causing problems. 

“Ilgenfritz stated that when (the man’s) erratic behavior didn’t change, she advised him that she would be evicting him from the facility,” Detective Ray Dupilka wrote in the complaint. 

She paid to lodge him for three nights at the Budget Inn Motel in New Stanton about 9 miles away and dropped his belongings and medication off there, police reported. 

He refused to get in her vehicle and left the personal care home on foot. Dupilka said the victim never checked in to the hotel, instead wandering around the area for a few days. 

“Ilgenfritz confirmed that after (the victim) left her facility, she didn’t know if he ever made it to the hotel or received his requisite medication,” Dupilka wrote in the complaint. 

When reached Thursday, Ilgenfritz said the victim had overstayed a 30-day notice to leave her facility. 

“I never put him out,” she said. “He kept packing his bags and saying he was going to a hotel.” 

“There’s a lot more to it than what they’re saying,” she said. 

The personal care home, registered as Leah’s Victorian Cottage with the state, has a capacity of 30 patients. It was last inspected in July. 

The misdemeanor charge is being sent by summons. A Dec. 5 preliminary hearing is set.

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Owner of Scottdale care home accused of endangering Vietnam veteran she evicted

State Auditor Wayne Johnson Creates Guardian And Conservator Audit Division

SANTA FE ― State Auditor Wayne Johnson has created a division within his office to help judges prevent court-appointed guardians and conservators from swindling the life savings of seniors and vulnerable adults.

 

Johnson testified before members of the Legislative Finance Committee today and told them he volunteered his office to help protect seniors from unscrupulous money managers and carry out the requirements passed by the Legislature earlier this year.

 

Johnson has requested an expansion of three full-time employees (FTE) to staff the guardianship/conservatorship program on an ongoing basis. Currently the staff power is funded by the contract with AOC for $300,000 in services, but that funding ends June 30, 2019.

 

“Implementing some type of audit system in the guardianship program just makes sense for people who are relying on strangers to manage their life-savings and expend it responsibly on their behalf, says Johnson. “We’ve seen horror stories over the last few years where seniors have lost their life savings. That shouldn’t happen. I’m committed to working with New Mexico families, judges, legislators, and anyone else with a stake in our guardianship program, to safeguard our seniors and other vulnerable adults.”

 

Johnson’s office has entered into an agreement with the New Mexico judicial branch to audit conservatorship reports as requested by individual district judges and assisting the courts in identifying conservators who are mismanaging or misspending funds. The OSA is also conducting an audit of the approximately 916 cases handled by the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) to assess compliance by the state’s contract guardian/conservators.

 

State Senator John Arthur Smith, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, praised the effort to protect seniors, saying, “Three branches of government are working together. We hear on TV and radio every day what’s wrong with New Mexico. This is what’s right.”

 

Auditor Johnson became involved in the Conservatorship Steering Committee chaired by District Judge Shannon Bacon shortly after the passage of Senate Bill 19. The OSA has actively worked with the Courts and members of the Steering Committee to develop a process for the auditing expertise of the OSA to be utilized by the Judiciary to meet the intent of SB19.

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State Auditor Wayne Johnson Creates Guardian And Conservator Audit Division

57-year-old accused of stealing from the elderly

CREEK COUNTY -  A 57-year-old woman is accused of stealing from the elderly in order to apparently fund her gambling habit.

Court records show the former administrator of Drumright Nursing Home in Creek County allegedly diverted more than $217,000 from at least 33 elderly residents. Tina Pearson has been charged with financial exploitation. 

Investigators tell the Tulsa World Pearson used her position as an administrator to divert funds that were supposed to go to residents to herself instead.

KRMG will continue to follow the case as it moves through the court system.  

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57-year-old accused of stealing from the elderly

Elder abuse screening tools lacking, task force finds

A lack of reliable tools to screen for elder abuse should be a “clear wake-up call” for healthcare professionals, policymakers, funding agencies and researchers concerned about the abuse of vulnerable older adults, according to an editorial published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The authors were responding to a statement issued Tuesday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that it “found no evidence about whether screening can successfully identify elderly or vulnerable adults who are being abused,” nor did it find evidence that screening can prevent elder abuse.

“Although we hope screening will help people who are being hurt get help, some worry that screening can put people at greater risk and actually result in harm. It is important to learn how to screen both effectively and safely,” the USPSTF said. “More research is needed in all of these areas.”

Research has shown that physical, sexual, psychological, neglectful and financial abuse of adults aged 60 or more years is occurring, the JAMA Internal Medicine authors wrote. The USPSTF, however, found only one “fair quality” study assessing the accuracy of a elder abuse screening tool, they noted.

“Although there is important work on elder abuse detection being done in emergency department and other settings, the field should borrow models from the [intimate partner violence] and child abuse domains to design high-quality, methodologically rigorous studies,” they wrote.

A separate editorial in JAMA noted that “[p]rograms with the greatest promise include use of multidisciplinary teams for coordination of care; helplines and emergency shelter for potential targets of abuse; independent financial management for elderly persons at risk of exploitation; and caregiver support interventions.”

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Elder abuse screening tools lacking, task force finds

Nursing Homes Are Pushing the Dying Into Pricey Rehab

Nursing home residents are increasingly spending time in rehabilitation treatment during the last days of their lives, subjected to potentially unnecessary therapy that reaps significant financial benefits for cash-strapped facilities, a study shows.

The proportion of nursing home residents who received “ultrahigh intensity” rehabilitation increased by 65 percent from October 2012 to April 2016, according to research published this month by the University of Rochester. Medicare defines “very high” therapy as almost nine hours per week, and “ultrahigh” therapy as more than 12 hours per week. Some residents were found to have been treated with the highest concentration of rehabilitation during their last week of life.

The study analyzed data from 647 New York-based nursing home facilities and 55,691 long-stay decedent residents, with a specific focus on those who received very high to ultrahigh rehabilitation services—including physical, occupational and speech therapy—during the last 30 days of their life. Such treatments garner the biggest payouts from insurers. The study sourced data from New York nursing homes’ Minimum Data Set assessments, which track a patient’s health status and socio-demographics, as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Nursing Home Compare website.

The findings raise questions about financial motives, said Helena Temkin-Greener, the lead author of the study and a professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Public Health Sciences. Medicare, a federal insurance program, doles out lofty reimbursement checks to nursing homes with patients facing the most complex and time-intensive rehabilitation. Temkin-Greener said for-profit nursing homes were more than two times as likely to use high to ultrahigh intensity therapy than were nonprofit homes.

“There’s a possibility that nursing homes know a patient is approaching end of life, but the financial pressures are so high that they use these treatments so they can maximize revenue,” she said. Alternatively, “if it’s being driven by a failure to recognize that a resident is approaching end-of-life, then it calls for improving the skills of nursing home teams.”

“If ultrahigh therapy is good for patients at end of life, why are only for-profits using it?”

The New York State Department of Health, the Office of the New York Attorney General, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn’t return requests for comment.

“It is important for [skilled nursing facility] providers and their care teams to consider the risk-benefit of potential therapy interventions and dosage relative to the resident’s current health status,” said Daniel Ciolek, associate vice president of therapy advocacy at the American Health Care Association, which represents most of the country’s for-profit nursing homes. Ciolek noted the AHCA has long promoted efforts to redesign the skilled-nursing facility payment system to “be based on care needs, rather than service delivery.”

Associations representing nonprofit nursing homes agreed. “Reimbursement policy should be driven by what it costs to provide high-quality care to all Medicare beneficiaries,” said Aaron Tripp, the director of long-term care policy and analytics at LeadingAge, an organization that represents more than 2,000 nonprofit nursing homes. “If someone comes into a skilled nursing home facility with high degrees of medical complexity but not in need of rehab, they shouldn’t be at a disadvantage because the system provides incentives for patients in need of high therapy.” LeadingAge has criticized the current patient-classification system, which determines reimbursement levels for skilled nursing facilities (SNF), since it was rolled out in 2010.

Ciolek pushed back against the new study’s methodology, which he said defined a very narrow SNF population of long-stay residents. He said the study gives a false impression that the findings apply to all SNF admissions. Temkin-Greener said the research “clearly focused on long-term decedent residents for whom high-intensity therapy delivered at the end of life is not indicated. However, with about 30 percent of all Americans dying in nursing homes, this can hardly be described as a ‘very narrow SNF population.’”

The study of New York facilities doesn’t bode well for how nursing homes throughout the U.S. are treating dying residents—given that most states have less stringent nursing home regulatory oversight than New York. “This is a nationwide problem,” said Paul Ginsburg, director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy. “I would suspect this isn’t unique to New York, since these distortions in our payment system are national.”

Rehabilitation therapy has proven to be incredibly beneficial to patients when properly prescribed, Temkin-Greener noted, but with those approaching death, high-intensity treatment might be preventing staff from providing more appropriate end-of-life care, such as hospice or palliative care. It may also be accelerating the residents’ decline.

There’s one particular piece of data from the study, she said, that points toward nursing homes seeking to profit from helpless residents. “If ultrahigh therapy is good for patients at end of life, why are only for-profits using it?” Temkin-Greener asked. “These people are using high-intensity services without justification.”

“In a perfect world, the new model would help mitigate this.”

Forthcoming Medicare payment and policy changes for skilled nursing facilities may end the very incentives that encourage high-intensity treatment. Starting Oct. 1, 2019, CMS will implement a new ‘Patient-Driven Payment Model’ that will determine payments based on a patient’s condition and health needs, rather than on the amount of care provided or the intensity of treatment. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent U.S. federal body, applauded the decision.

“It will level the playing field, so there won’t be the financial incentive to have therapy drive payment as much as it does today,” Tripp, of the nonprofit industry group, said. “In a perfect world, the new model would help mitigate this. But it’s too early to say.”

Nursing homes have seen the number of patients decline in recent years. Occupancy is at roughly 85 percent, a 5 percent drop from 10 years prior, according to recent data from National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care. About one in five beds in a skilled-nursing home goes unused. Meanwhile, nursing homes are closing at unprecedented rates across the country. 

Ginsburg said the decline in occupancy isn’t likely to be contributing to the increase in high-intensity treatment. “It doesn’t matter if the beds are empty or not,” he said. “The incentives to do too much rehabilitation exist whether a facility is under- or over-occupied.”

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Nursing Homes Are Pushing the Dying Into Pricey Rehab

AG's office files financial exploitation charges against Drumright Nursing Home administrator

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter has filed financial exploitation charges on the former nursing home administrator of Drumright Nursing Home, who allegedly diverted more than $217,000 from at least 33 elderly residents.

An investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit alleges that Tina Pearson, 57, of Drumright, used her position as an administrator to divert funds that were supposed to go to residents to herself instead.

A review of banking records showed Pearson wrote checks from a resident trust account made payable to cash, to herself, or to the name of the bank holding the trust so she could withdraw the residents’ funds in cash.

The trust account was originally set up to hold money for residents to be used only for their benefit. Pearson was the administrator over the account.

Attorney General Hunter said his office is firmly committed to protecting all Oklahomans against this type of exploitation.

“Crimes against the elderly are appalling and will never be tolerated by my office,” Attorney General Hunter said. “Residents of nursing homes are in vulnerable positions and those charged with residents’ care have the duty to protect them. When that authority is abused, my office will ensure those responsible are held accountable for their actions.”

The attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes Medicaid fraud, as well as abuse, neglect and exploitation of patient funds in long term board and care facilities. Within the last year and a half, through civil and criminal litigation efforts, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered over $10 million in restitution and other civil recoveries.

If convicted, Pearson faces up to 10 years in prison and fines.

All defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

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AG's office files financial exploitation charges against Drumright Nursing Home administrator

New Report Identifies Key Best Practices & Policies for Assisted Living

New Report Identifies Key Best Practices & Policies for Assisted Living

Following Federal Report Finding Thousands of “Critical Incidents” Involving Seniors Every Year, LTCCC Identifies Best Practices to Improve Safety, Quality of Life, & Dementia Care

Contact: Richard Mollot, 212-385-0356 orRICHARD@LTCCC.ORG

October 24, 2018– Assisted living is a popular alternative to nursing homes for seniors who need or want residential care but want to avoid the institutional setting that the typical nursing home provides. However, in the absence of federal safety standards, assisted living facility (ALF) residents are only protected to the extent that individual states have developed regulatory requirements to ensure the safety and dignity of their residents. Unfortunately, according to a 2018 GAO report, Medicaid Assisted Living Services: Improved Federal Oversight of Beneficiary Health and Welfare is Needed,all too often states fail to protect ALF residents or even keep track of when they are harmed. The GAO found that there were an astonishing 23,000 reported cases of “critical incidents,” including abuse, neglect, exploitation, and death, in ALFs across just 22 states in 2014. While this number is significant, there is little doubt that the extent to which critical incidents occur is, actually, far greater, since only 22 of the 48 states surveyed by the GAO tracked and reported critical incidents. Moreover, the review only included Medicaid assisted living, which covers a small minority of ALF residents (most Americans pay privately for assisted living services).

“The GAO’s report provides clear evidence of the urgent need to address the health and safety of assisted living residents,” said Richard Mollot, LTCCC’s Executive Director.  “In the absence of strong and clearly defined quality of care and quality of life standards, residents will continue to be susceptible to inappropriate care and potentially unsafe conditions when they move to an ALF.”

LTCCC’s new report,Assisted Living: Promising Policies and Practices, provides information and insights into best practices and policies for assisted living. The report focuses on areas of public interest and concern which we have identified as particularly important to ensuring resident safety and the ability of residents to realize assisted living’s “promise” of a resident-centered and directed, home-like environment. They include: (1) staff training requirements, (2) dementia care, (3) whether a registered nurse is employed, and (4) state oversight and quality assurance.

In addition, LTCCC has compiled anAssisted Living State Requirements Chart showing, for every state in the country, the state’s status in regard to key policies and requirements.

Both the report and the chart are available on LTCCC’s website,www.nursinghome411.org.

Long Term Care Community Coalition
www.nursinghome411.org
One Penn Plaza, Suite 6252
New York, NY 10119
United States

Source: 
New Report Identifies Key Best Practices & Policies for Assisted Living

‘He screamed for hours for help and no one came.’ How her dad died in a nursing home

Wanda Delaplane, former Kentucky assistant attorney general, recounts the story of how she lost her father to nursing home neglect in 2006 and how she now advocates for safety in nursing homes.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/watchdog/article218600285.html?fbclid=IwAR2IDhS22oiBLsf6um0bzXdQFiRlnmK-l9rSEXB8hggHA9rQDhXz2cY6bF0#storylink=cpy

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‘He screamed for hours for help and no one came.’ How her dad died in a nursing home

Hundreds of Stan Chesley's former clients get $23.5 million settlement in fen-phen case

Attorney Stan Chesley

CINCINNATI - Years after hundreds of Stan Chesley’s clients sued to recover money he allegedly stole from their diet drug case, a federal judge announced a $23.5 million settlement on Wednesday.

In a few days the 382 victims of a fen-phen lawsuit filed two decades ago will finally receive money that their attorneys allegedly skimmed from their settlement with the drug maker.

“Some of them had such significant health problems because of the drug; they did lose everything,” said Lexington attorney Angela Ford. “Nearly all of them have had some degree of loss of faith in the justice system … I ran out of excuses to give them years ago for the case dragging on and moving in so many different directions.”

The settlement puts an end to the federal case against Chesley’s former law firm, Waite Schneider Bayless & Chesley, which harbored many of Chesley’s assets after he was disbarred in 2013. It also dismisses eight other related state court cases.

The settlement removes any future claims against Chesley’s wife, U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott, for assets she may have received from her husband.

But the settlement does not end the federal case, or any state lawsuit, against Chesley individually.
“None of these actions have changed his conduct, or his demeanor, or his sense of responsibility for the people he stole from,” Ford said.

In June the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati issued a scathing rebuke of Chesley and his “scheme” to avoid paying a $42 million judgment dating back four years.

“For years … Stanley Chesley appears to have been orchestrating a high-stakes shell game in an effort to escape a long-overdue multi-million dollar judgment. In the process, he has defrauded hundreds of judgment creditors, many of who are plaintiffs here,” judges wrote in the opinion.

A Kentucky state court issued a judgment nearly four years ago against Chesley for $42 million he owed his former clients. Since then, those victims have been trying to collect.

U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland, a visiting judge from Michigan, approved a settlement this week, which finally makes them whole on that $42 million debt. But they are still owed tens of millions in long-overdue interest on that money, Ford said.

“Chesley has been successfully evading them with the help of his confidantes. In the process, five lawyers have been disbarred; two have been put in jail,” the appeals court wrote. “Through it all, Chesley has managed to transfer most of his assets elsewhere rendering himself judgment-proof.”

An attorney for Chesley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The story behind the case began in 1998 when Chesley joined three attorneys in a class-action lawsuit against American Home Products, the maker of the diet drug fen-phen. In 2001, attorneys negotiated a settlement of more than $200 million, for injuries to their clients from the drug’s side effects. The drug maker left it up to the lawyers to divvy up the settlement.

“So the fraud began,” the appeals court wrote. “The lawyers, at least for the time being, made out like bandits.”

The fallout from the scheme has been sweeping. Five lawyers and a judge have been permanently disbarred. Two of Chesley’s accomplices were convicted of wire fraud and are serving prison time.

Chesley avoided prosecution by testifying against his co-counsel, according to the appeals order.

After years of trying to collect their judgment in state court, the victims filed a federal suit in 2016 to unwind the assets that Chesley had transferred to his law firm and a trust set up by another attorney, Thomas Rehme.

As part of the settlement, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction freezing those assets and preventing Chesley from ever receiving them.

In May 2017, many of Chesley’s former clients traveled to Cincinnati to protest outside of the Hamilton County Courthouse.

“There’s some of us who are going to die before this is all over with and I might be one of them,” Evelyn Hopkins, of Florida, told reporters then. “It’s destroyed me, it’s destroyed my family.”

Hopkins, who has a pacemaker, stents in her heart and a leaky heart valve caused by the diet drug, lost her home and had to move in with her daughter.

“It wouldn’t hurt him to pay us and he probably wouldn’t even miss it, he’s got so much,” Hopkins said. “I live with my daughter. I live in a bedroom because I can’t afford anything else. I’m on food stamps.”

The $22.5 million settlement will be distributed to victims based on the amounts that were stolen from them in the original fen-phen settlement, Ford said.

“The door is open to collect additional money from him (Chesley),” Ford said.

Connie Centers, a victim from Kentucky, told reporters that some have died awaiting their settlement money.

“Our lives have been destroyed … all this time they’re spending this money on filing this appeal and this appeal, paying out all these fees,” Centers said. “And we’re living in poverty, we can’t pay our bills, can’t get our medicines because of our heart problems. It can’t go on, it has just got to stop.

“The judicial system, I used to believe in it. The judicial system now, I have no faith in it. I’ve lost it for 17 years."

Full Article & Source:
Hundreds of Stan Chesley's former clients get $23.5 million settlement in fen-phen case

Staunton man charged with bilking elderly victim out of thousands of dollars

WAYNESBORO - A suspected con artist who is already facing charges in Staunton was arrested last week in Waynesboro after being accused of bilking a 92-year-old man out of more than $25,000, according to police.

Police said the suspect, 50-year-old Andre R. Patterson, of Staunton, met the elderly man earlier this year while doing yard work for a neighbor of the victim.

Patterson eventually began telling the man tales of woe, one involving a story that his wife was slain in Baltimore, Maryland, and another concerning a niece who was supposedly raped and later died at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, according to the Waynesboro Police Department.

"Made up stuff," said Sgt. Fred Smith.

In September, Patterson talked the elderly man into loaning him some money, Smith said. Patterson pledged to pay the man back with proceeds from property he was selling in New Jersey, but told the man he needed additional cash for closing costs on the deal, Smith said. Patterson then reportedly pocketed that money as well.

Smith said police don't believe Patterson was married, and said there are no property records to support his claim of owning land in New Jersey.

"None of this exists," the sergeant said.

In all, the elderly man was swindled out of $26,200. Smith said Patterson is suspected of getting the cash through several visits. Adult Protective Services alerted police to the alleged scam.

Patterson is charged in Waynesboro with five counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, court records show.

In May, Staunton authorities charged Patterson with 13 counts of financial exploitation of a mentally incapacitated person in an unrelated case where he reportedly stole more than $5,000 from a 55-year-old Staunton man who suffers from a mental disability.

In the Staunton case, Patterson allegedly told the man he needed the cash to help jumpstart a new business, according to an arrest report. The Staunton Police Department said there is no evidence Patterson started a business.

Court records show Patterson was convicted in 2014 of misdemeanor welfare fraud. Two felony charges of making a false application for welfare assistance were not prosecuted.

Patterson, who had been free on bond in the Staunton case, is now being held at Middle River Regional Jail without bond.

Full Article & Source:
Staunton man charged with bilking elderly victim out of thousands of dollars

KYW Exclusive: Search for grandmother’s body exposes cracks in the system

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After 85-year-old Ruth Pasley died in a Philadelphia nursing home last New Year’s Eve, she was quietly laid to rest in Montgomery County, so quietly that her family had no idea for more than six months.

Accounts of her case, provided exclusively to KYW Newsradio, not only expose a family’s heartbreak but also raise red flags about cracks in the state’s guardianship system.

Cherri Gregg | KYW Newsradio

“It still hurts”

David Wilson is still trying to come to grips with his grandmother’s death. Coping with a slew of family illnesses recently meant he hadn’t gone to visit his grandmother, known to loved ones as “Miss Ruth,” since before the holidays in 2017.

“Once my father passed, it was on me,” he told KYW Newsradio. “It still hurts. All I want to know is what happened to my grandmother, when, and why we weren’t informed.”

Miss Ruth had dementia and lived in the community with help from neighbors and friends. But when her son died in 2014 and those friends aged, the Pennsylvania Corporation for Aging stepped in. During a hearing in June of 2015, the court appointed attorney James Tyler as her legal guardian. Wilson said he did not object to the appointment.

Eventually, according to the family, Tyler moved Miss Ruth to Cheltenham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a facility 26 miles from her old North Philadelphia neighborhood near 17th Street and Susquehanna Avenue.

"During that time, I had a heart attack, I had cancer," said Sandra Pasley, 71, Miss Ruth’s daughter-in-law. "There were a lot of things going on." She and other family members lost touch. "But still, I used to try to visit her when I could," she said.

When Miss Ruth died, representatives from Cheltenham said they called the guardian. But, the family told KYW Newsradio, no one called them.

The Pennsylvania Corporation for Aging declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality issues.

"I am very upset," said Sandra Pasley.

Cherri Gregg | KYW Newsradio

A “semi-private plot”

On July 8, Wilson visited Cheltenham and discovered his grandmother no longer lived here. He was told to call Miss Ruth’s guardian. He said when he called Tyler the next day, he was told Miss Ruth had died, but Tyler would not tell him where she was buried.

"He told us to call this person, talk to that person," said David Wilson. "I really want to hurt that man. I really want to hurt him."

It took Wilson weeks of calls, visits to the nursing home and calls to local funeral homes to find out that Miss Ruth was buried Jan. 10 at Fairview Cemetery in Willow Grove, in Montgomery County.  On Aug. 8, he took the 45-minute ride to his grandmother’s final resting place with his mother, Sandra, and sister, Ashley.

"This is bull crap man," said Ashley. "There's no name, no nothing. How do we even know that our grandmother is here?"

Sandra Pasley burst into tears. "She can't stay here," she bellowed. "She can't stay here!"

Wayne Luker, Fairview's president, told the family the cemetery received a direct order for burial. He said there were no chairs set up, and Miss Ruth was buried in a semi-private plot — with four other bodies. He says the cemetery was told that there was no family. The burial cost $900.

"We’re going to have to do something," said Wilson. "Everything she needed funeral-wise, we had. She deserved better than this."

Cracks in the system

Wilson said he believed that having a guardian meant his grandmother would be okay and that the family would be notified if there were problems.

However, notifying next of kin is not required under the state’s guardianship laws.

"There are people who feel, especially if they are not local or close family, that if they have a guardian they are taken care of," said Diane Menio, executive director of CARIE, a nonprofit that advocates for the elderly in Pennsylvania. She said guardianship laws in Pennsylvania fail to adequately protect seniors.

Cherri Gregg | KYW Newsradio

"The statute, as it exists now, it requires people to report," she said, "but it doesn't require a whole lot beyond that."

Under the rules, guardians are not even required to visit their clients.

"We recommend once a month, but that rarely happens," said Menio.

In order to do a thorough job, Menio said a guardian would have to call and check in, visit and communicate with the family of his or her client. The only problem is compensation. Many of those needing a court-appointed guardian are poor and have family who are unable or unwilling to put forth the type of effort required to adequately take care of an incapacitated person. Monthly pay for such services from poor seniors is only $100 a month. In order to make ends meet, some guardians will run a volume business, taking on many clients and doing the bare minimum. Additionally, the courts are understaffed and provide limited oversight.

"They don't have the type of resources they need to do monitoring," said Menio.

In response to an inquiry from KYW Newsradio, the Philadelphia Orphans Court wrote that James Tyler, the attorney appointed to Miss Ruth's case, has one of the larger guardian caseloads. Multiple sources say he has scores of guardianship clients. According to the annual reports his office filed with the Orphans Court, Tyler earned at least $1100 a year for providing guardianship to Miss Ruth from June of 2015 until her death in December of 2017. Those filings show that he visited Miss Ruth only one time, for 10 minutes, during those two and a half years. Mr. Tyler did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Pennsylvania has nearly 2.7 million residents age 60 and older, and that number will hit 3.3 million by 2020. Thousands of seniors and infirm individuals have state approved guardians who are supposed to protect their rights, but the law requires only that guardians do what's in the "best interest" of an incapacitated individual and the specifics are left for interpretation.

"It's time consuming to be able to do what you need to do," said Keelin Barry, a Philadelphia-based attorney with an elder law practice in Center City. She also sits on the Pennsylvania Elder Law Task Force and is a guardian for 37 seniors. "I think, really, it's unclear what a guardian should be doing," she said.

Cherri Gregg | KYW Newsradio

What can be done?

In 2014, the task force delivered a 284-page report to help the Pennsylvania Supreme Court better protect elders from abuse and neglect, including 130 specific recommendations. Some included mandatory training for guardians on ethics and liability, a bill of rights for seniors and family and more.

"We need to have a stronger system for supporting guardianship," Barry said.

One effort to improve the system is the Guardianship Tracking System that is scheduled to roll out this year. In a promo video created by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and released last month, judges explain that GTS will allow guardians to file reports online and send email reminders.

"It will allow judges to put red flags on guardians who may have done something wrong," Barry said.

GTS supporters like Barry are hoping it will provide a statewide tracking system, something that is currently lacking since filing practices vary from county to county. Last year, it was discovered that a woman convicted of fraud was serving as guardian on a total of 100 cases in three different counties, prompting lawmakers to propose a bill for guardian background checks. Advocates are hoping these reforms and others will close the cracks in the system.

Meanwhile, David Wilson is still living with the guilt of relying on others to care for his grandma Ruth.

"I do feel bad because I didn't get a chance to get out there and do what I should had been doing," he said. "Even though there’s a power of attorney, that doesn't mean they'll take care."

Wilson’s focus now is saying goodbye to his grandmother.

On Wed am on @KYWNewsradio tune into part one of #WheresGrandma. When 85yo #MissRuth died last NYE she was quietly laid to rest, so quietly it took 6 mos for her family to find out. We’ll explain how the case exposes cracks in guardianship law. Livestream: https://t.co/eubGbkvrHY pic.twitter.com/ATFuJNfhy9

— Cherri Gregg (@cherrigregg) October 16, 2018

"We wanted to give her a proper home going," he said.

It will cost thousands to move Miss Ruth from the grave in Willow Grove to Eden Cemetery in Philadelphia, where her son and the rest of the family are buried. Wilson says it's money the family does not have, but they'll work on a solution and take the lesson to heart.

"Try do whatever you can," said Wilson. "Just go see your loved ones."

Full Article & Source:
KYW Exclusive: Search for grandmother’s body exposes cracks in the system

Son charged for stealing $153,168 from 86-year-old father, officials talk elder abuse warning signs

LOWER SWATARA TOWNSHIP, DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. - More than $150,000 is stolen from an 86-year-old man and police say it was his son and daughter-in-law who did it.

Chester Robert Garman III and  Kathy Alice Garman are facing charges of felony theft and access device fraud for allegedly stealing $153,168 from Chester's father over a four year period.

"This case is the fourth biggest financial case since 2004," said Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick.

Dauphin County officials are using the Garman's elder financial abuse case as a reminder for people to keep an eye on people ages 60 and older for signs of abuse, neglect or financial exploitation. Reports of elder abuse in the county continue to increase year after year. So far this year, the county has received more than $1,600 reports of elder abuse.

"In Dauphin County we want to make it clear that if there are suspected abuses occurring, that we will take actions," said Hartwick. "We are communicating and we will do everything to make sure we are protecting out seniors and bring those individuals who perpetrate those crimes to justice."

In most elder abuse cases, like the Garman's, the abuse is done by someone they know and trust. The Dauphin County Area Agency on Aging says there are many signs of abuse. Anytime anyone notices anything they think is questionable, they can call the agency anonymously and they can look into it.

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo says, to help prevent financial abuse of an elder, have a power of attorney especially once someone has a caregiver, even if they are a family member. He says without it, it can be a license to steal.

"You want to have clear delineation of what the obligations are of the caregiver to the person receiving the care," said Chardo.

For more information on the Dauphin County Area Agency on Agings and how to report suspected elder abuse click here.



Full Article & Source:
Son charged for stealing $153,168 from 86-year-old father, officials talk elder abuse warning signs

8 years prison for Nevada woman for elder exploitation

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A 62-year-old northern Nevada woman has been sentenced to up to eight years in prison for guardianship abuse of her 93-year-old father.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt announced the sentencing Monday of Vicky Jo Adams of Douglas County for exploiting an older person and converting funds entrusted to her for her personal use between April and December 2017.

Prosecutors say she defrauded John Lindblade of more than $260,000.

In addition to sentencing Adams to 30 to 96 months in prison, Judge James Todd Russell ordered her to pay $264,000 in restitution.

Full Article & Source:
8 years prison for Nevada woman for elder exploitation

85-Year-Old Grandmother Buried With Strangers, Family Didn’t Find Out About Her Death Until 7 Months Later

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A family of an 85-year-old grandmother who died in a Philadelphia nursing home last New Year’s Eve didn’t find out she passed away until seven months later.

Ruth Pasley, 85, died at the Cheltenham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on New Year’s Eve and was quietly laid to rest in Montgomery County.

“No name, no nothing,” said granddaughter Ashley Wilson. “How do we know that my grandmother is here?”

“All I want to know is what happened to my grandmother and why we were not informed,” said grandson David Wilson.

A retired teacher’s aide, Pasley lived on her own for years, but when her son died and dementia set in, the court appointed a legal guardian.

The guardian moved Pasley to the rehab center 26 miles away. The family last saw her in December. When she died later that month, the nursing home called the guardian, but no one in the family.

Wilson says he asked the guardian where his grandmother was buried but he would not tell them. It took weeks of effort to discover Pasley’s body lies in a Montgomery County grave with four strangers.

There is currently no requirement in the law the guardian needs to stay in touch with the family.

“As it exists now, the statute requires people to report, but it doesn’t require a whole lot beyond that,” said CARIE executive director Diane Menio.

While visits and calls to clients and the family are needed for a guardian to do a thorough job, it is not required. Courts are understaffed and guardians earn only $100 a month from poor seniors, so some guardians do a volume business and perform minimum duties.

According to court filings, Pasley’s guardian visited her once in two-and-a-half years.

There are efforts being made to try to tighten things up. In 2014, the Pennsylvania Elder Law Taskforce released a report with 130 recommendations. One reform is the Guardianship Tracking System, which launches this year. Other recommendations include mandatory training, a bill of rights for seniors and family, and background checks.



Full Article & Source:
85-Year-Old Grandmother Buried With Strangers, Family Didn’t Find Out About Her Death Until 7 Months Later

Beware of scams: The grandkids scam is among several that could be costly to seniors

Tulsa Police developed the Senior Services Unit in 2002 to combat crimes against seniors.

In 2017 alone, Tulsa County received over 2,200 referrals and reports of crimes against seniors. To combat such offenses, two detectives, a supervisor, and a full-time volunteer share the caseload of reports filed with the Tulsa Police Department.

Working hand-in-hand with local agencies, the goal is to protect the vulnerable adult population as well as the seniors in the Tulsa community. This protection is often found in educating seniors.

The Senior Services Unit combats crimes such as financial exploitation, elder neglect, physical abuse, caretaker neglect, identity theft, credit card fraud, and all types of scams targeting the senior population.

Grandkids scam, IRS scam, jury duty scam, and the love scam are some of the top choices the bad guys will use to get money from seniors.

Grandkids scam

The victim, usually a senior, receives a phone call from someone pretending to be their grandchild.

Once you answer the phone and say hello, the suspect will say, “Grandma,” then the senior may answer, “Is that you John?” And the suspect immediately answers, “Yes, Grandma, it’s John.”

Then the caller, or suspect, will continue the conversation and tell the senior that he’s in jail or recently got in a car wreck and needs money to either bail out of jail or receive medical treatment. They may even hand the phone over to a cohort who pretends to be an attorney or doctor.

Often, these suspects ask for money through an Apple iTunes gift card or some other type of gift card.

The easiest thing for seniors to do is to hang up. Your grandchildren should never request you send them money via a gift card over the phone. You can send your grandchildren gift cards through the mail, but never give gift card information over the phone.

You must verify where your grandchild is and verify their location with their parents. Often times, the suspect on the phone will ask you not to call their parents, because they are too scared to let them know. But remember, this is your money you will lose.

Never give someone a gift card over the phone. This is a scam.

IRS scam

The IRS will never contact you about warrants because of missed payments or discuss your past due taxes over the phone.

In rare cases, an agent will contact you if you are part of an identity theft investigation you initiate — but they always start the investigation by mail.

Never give money over the phone to the IRS.

Jury duty

The Tulsa County Court Clerk will never call you and say you have a warrant because you missed jury duty. A letter is often sent by mail to the juror, but a phone call will never occur.

Did you know most seniors are excused from jury duty due to their age or mobility? If you receive a notice for jury duty, follow the directions on the information card.

If you receive a phone call stating you missed jury duty and there’s a warrant for your arrest, hang up. This is a scam.

You will be notified by mail if a warrant for your arrest exists; you will never be asked to pay for a warrant using a gift card.

Love scam

Some seniors seek companionship on the internet or to find true love. In some rare cases, this type of matchmaking works.

Seniors are preyed upon hard when finding the right one online. The suspect uses your vulnerability to their advantage. Many of these suspects start communication by email, then text messages, and sometimes will talk to you for hours over the phone.

They may be in foreign countries or other states and will start to ask you for money to help them buy a plane ticket or gas money so they can come and see you.

Never give money to someone you have never met. This scam often goes unreported, because people are embarrassed and will never tell someone.

If you have never met your true love in person and only online; never send them money of any type. This is a scam.

Full Article & Source:
Beware of scams: The grandkids scam is among several that could be costly to seniors

Dauphin County task force to release more info on elder abuse investigation

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - Dauphin County's Elder Abuse Task Force is expected to announce more information about a couple accused of stealing more tan $150,000 from an elderly relative.

Police arrested Chester "Rob" and Kathy Garman. Investigators said they used an 86-year-old relative's credit card and accessed his bank cards without his knowledge from 2013-2017.

The case is the 4th largest sum of money involved in a financial exploitation case since the task force was formed in 2004.

The task force will hold a press conference Monday at 10 a.m. at the Dauphin County Administration Building in Harrisburg. 

Full Article & Source:
Dauphin County task force to release more info on elder abuse investigation

See Also:
New details on arrest of couple accused of stealing $153K from elderly relative coming Monday

The U.S. needs more home care workers. Is this the solution?

Click to Watch Video

America's home care shortage is critical, and growing. The industry's shortage seems to be driven by low wages, few benefits and a lack of respect for workers, 90 percent of whom are women. Would giving them more responsibilities and more training help workers earn more? In the second part of our reporting, economics correspondent Paul Solman takes a closer look at whether there is a solution.

Read the Full Transcript

• William Brangham:
  
  Many of us say we want to stay at home as we grow into old age.
  
  But as economics correspondent Paul Solman recently reported, the country is facing a shortage of home care workers, the very people who can make staying at home possible.
  
  Tonight, Paul looks at efforts to address that shortage. It's part of our weekly series, Making Sense.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  America's home care shortage is critical and growing.
  
  
• Woman:
  All right, Tom, come sit down for breakfast.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Right now, 90 percent are women, who help older adults and people with disabilities get through the daily tasks of living at home.
  The key drivers of the shortage, according to gerontologist Clare Luz.
  
  
• Clare Luz:
  Low wages.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Right.
  
  
• Clare Luz:
  Virtually no benefits, lack of guaranteed hours and lack of respect. Those are the big-ticket items.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  The pay? A national average of $10.49 an hour. And that's not nearly enough to make up the shortage, says MIT management professor Paul Osterman.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  We have to find ways to make these jobs for these home aides better jobs, so more people are willing to do the work.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  On the demand side, the reason is obvious and pressing, the number of elderly and disabled in need of assistance is expected to double in the next 25 years.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  It's going to put tremendous pressure on unpaid family members to step in, but they're not going to be there in the numbers that we need.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  There aren't enough Hellen (ph) Kwants, that is. She's been caring for the elderly since she arrived from Colombia at age 22.
  
  You're now how old?
  
  
• Hellen Kwant:
  Eighty-seven.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  And you're still doing it? How old is the person you're taking care of?
  
  
• Hellen Kwant:
  Eighty-seven.
  
  (LAUGHTER)
  
• Paul Solman:
  Hellen's daughter, Martha,` is also a home care worker.
  
  
• Martha Kwant:
  My mom raised us to care for our elderly neighbors, so since we were knee-high to boll weevils, we were taking food and helping do this.
  
  
• Hellen Kwant:
  Yes, we adopted like a grandma.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  But Martha wonders if the rest of her fellow Americans are equipped to take in aging relatives.
  
  
• Martha Kwant:
  As a society, we're not so good about having the patience, as other cultures do, to have family move in, or to have that person move in with family and soften the approach to that ledge and the fall. That's not something most Americans are prepared to do.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  So, what to do?
  
  In his book "Who Will Care For Us?" Osterman argues home care workers should be given more responsibilities, like managing chronic conditions, and especially more training.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  If they could do more they would be more productive. That would justify better compensation for them, which would mean that more people would enter into the market, and we will be able to avoid the shortages we will inevitably face as the baby boom ages.
  
  
• Woman:
  I'm tearing that off. I'm not touching my hand.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  At a recent session in Grand Ledge, Michigan, called Building Training, Building Quality, or BTBQ, experienced home care workers were learning how to train new employees.
  
  BTBQ curriculum provides baseline training for home care workers. The goal is to attract and retain more people, because last year the industry had a median turnover rate of 67 percent.
  
  
• Alyssa Lawrence:
  We're constantly looking for other ways to retain our staff.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Participant Alyssa Lawrence thinks more training could lead to higher job satisfaction among her employees.
  
  
• Alyssa Lawrence:
  We're trying to break that stigma of you're just a home health aide, so this way we're looking at trying to better educate them, better train them and hopefully retain our staff a lot better.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  But here's the problem, more training in no way guarantees higher pay.
  
  
• Wendy Martin:
  I was gobsmacked on how little they pay for this.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  After Wendy Martin (ph) lost her automotive job, she decided to run a home care agency with her mom.
  
  If your work force is better qualified because they have gotten the training that you're learning how to give, are they going to earn more money?
  
  
• Wendy Martin:
  Probably not.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  The reason for that is, most long-term home care is paid for through Medicaid.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  The financing system is a tremendous challenge. Medicaid has to compete with education and public safety for resources. Medicaid today caps what you can do for these aides in terms of compensation.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  But, he says, if home care workers were better-trained and higher-paid, Medicaid and insurance companies would actually benefit economically, because patients would avoid more expensive medical care.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  Fewer emergency room visits, fewer readmissions into hospitals. Secondly, they will save money because they could shift some work from higher paid folks, largely nurses, to these aides. And they will save money because they will avoid unneeded nursing home entrances.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Clare Luz says the Michigan training program has already provided evidence of cost-saving.
  
  
• Clare Luz:
  We were able to demonstrate empirically an association between this comprehensive training program and expensive client outcomes, like falls and emergency room visits.
  
  Just from an economic standpoint, a business standpoint, it's foolish not to be looking at this work force.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  Your hair is very, very curly and pretty.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Henrietta Ivey has many years of experience, but she says when workers like her care for clients dependent on government reimbursements in her native Detroit, the pay is still a measly $9.50 an hour.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  They tell you, get skilled, get trained. And we do get skilled and get trained, but that money has not changed. It hasn't.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  After talking to her for a while, I wondered, could Ivey cater to private clients who could afford to pay more out-of-pocket to a loving, seasoned pro like her?
  
  Maybe it's that there is a big entrepreneurial opportunity.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  You have got a good point there, but say, for example, me and a group of home care workers say, you know what, let's just start a home care agency.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  Right.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  If we don't have money saved, which we don't, because we don't make any money to save anything to think on that level, those are our barriers. When you don't have that money for your basic needs, those types of ideas are just ideas for us.
  
  We work, we sweat!
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  So Ivey has become an activist with the Service Employees International Union to press for higher wages.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  Somewhere, somebody is going to snap and say, you know what? We see the problem here now. It ain't that people don't want to work. It's not that people are not smart enough. We're not paying them enough.
  
  That's what I like to hear, that sizzle.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  And, says Paul Osterman, if we want there to be more home care workers like Henrietta Ivey around when we need their services, we will have to advocate for them too.
  
  
• Paul Osterman:
  We're going to need help, and we're going to wonder where it is and why it's not forthcoming. And then we will complain. And there will hopefully be a politician who will see it in his or her interest to make this their issue.
  
  
• Paul Solman:
  For the "PBS NewsHour," this is economics correspondent Paul Solman reporting from Michigan.
  
  
• Henrietta Ivey:
  You're welcome.
  
  

Full Article & Source:
The U.S. needs more home care workers. Is this the solution?