| Letter - Assistance should stretch to rural areas
One quarter of America's population and one third of the elderly live in rural areas. The problem is that there are plenty of medical specialists in this country, they just are not in the right places for our rural populations. There is a way that Michigan could help solve its shortage of rural medical care specialists. Rural hospitals and doctors could be helped with medical specialty services by being connected to the state's tax-supported medical schools and their teaching hospitals with telemedicine technology. This technology is relatively inexpensive and is very sophisticated. Michigan's medical schools and their teaching hospitals have the necessary specialists on staff to help rural health care providers. Our medical school's duties and responsibilities should be expanded by legislation to include telemedicine consulting.
Nursing Home Abuse: Neglect, Physical and Even Sexual Abuse are ...
The revolting reality of Nursing Home Abuse is on the rise. Though it concedes that the true number is probably much higher, The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates at least one in 20 nursing home patients has been the victim of abuse. There are nearly 1.4 million Americans that are living in nursing homes right now, and that number expected to more than double in the next decade. As it does, advocates for the elderly and disabled fear that incidences of abuse will continue to climb as well. Unfortunately, a nursing home is not always the place of respite and healing it should be. According to the National Center's study, 57% of nurses' aides working in long-term care facilities admitted to witness, and even participating in, acts of nursing home abuse. The report sites systemic problems within the nursing home industry, like inadequate pay for workers and chronic understaffing, as contributing to the epidemic of abuse.
Adult foster-home providers OK'd to unionize
With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Ted Kulongoski has granted 2,000 adult foster-home providers the right to engage in collective bargaining with the state, something they've been unable to win so far from the Legislature. Kulongoski quietly inked an executive order June 1, enabling the largest state-workers union to commence labor negotiations with the state on behalf of adult foster-home providers. The move comes after Service Employees International Union Local 503 persuaded nearly 60 percent of the providers to sign cards authorizing the union to represent them. Adult foster-home providers typically run small in-home businesses providing around-the-clock residential care for as many as five frail seniors or people with disabilities. Only those getting reimbursed by the Oregon Department of Human Services, using a mix of federal Medicaid dollars and state money, are eligible for unionization.
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