The U.S. population is aging, and by 2060, nearly one in four Americans will be 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Witnesses before the Senate committee during Thursday's hearing said assisted living facilities are already inadequately prepared for an aging population.
Patricia Wessenmeyer, who testified at the hearing, helped support her husband, John Whitney, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013. Doctors diagnosed Whitney with Lewy body dementia, which caused him to become violent in his dreams.
“Lewy body dementia is a type of progressive dementia that leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning, and independent functioning,” the report states. alzheimer's disease association. Symptoms include “spontaneous changes in alertness and wakefulness, recurrent hallucinations, REM sleep behavior disorder, slowness of movement, tremors, and rigidity.”
In her case, Whitney lost her sense of smell, suffered from decreased alertness and alertness, gastrointestinal issues and hallucinations, and later experienced memory loss.
Ms. Wessenmeyer was personally caring for her husband until January 2018, when he tried to strangle her while she was sleeping.
Authorities determined Whitney needed to be placed in a long-term care facility in Virginia, where Wessenmeyer lived. She placed her husband in an assisted living facility that specialized in her memory care and made sure to educate her on the details of her husband's dementia.
Mr. Wessenmeyer observed that fundamental deficiencies in nursing homes are causing suffering and serious injury for residents.
Staff presence was lacking. They were often not present to help care for their husbands. Employees would make sleepless residents sit in front of the television while they worked elsewhere.
Wessenmeyer also said the staff is helpful but poorly trained and overwhelmed by the disparity between staff numbers and residents.
Wessenmayer said he noticed PVC pipes, some as long as baseball bats, and said distressed residents could and did use them. .
Trip hazards expose occupants to the risk of falls. She found the resident “shambling, bleeding” after falling onto a hard floor where no one noticed.
Bessenmeyer said she paid $13,000 a month for Whitney's care, even though the facility was failing. “If he hadn't died early while he was there, all my nest egg would have been used up,” she said.
“This is an important step forward for Americans,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Aging. National Council on the Elderly Survey The study found that 80 percent of adults cannot afford to live in a nursing home for four years.
While assisted living facilities are considered to be a housing option for healthy older adults who require supervision, nursing homes are medical environments. But Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, said nursing homes accept residents “with the same needs and vulnerabilities” as nursing home residents.
The trend comes as the industry is experiencing significant workforce declines, which it was already struggling with even before the coronavirus. The industry needs 5 million new direct care workers by 2030 to meet growing demand, said Julie Simpkins, co-president of care provider Guardant Management Solutions.
Simpkins said her company, the fifth largest assisted living provider in the U.S., is limiting its operations to states where broader Medicare reimbursement programs make its model viable, such as Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. He said that it has been done.
Ranking Member Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said his state is “utilizing a combination of state and federal tools to provide more affordable assisted living.” . The result is increased affordability and quality in Indiana. ”
“To improve safety and transparency, Indiana requires staffing ratios, dementia training, and maintains a website that publishes reports and enforcement actions,” Brown said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) 2018 Government Accountability Report They found that “more than half of the 48 states are served.” [assisted living] The service did not tell us the number or nature of serious incidents in care homes. ”
According to the report, “serious incidents” refer to instances of physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.
Mr Gardant defended the quality of the resident experience as “life-affirming” and “safe”, but disputed that the industry was plagued with issues of negligence, abuse and exploitation. There wasn't.
Simpkins said the cost and quality of housing and the ability of staff to care for your loved one will depend on state policies regarding compensation.
For families seeking care, “there is no independently verified information about assisted living,” Molot said. Americans are forced to rely on promises from consumer resource sites paid by establishments to list their facilities, marketing materials and operations, and state websites that “tend to be very flimsy” , said Molot.
“There are nursing home care comparisons, home health care comparisons, etc. [and] Compare hospital care on the Medicaid website. ”Molot said. “We need to compare it with livelihood support.”
Morott said the lack of a national standard of care or comparative databases like those provided by Medicare has allowed “a sophistication to move resources around for profit with little regard for commitments to seniors and their families.” He insisted that the country would continue to attract investment from private companies. ”
“We know when it happens [private equity] Once they enter a sector, they often loot it,” he said.
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