Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced the arrest of a Gadsden woman for financial exploitation of an elderly person. Gina
Cook Gilbert, 59, was arrested this morning by agents of the Attorney
General’s Office and taken to the Etowah County Jail.
Gilbert is charged with two counts of first-degree financial
exploitation of an elderly person for taking property from Patricia
Louise Cook Jerome in an amount that exceeds $1,000,000. She was
arrested on warrants* brought by agents of the Attorney General’s Office
and bail is set at $60,000 cash.
No further information about the investigation or about Gilbert’s
alleged crimes other than that stated in the warrants may be released at
this time.
If convicted, Gilbert faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years for each of the counts, which are B felonies.
A
Massachusetts Probate and Family Court judge is facing formal charges
in the state’s highest court over an allegation he sexually harassed a
court employee at a work-related event last year, state officials said
Friday.
Associate
Justice Paul M. Sushchyk denies the allegation that he grabbed the
buttock of a female court employee without her consent during a
conference for Probate and Family Court judges in April 2019, court
documents show.
After
allegedly touching the woman, who was seated at a bar stool inside a
pub alongside coworkers, Sushchyk allegedly pulled a silver flask out of
his coat pocket and said it contained whiskey, according to the
charging documents from the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Sushchyk is scheduled to appear Monday morning
in a videoconference hearing of the commission before retired judge
Bertha Josephson, appointed as a hearing officer by the state Supreme
Judicial Court, the commission said.
The
commission alleges that Sushchyk’s actions violated the Massachusetts
Code of Judicial Conduct, breaking regulations against harassment and
undignified behavior, among other rules, and undermining public
confidence in the courts, documents show.
Sushchyk’s
alleged behavior “constitutes willful judicial misconduct, conduct
prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial
officer, and brings the judicial office into disrepute,” according to
the documents.
When
presented with the allegations by investigators, Sushchyk allegedly
said, “I would never do anything like that,” and, “I would never
intentionally hurt anyone, but especially a woman,” according to court
documents.
In
a statement filed in the case, Sushchyk said he had merely “placed my
hand in the direction of” the woman’s bar stool to steady himself as he
returned from the men’s room.
He
was unsteady on his feet, he said in the statement, because of the
combined effects of a past hip replacement, a long day at the conference
that had begun with a drive from Central Massachusetts to Cape Cod,
eating dinner, and the two whiskey drinks he consumed that evening.
A filing
from his attorney states, “Judge Sushchyk denies that he had any
physical contact whatsoever with any part of [the court employee’s] body
that evening.”
Sushchyk,
of Sterling, was nominated by Governor Charlie Baker to the bench in
January 2018. At the time, he was a lawyer in private practice in
Worcester County, according to a statement announcing his nomination.
He
is a former Sterling police officer, a state trooper in New Hampshire,
and he served on the Sterling Select Board from 2000 to 2013, the
statement said.
He
is a past president of the Worcester County Bar Association and served
from 1979 to 2003 in the Army Reserve as a non-commissioned officer and
as a commissioned officer with the Judge Advocate Corps, retiring as a
judge advocate major, according to the statement.
ABA President Judy Perry Martinez asked U.S. Senate leadership Monday
to include S. 4182, the Emergency Support for Nursing Homes and Elder
Justice Reform Act of 2020, in the next COVID-19 economic relief bill.
In a letter
to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader
Charles Schumer, Martinez said the legislation would reauthorize the
Elder Justice Act, which allocates funding for state demonstration
programs that “assess the fairness, effectiveness, timeliness, safety,
integrity and accessibility of adult guardianship and conservatorship
proceedings.”
With minimal funding, Martinez said, 25 states established Working
Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders or similar
groups that volunteer to help accomplish the goals of these programs.
The WINGS program was expanded in 2016 through an Elder Justice
Innovation grant awarded to the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, and “we
have the potential to accomplish much more with additional funding,”
she added.
Martinez also wrote in the letter that state demonstration grants
could be expanded to address data collection, court visitors and
information sharing on guardians. She said these efforts will “increase
public awareness and expand financial resources for responding to a
nationwide problem of elder abuse, especially in the face of the
COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Elder abuse in the United States is a problem that respects no
boundaries,” Martinez said. “It is not defined by socioeconomic, racial,
gender or ethnic status, and it occurs with alarming frequency in every
state.”
She said reauthorization of the Elder Justice Act would provide
personal protective equipment and testing and promote transparency
related to the presence of COVID-19 in nursing homes. It would also
ensure the immediate reporting of abuse in long-term care facilities,
promote “televisitation” for nursing home residents and continue to fund
elder justice programs, among other initiatives.
AKRON,
Ohio (WOIO) - A chorus of seniors living at the White Pond Villa senior
housing complex tell 19 News the six story apartment building is in a
state of disrepair. They say there is no air conditioning, and there are
two elevators that rarely work.
Rosalie
Coco says her doctor had to write her a prescription for a portable air
conditioner because things had gotten so bad, “My air has not worked
since I’ve been here.”
That was four years ago.
“I
got stuck in [the elevator] and it scared me to death. They actually
had to call paramedics because I started having chest pains and
hyperventilating from it,” Coco said.
One
resident who has lived there for several years and did not want to be
identified says it’s shameful to see the sign that management posted on
the elevator. It warns residents that the elevators are “out of order”
and to not use them, or you risk getting stuck. She says most of the
people who live in the senior building could never make it to their
apartments by using the stairs.
“When
I moved in it was 62 and older that lived here, and they have walkers
and wheelchairs. They can’t get around – they can’t go up and down
stairs. They have bad knees. They just can’t do it,” the tenant said.
We
called SHP Management, but their office was closed for the weekend, so
we left a message on the office phone at White Pond in Akron.
However,
the tenant’s association president said after many, many calls for help
to everyone, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, there’s finally action.
“A Mr. Curry from Fair Housing got the Health Department involved.”
The
President of the Tenant’s Association says not only has the Health
Department stepped in demanding that both elevators are fixed
immediately. Several managers have been terminated at the Akron
facility, but it’s unclear why.
Leona Post at Absolut Center for
Nursing & Rehabilitation at Aurora Park on April 20, 2020. Family
members says she is missing her dentures and eyeglasses.
Photo courtesy of Michele Vaillancourt
The
New York State Health Department has a backlog of nearly 5,000
unresolved complaints filed against nursing homes during the Covid-19
pandemic.
Citing
privacy laws, the Health Department refuses to shed any further light
on those complaints other than to say they are pending and under
review.
While fighting the
virus that killed more than 6,300 nursing home residents, the Health
Department gave top priority to investigating complaints of infection
control and immediate jeopardy. Other complaints – including at least
one about a local fatality – have not received the same attention.
“Amidst
one of the worst pandemics in history, the federal Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services mandate all state agencies nationwide only
conduct focused infection control and immediate jeopardy surveys,” said
Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the Health Department.
Since
March 1, 4,927 complaints were filed against nursing homes and 965 of
them involve facilities in the 17 most western counties of the state,
including Erie and Niagara.
The
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on March 23 suspended
all other types of inspections to allow states to concentrate on halting
the spread of the new coronavirus amid the country’s frail nursing home
population. On June 1, the agency issued a memo providing guidance to
resume enforcement of other regulations governing nursing homes.
"Due
to the risk the Covid-19 poses to the health and safety of nursing home
residents, our primary focus remains on ensuring facilities are
prepared to prevent its spread. However, we are also concerned about
nursing homes’ compliance with other federal requirements. Therefore, we
are prompting states to begin to survey for compliance with these
requirements," the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a
statement to The Buffalo News.
Among
those who have had to wait months for a complaint to be addressed are
the daughters of 83-year-old Leona Post, who died May 1. Her children
complained Post did not receive enough assistance in eating while in an
East Aurora nursing home. They say Post’s eyeglasses and dentures were
also lost at the facility, making it all the more difficult for their
mother to eat, according to the complaint.
An
official at Absolut Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation at Aurora
Park said Post died May 1 because of ailments that made her vulnerable
to Covid-19.
Jason Newman, an Absolut spokesman,said an on-site state Health Department inspection Wednesday "found no wrongdoing whatsover" in the treatment of Post.He said the Health Department has not provided the nursing home with that determination in writing.
Hammond
said there was no information publicly available Thursday when asked by
The Buffalo News if the Health Department had determined the complaint
was unfounded.
Post’s
daughters filed their complaint May 6 with the Health Department
seeking an investigation into the care given to their mother at the
nursing home. Michele Vaillancourt, her mother's health proxy, said
Thursday they still had not heard back from the Health Department on any
findings.
Since
March 1, state Health Department inspectors have conducted more than
1,300 on-site “infection control Covid-19 focus inspections,” at the
state’s 613 nursing homes and 544 adult care facilities, according to
Hammond. Those inspections included 143 at Western New York nursing
homes.
When
pressed on the status of the 965 complaints, Hammond said the ones
involving infection control and immediate jeopardy were investigated. As
to the overall status of the complaints and whether any were resolved,
Hammond said, "The 965 complaints remain under review. All complaints
are kept confidential and privacy laws prohibit the department from
discussing an individual’s medical history."
In
further explaining the Health Department's position, he said, "It’s
important to note annually DOH receives more than 15,000 nursing home
complaints statewide."
Advocates: State should investigate complaints
Advocates
for nursing home residents believe the state has a backlog of
complaints that are not directly related to the pandemic. Delays in
investigating those complaints, now that the deadly wave of deaths in
New York nursing homes has subsided, is doing a disservice to residents,
according to the advocates.
“Nursing
home residents have suffered for months under an inhumane, untenable
lockdown that has separated them from their families and friends and any
chance of monitoring or enforcement of even the most basic, essential
care standards,” said Richard Mollot, director of the Long Term Care
Community Coalition in New York City.
On
March 13, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered a ban on visits to nursing homes
in response to the highly contagious coronavirus. But Wednesday, limited visiting resumed at some long-term care facilities that filed visitation plans with the Health Department.
An
official at the Empire Center, an independent nonpartisan think tank
and watchdog group in Albany, said it is understandable that the
government focused on the most serious complaints when the pandemic
struck, but that other complaints should not be put aside.
“In
a crisis, you would focus on the most urgent complaints as a kind of
triage. At the same time, because there are no visitors and the access
of ombudsmen have been restricted, the role of inspections becomes that
much more important,” said Bill Hammond, health policy director at the
Empire Center.
The limited visiting also allows for ombudsman visits.
“So
as soon as possible, after the crisis has passed, you would want to
redouble inspections and look at all kinds of complaints,” said Bill
Hammond, who is not related to Jeffrey Hammond.
Lisa
Newman, local program director of the state’s Long Term Care Ombudsman
Program, said the ban made it “challenging” to follow up on concerns
expressed by nursing home residents and their family members.
“We’re
not able to have eyes on the situation and verify what is happening in
the nursing home,” Newman said. “We have reached out to our volunteers
at specific nursing homes to make sure they have contact with a staff
social worker or administrator in order to resolve concerns.”
Even
before the pandemic, the Health Department was already backlogged with
complaints against nursing homes and questions regarding the
department’s ability to enforce corrections for cited violations,
according to Lindsay Heckler, supervising attorney at the Center for
Elder Law & Justice in Buffalo.
“The
State Legislature had concerns about the DOH’s ability to enforce the
regulations which is why they passed legislation that established an
independent quality monitor of the written corrective action plans,”
Heckler said.
The bill was signed into law by the governor last December.
Heckler
said she realizes the state Health Department is “overwhelmed at the
moment and likely under-resourced and short staffed,” but that steps
need to be taken to resume investigations into all complaints.
Complaint against Absolut
Vaillancourt,
one of Post's daughters, said a Health Department investigator promised
Tuesday to get back to her within 10 days about the complaint against
Absolut at Aurora Park.
Newman,
the Absolut spokesman, said Post’s eyeglasses were found and returned
to the family, but her dentures remain missing. Nursing home documents
on Post’s care, he said, prove she continued to receive “food and
nourishment leading up to her Covid diagnosis.”
Post,
who had a number of medical conditions, including dementia and
diabetes, died May 1 at Buffalo General Medical Center, five days after
she was transferred there from Absolut at Aurora Park.
Leona Post at the Eden Heights
assisted living facility the day
before she was moved to
Absolut Center for Nursing
& Rehabilitation at Aurora
Park on March 11, 2020.
Photo courtesy of
Michele Vaillancourt
Absolut records
indicate Post weighed 155 pounds when she became a resident on March 11,
according to documents provided by Post’s relatives and the nursing
home. She was moved to Buffalo General on April 26, three days after she
tested positive for Covid-19. Her weight upon admission to the hospital
was 110 pounds, according to hospital records.
That would mean she lost 45 pounds in 46 days at the nursing home.
But Newman said another record indicates Post lost less weight.
Post
weighed 138 pounds on Feb. 27, according to a record the family
obtained this week from Eden Heights, the assisted living facility where
Post resided at the time, Vaillancourt said.The daughter added that she
remains concerned about her mother's weight loss.
The
main purpose of the complaint, Vaillancourt said, is for the state to
determine if her mother received adequate assistance in eating her
meals.
As health care workers get publicly celebrated for their heroics, behind the scenes thousands like me are getting pushed out the door.
Healthcare
workers move a patient in the COVID-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical
Center in Houston. One of the casualties of the virus, ironically, has
been many health care workers' jobs.Mark Felix / AFP - Getty Images file
By Rachael Jarman, physician assistant
The last six months have been surreal. After
COVID-19 started spreading throughout the United States, I spent March
and April rolling out protocols and training our urgent care team in
combating the spread of the virus. I juggled that with examining
patients who came to our clinics with acute illnesses, some of them
life-threatening conditions that ultimately required hospitalization.
I
thought I was an essential worker, and I was willing to risk my life to
administer the care I’d spent years training to provide. But it turns
out my job was also at risk. In thanks for my service, I received a
furlough in April and a pink slip in June.
As
a lead physician assistant for an urgent care department, I never
thought my job would be dispensable during a global health disaster.
Getting rid of PAs as we face a pandemic is like laying off firefighters
when forests are ablaze. But I am hardly alone. As health care workers
get publicly celebrated for their heroics, behind the scenes thousands
are getting pushed out the door.
Nearly 1.5 million health care workers lost their jobs
in a single month this spring. Some positions have begun to reopen, but
far from all. That health care jobs are increasingly a casualty of
COVID-19 might sound absurd and unjust, but it makes cold-hearted sense
given the financial fragility — and focus — of the system. Profits are a
major driver of employment decisions, even in an industry that claims
to prioritize community health. When patient encounters decreased, it
was health care workers who saw their pay, benefits and hours decrease,
too.
Since I was a part of the leadership team in
an urgent care department, I know firsthand how we struggled to stay
abreast of ever-changing COVID-19 guidelines from health authorities. As
a team, we led our department through unprecedented uncertainty and
managed the rising anxiety of our patients and families. We planned to
work through this.
But soon, patients who
had appointments for routine care and illness were rescheduled, and
patient volume in outpatient care settings like mine decreased
dramatically. Patients were scared, and so were health care facilities.
Patients with coronavirus-like symptoms were told to go home and
self-quarantine. Their other healthcare needs were temporarily shelved
due to a fear of catching or spreading this novel virus, while COVID-19
tests were limited for weeks because of a lack of supplies. So, while
other healthcare workers walked into their hospitals to grateful
applause, I was quietly laid off.
I have 12 years of experience as a PA, mostly
in emergency and urgent care facilities. But one day last month, I
walked out of my office with a box full of well-worn medical textbooks
and an idle stethoscope. Many others face the same fate. According to
new research by the American Academy of PAs, almost nine percent of PAs
nationally are furloughed right now. And PAs are not alone; many
physicians, dentists and other clinicians also face this new reality.
One
of the ironies of this situation is that physician assistants are
taught to be flexible, quickly shift responsibilities and respond to
unanticipated needs. PAs are trained as generalists and can practice in
different specialties and settings as necessary. We diagnose illness,
develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications and often
serve as a patient’s principal healthcare provider. We are trained to
collaborate and work as a part of a team alongside physicians and
nurses.
Like all health care providers, PAs responded
to the COVID-19 crisis despite the lack of adequate personal protective
equipment and other resources when it first struck. They found
themselves working in other departments and specialties. When still
employed, I volunteered to be on a back-up list for the local emergency
department, though I was never called upon.
But
our versatility — perfectly suited to a time of crisis — hasn’t been
enough to save many of our jobs. Instead, it often seems the health care
industry’s ability to pivot PAs where we’re needed most is thwarted by
burdensome laws and regulations that mean we have less opportunity under
the best of circumstances, and create a domino effect when the economy
bottoms out. Though some states have removed barriers, others require each PA
to have a specific relationship with a physician in order to practice
medicine, even though PAs have their own licenses to practice and write
prescriptions.
This moment of dramatic change and need shows that these restrictions
are unnecessary. Several states removed this requirement during their
states of emergencies, a simple change that allowed patients to receive
essential, timely care. More states should follow their lead.
Even when there’s not a crisis, being tied to a
specific MD means that PAs can’t fill the vital need in providing care
to underserved patients in urban and rural communities because by
definition they lack those MDs. But now more than ever we need to
increase access to care by removing PA barriers to practice so we can
treat these communities, particularly communities of color that have
higher rates of COVID-19 infections.
Being
laid off left me feeling betrayed — not only by my department, but by
the entire health care system. I have hope that as a country we can come
together to support and strengthen this system. Simple, cost-effective
solutions that help employ more PAs is one of them. My job shouldn’t be
at risk every time a health crisis erupts. That’s when I and other PAs
are needed most.
A 33-year-old man was arrested for allegedly robbing and assaulting
two elderly victims in their home in Bloomington, according to the San
Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
On July 6 at about 5:14
p.m., deputies from the Fontana Sheriff's Station responded to a 9-1-1
call from an elderly male victim in the 18200 block of 10th Street.
The
victim reported an unknown man, later identified as Stephen Mitchell,
was inside his home ransacking his kitchen. The victim's elderly
bedridden wife was fearful while Mitchell took their belongings by
force, the Sheriff's Department said.
The victim confronted the suspect but was assaulted and thrown on the floor by Mitchell, the Sheriff's Department said.
Mitchell
allegedly took the victim's cell phones and other belongings and fled
on foot through the rear yard and over a wall. The victim located a
secondary cell phone and called police for help.
Deputies from the
Fontana Station arrived immediately and protected the elderly victims.
Deputies set up a perimeter and developed leads regarding the area that
Mitchell was last seen.
After a thorough ground search with the
assistance of Sheriff's Aviation, Mitchell was located and taken into
custody without further incident. He was booked at West Valley Detention
Center on charges of residential robbery and elder abuse.
The victim's belongings were recovered and returned to the victim.
CLEVELAND,
Ohio (WOIO) - The federal government just announced it is ramping up
Covid-19 testing in nursing homes, sending about 400 tests to each
facility nationwide with rapid results that could come back as fast as
15 minutes.
19
Investigates sat in on a media call with top U.S. health officials to
hear firsthand how the Trump administration is trying to fight the virus
in nursing homes.
Four months into the pandemic, officials said new point-of-care testing will help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
There have been about 35,000 deaths among nursing home residents nationwide, according to federal data.
The tests will first go to virus hotspots like Florida, Arizona, Texas and California.
“Our seniors and our vulnerable need these now. One of the technologies was just approved last week,” he said on the phone call.
Each nursing home will get a test reader.
The goal is to test every nursing home resident.
And each week for a month, nursing homes will test all employees as a part of the the initial round of the plan.
“In
other words we want to give them a machine, we want to give a few weeks
tests to get started, we don’t want any delay particularly at the high
risk nursing homes,” said Admiral Giroir.
The average nursing home will get 400 tests to start, but the number of tests will vary depending on the size of the facility.
After those tests run out, nursing homes can order more at a cost of about $20.
That’s compared to the full test cost of $100.
“And
so by being able to do these Point-of-Care tests with a turnaround time
of 15 minutes, it allows the nursing homes to take action in terms of
infection control procedures,” said Seema Verma, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Here in Ohio, 70 percent of Covid-19 deaths are nursing home residents.
We reached out to Paula Mueller, founder of Elderly Advocates, a local non-profit.
Here’s her reaction to the plan:
“I
will believe it when I see it. With nursing homes being ground zero and
so many deaths, it is our opinion no meaningful progress has been made
to address nursing homes at the federal or state Level,” Mueller said in
an email.
The tests will be sent to more than 15,000 nursing homes nationwide.
They'll ship next week to the most vulnerable facilities.
Officials said it’s too early to know which facilities will get tests first, and how many they will be sent.
Occupancy in senior housing has hit a 15-year low with families
bringing loved ones home, and some centers either limiting new residents
or being unable to attract them given the threat to older Americans
from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since
2008, the number of assisted living facilities and independent living
centers have seen unrelenting growth, jumping 33% to more than 8,000
nationally. But Covid-19 has added a puzzling new twist for the industry
and consumers. Occupancy slid 2.8 percentage points to 84.9% in the
second quarter, the largest quarterly drop and the lowest rate since the
National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care began tracking the data in 2005.
Susan Ridge and her mother, Betty, in happier times
Susan Ridge
Susan
Ridge, who lives in Baltimore, moved her 87-year-old mother into an
independent living facility in 2018 so she could easily socialize with
others in her age group. Now, she’s debating moving her out.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced that facility, like other
centers nationwide, to close their doors to visitors, cancel activities
and quarantine residents in their apartments.
The end result: Aside from a few medical appointments and a wave to
her mother’s fourth-floor balcony, Ridge said she couldn’t see her mom
Betty for three months.
“It’s already a difficult choice to put your parents in
facilities like this, and it’s expensive,” Ridge said by telephone.
“Now, when you think about something like this happening, it just
brought up everyone’s worst nightmares and guilt.”
The aging of America presents an enormous opportunity for the industry, with the U.S. Census Bureau
projecting 73.1 million Americans will be older than 65 by 2030 and
94.7 million reaching that age by 2060. Meanwhile, the average cost to
live in these centers has risen to about $4,000 a month.
But with
the pandemic, operators have had to hustle to stock up on personal
protective equipment, find coronavirus tests and attract employees, all
of which increased their expenses without much help from the federal government.
“A lot of expenses grew, so the combination of fewer
move-ins, lower occupancy rates, reduced revenues and expenses combined
are going to squeeze your net operating income,” Beth Burnham Mace,
NIC’s chief economist, said in an interview. “And depending on your
financial position when Covid started, that’s going to be a challenge.”
Surge Concerns
Meanwhile,
operators are increasingly concerned the rise of the virus in some U.S.
states will mean more infections in their centers. On Tuesday, the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living sent a letter to the National Governors Association warning of imminent outbreaks given those surges.
“Reopening
long term care facilities is important for our residents’ well being
and caregivers and providers recognize the importance of visitations of
family and friends,” The letter stated. “To accomplish this goal,
nursing homes and assisted living communities need additional support
from federal and state public health agencies in order to protect
residents and caregivers.”
The extra expenses have come as some
families have elected to bring their loved ones home, and many
facilities either refused to accept new residents or were unable to
attract them.
Ridge’s mother “was really active, and we were
seeing her multiple times a week,” she said. “Then, obviously, the whole
world changed.” Now Susan Ridge and her husband are considering moving
to a house that will allow her to have her mother at home with them.
Industry Strategies
In
reaction, industry strategies are changing. Increasingly operators are
emphasizing alternatives like scheduling virtual visits with families,
and adding safety practices that they say have meant fewer outbreaks
than is seen in other congregate settings, like nursing homes.
In a survey focusing on a single day -- May 31 -- across the
sector, NIC found a 0.2% case rate on average for independent living
centers, while assisted living was at 1.2% and nursing homes were at
4.3%. Of course, that doesn’t show changes over time as the pandemic
grabs hold in various states.
Seattle-based Merrill Gardens has
7,000 residents in 68 communities stretched across 20 states in the U.S.
and three communities in three cities in China. Tana Gall, the
company’s president, said the group is working out agreements with
families who wanted to bring relatives home during the pandemic so they
could move back in later.
In March, Merrill Gardens implemented a Covid-19 plan that
banned any visitors, kept residents in their apartments and boosted
cleaning efforts. They sent extra iPads to their centers and Alphabet Inc.’s Google sent almost 1,000 Nest Hub Max devices to residents to facilitate communication with families.
‘Stepdown’ Plan
In
a June update, the company outlined what it termed a “stepdown” plan
aimed at bringing back some forms of socialization for its residents,
including small group activities. Still, no visitors are allowed inside.
Residents
get better care at the Merrill Gardens facilities than they would at
home, Gall said, including everything from having their temperature
taken twice a day to having a margarita truck come down the hall for
happy hour.
“We’re providing a different value to people today
than we were three months ago.” Gall said. “And it’ll get back to where
we were before. But I think people just need to focus on what we are
providing today versus what we’ve taken away. We’ve added a lot of
comfort to people that they wouldn’t have had in their own home.”
Kathryn Sweeney is co-founder and managing partner of exclusively senior housing-focused real estate private equity firm Blue Moon Capital Partners. Blue Moon’s portfolio properties are now seeing a surge in occupancy rates thanks to pent up demand, she said.
Blue
Moon forms joint ventures with senior housing operators and currently
has partnerships with nine operators, including Aegis Living, Senior
Lifestyle and Belmont Village. “The need didn’t change, the demand was
there,” Sweeney said.
Isolation, Disruption
Months
of isolation and disruption can be problematic for residents, but some
families aren’t able to bring family members home for any number of
reasons.
Joel Broder’s parents live in an assisted living facility in
Arizona. They’re in their 90s, and both have dementia and are too frail
to move at this point. Broder says his parents struggle to heat up
dinner, which they need to do because it’s cold by the time it’s
delivered, plate it and clean up.
Unable to fully grasp the situation, they keep asking when the dining room will reopen.
As
frustrated as he is, Broder says he can’t move his parents out. They
wouldn’t enjoy living with him, and staying where they are means access
to 24-hour assistance, a benefit they’ve used multiple times, he said.
“I’m not a fool,” Broder said. “This is serious business and we have to take precautions but we also have to live lives.”
