EA Advocate Holds Meeting

Wes Bledsoe is founder of A Perfect Cause, an Oklahoma organization dedicated to ending elder abuse in long-term care facilities. Local complaints about Castle Manor Nursing Home brought him to Hot Springs, where he conducted a town hall-style meeting involving more than 200 people on March 5.

Since then, Bledsoe said he has received more calls from current and former workers about additional alleged abuse, as well as allegations of neglect and billing issues.

Bledsoe was asked if he had attempted to contact the nursing home administration to arrange a meeting, to which he replied, "I don't make a practice to meet with administrators. By the time I am called, the time for talking is past, and it is time to take action."

There is an ongoing investigation by local and state authorities into allegations of sexual abuse involving a former male nursing assistant last fall. Bledsoe said he had met with Fall River County State's Attorney Jim Sword to discuss the case and additional allegations. Sword by telephone confirmed the meeting but did not discuss details.

Full Article and Source:
Elder care advocate holds another meeting in Hot Springs

National Healthcare Decisions Day

National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is Thursday, April 16.

This nationwide initiative is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for health care decisions and to encourage the use of advance directives to communicate important health care decisions. NHDD is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their healthcare decisions. It is estimated that only about 25 percent of people in the United States have executed an advance directive. Moreover, it is estimated that less than 50 percent of severely or terminally ill patients have an advance directive. We hope you will help to raise public awareness about the need for advance planning. To learn more about NHDD and how you can become involved, please visit:

http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org/Welcome.htm

Source:
2009 National Healthcare Decisions Day April 16, 2009

This Could Happen to Someone You Love

See also:
No Outside Agency to Help Victims

Plunged Into Debt

The historic building, Bedford-Stuyvesant's Slave Theater, once a hub for black activism, is for sale - and will likely go to a retail developer, unless a community group makes an offer in the next few weeks.

Relatives of Judge John Phillips, who owned the theater until his death in 2008, were forced to put the Fulton St. building on the market a month ago to pay off more than $1.5 million in taxes and other debts owed by the estate.

Phillips was plunged into debt after he was declared mentally incompetent in 2001, and a series of court-appointed guardians allegedly squandered his assets and failed to pay taxes.

One guardian, Emani Taylor, was ordered by a court last summer to repay the estate $403,000 she took from the judge's accounts, but she is appealing the decision. Boykin said the family has seen "not a dime."

Full Article and Source:
Brooklyn retailers eye Bed-Stuy theater: 'Slave' being sold to pay $1.5M in debt

See also:
Attorney Ordered to Repay

The Kung-Fu Judge

Guardian Bill Advances in Senate

By James Shiffer

This afternoon, in the circular chamber known as Room 15 in the state Capitol, I watched the first round of what’s likely to be a spirited tussle over proposed restrictions on the power of guardians and conservators in Minnesota. Granted sweeping powers over the finances and lives of others, these court-appointed caretakers face little regulation in Minnesota. Motivated by tales of abuses of the vulnerable, advocates for seniors, the mentally ill and disabled want to change that.

They were buoyed by my Feb. 15 story about Peggy Greer, whose guardian and conservator spent $672,000 before she regained her rights. Those urging caution include professional guardians and conservators and attorneys who represent them in probate court.

Presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Sen. Mee Moua’s bill would set up a statewide registry of guardians and require professional guardians and conservators at for-profit ventures to be certified. It would also codify a bill of rights for wards and protected persons, and provision 10 of that list of rights consumed much of the discussion Tuesday. It involves the right to “unimpeded communication and visitation with persons of the ward or protected person’s choice.”

That’s an open invitation to meth dealers, swindlers and abusers who want to prey on vulnerable people unable or unwilling to keep them out of their lives, said Robert McLeod, an attorney representing the Minnesota State Bar’s probate section.

“This bill of rights would give bad people the unrestricted right to the ward or protected person,” McLeod said. His conclusion was echoed by Eric Jonsgard, senior director at Lutheran Social Service, whose employees are frequently appointed as guardians and conservators.

Full Article and Source:
Guardian bill advances in the Senate and gives a flavor of the battle ahead

More information:
Vulnerable Adult Justice Project 2009 Minnesota Legislative

See also:
Tighter Rules For Guardians

Money Used Up

Guardianship Program Looking for Volunteers

The definition of a “guardian” is a person who guards, protects, or preserves; a protector; a defender.”

The name accurately describes volunteers who serve the Kansas Guardianship Program.

These volunteers accept legal and moral responsibility of the well-being of people who are unable to manage for themselves.

“Our clients are referred from Adult Protective Services or from state psychiatric hospital social workers,” said Del Jacobson, volunteer recruiter.

When a pilot project began 30 years ago, the state-funded program primarily assisted people mostly with developmental disabilities. Today, in addition to adults with developmental disabilities, volunteers also serve those who are mentally ill, elderly, and those with medical conditions or have injuries, which impair their ability to make decisions.

The volunteers sometimes are responsible for making the necessary arrangements for a client when they die. State funds are available to assist those who may not have the financial means to pay for a proper funeral and burial.

A $30 per month stipend is provided to each volunteer for out-of-pocket expenses.

Full Article and Source:
Volunteers needed: A chance to help those who cannot help themselves

Elder Abuse Bill ReIntroduced

Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., have reintroduced a bill — for the fourth Congress in a row — designed to help protect the elderly from abuse.

Hatch: "More than 500,000 Americans over 60 are the victims of domestic abuse. I am committed to doing all I can to pass legislation to protect them from those who would prey upon them physically, financially and psychologically."

The bill would order the federal government to collect data on elder abuse; penalize failure to report abuse and other crimes in long-term care facilities; provide Adult Protective Services grants with $100 million annually for four years; and create a council to coordinate federal, state and local response to elder abuse.

Hatch noted that the government spends $6.7 billion a year on child abuse and $520 million a year on domestic abuse, but just $153 million on elder abuse. He said that is a tiny amount considering that 76 million baby boomers will reach retirement age over the next three decades.

Full Article and Source:
Hatch reintroduces elder-abuse bill

See also:
HATCH, LINCOLN INTRODUCE THE ELDER JUSTICE ACT TO PROTECT NATION’S ELDERLY

Like Falling Off A Cliff

Even in boom times, young people who become too old for the foster-care system often struggle to make it on their own, lacking families, job skills or adequate educations. Now, the recession has made the challenges of life after foster care even more formidable, especially for those seeking federal housing vouchers, which are contingent on having an income.

Since the beginning of this year, the city’s Administration for Children’s Services has been providing letters to those about to leave the foster care system, certifying that they are likely to be eligible for public assistance and thus easing the application process when they are ready. Yet, many child-welfare advocates worry that a growing number will still end up homeless.

James J. Golden, the executive director of the Edwin Gould Academy: “They get a lot of resources until they’re 21, and then essentially none. It’s like falling off a cliff for some of them.”

Full Article and Source:
Too Old for Foster Care, and Facing the Recession

No Outside Agency to Help Victims

Imagine having your whole life put into the hands of a stranger who can take away your freedom to choose from where you live to how you spend your money, and if you disagree on how they're handling things, you have no outside agency to complain to.

Seven's investigative reporter Carmel Cafiero is on the case.

95-year-old Lucille Gittens was forced to leave the home she had lived in with her son and his family for thirty years.

Sybil Gittens: "I felt helpless, I couldn't help her, I couldn't do anything."

Tecia Gittens: "It was very disturbing. My grandmother was like my best friend."

The court stepped in and appointed a guardian after a family disagreement over the mother's finances.

Keith Gittens: "Ninety percent of families have family squabbles, I'm sure you're aware of that, but that doesn't mean it has to reach this level of making a drastic decision like this for no reason."

He says first the guardian took over his mother's estate and eventually took her out of her home and put her in a group facility.

Keith Gittens: "The legal system is so complex that you can spend all your time and all your money and get nowhere."

Keith says he could find no one to independently to investigate his concerns about what was happening with his mother.

Keith Gittens: "There's too much power given in this guardianship program, there's no checks and balances really."

Avril Schuckman says her mother had a picture-perfect life, but her last hours were a nightmare.

Avril Schuckman: "My mother suffered desperately. I think it was the most heinous crime."

Avril says her mother had a do not resuscitate order which her guardian ignored. In fact, the South Florida guardian did not call Avril in Tampa and tell her her mother was dying until four days after she was put on life support.

Avril Schuckman: "She lasted another twenty hours gasping for air. It was the most awful death I've ever seen, it was just tragic."

Avril thought the guardian should have been investigated, but she could find no independent agency to hear her concerns.

Keith Gittens: "I think that the legislature should look at the entire guardianship program and revamp it."

Avril and Keith are not alone. Nationwide, so many families are upset about the treatment of loved ones they've organized.

Full Article and Source:
Carmel on the Case - Guardian

Watch the video

Reported by:
Carmel Cafiero
Producer:
Cheryl Simmons
Contact
csimmons@wsvn.com

IF YOU HAVE A STORY FOR CARMEL TO INVESTIGATE:
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Broward: 954-921-CLUE
E-mail: clue@wsvn.com