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Happy New Year 2019
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"Barbara" will Change Your Attitude to Dementia
"Barbara" was a highly successful British film series. It set a new standard for relationships between people with dementia and their doctors, nurses and caregivers. See this condensed version of all 6 episodes.
Dementia is a universal issue. We will all be affected by dementia in some way during our lives and that is why "Barbara" is a must-see.
Source:
Barbara will Change Your Attitude to Dementia![]()
Dementia is a universal issue. We will all be affected by dementia in some way during our lives and that is why "Barbara" is a must-see.
Source:
Barbara will Change Your Attitude to Dementia
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Throughout this new year remember, "I Am Not Old"
I am not old…she said
I am rare.
I am the standing ovation
At the end of the play.
I am the retrospectiveOf my life as art
At the end of the play.
I am the retrospectiveOf my life as art
I am the hours
Connected like dots
Into good sense
I am the fullness
Of existing.
You think I am waiting to die…
But I am waiting to be found
I am a treasure.
I am a map.
And these wrinkles are
Imprints of my journey
Ask me anything.
~ Samantha Reynolds
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Alzheimer's vaccine shows promise
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| Click to View Video |
The drug is called aducanumab. It's one of the first drugs showing real promise in the ongoing fight to get this disease under control.
Dr. Anna Burke, director of neuropsychiatry and Alzheimer’s expert at Barrow Neurological Institute explained the drug.
"Rather than teaching your body to create antibodies against amyloid plaque, this is an antibody that has already been created that gets injected directly into the veins," said Burke. "It is meant to latch on to the amyloid plaque and to dissolve it."
Burke said the idea is to dissolve the plaque which is the hallmark of Alzheimer's and hopefully slow or stop the disease in its tracks.
She said in the past, they've had drugs that have had similar effects on the plaque but this is the first time they've actually seen behavioral changes and improved cognitive function in patients using the medication.
Signs of Alzheimer's develop up to 20 years before any symptoms appear, so she says moving forward much of the research will focus on preventative medications in place for people at high risk of developing the disease.
"If we can identify these people at a younger age certainly we'll be able to use these therapies before they ever develop symptoms," she said.
While there's no definite way to prevent this disease altogether, Burke said you can give yourself a better chance of avoiding it by eating a Mediterranean diet, getting regular exercise, playing brain games, and having an active social life.
Full Article & Source:
Alzheimer's vaccine shows promise
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DISABLED ADULTS FEEL MEDICAID PINCH
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| Sue Schnars braids daughter Ivana's hair |
Unable to care for Ivana Schnars, who is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, on her own, Sue Schnars moved her out of their North Austin home in August.
Schnars had trouble finding and keeping caregivers for Ivana. With the state’s Medicaid reimbursement, she could pay personal attendants only $11 an hour without benefits.
“I agonized over this decision,” Schnars said. “She’s my daughter, and I love her. For 43 years, I kept her home. For 43 years, I was able to make sure she was safe and clean and that she had everything that she needed. People at the retirement home are wonderful, but they’re not me.”
Schnars is using her daughter’s Social Security income to pay for the nursing home.
The turnover rate among attendants is high across the country — 45 to 65 percent — but stagnant pay rates in Texas have worsened the problem here. Attendants in Texas are paid on average $9.30 an hour, while the nationwide average is $11.59, according to an August report by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
For nearly a decade, the state has not increased the payment rates of personal attendants in Community Living Assistance and Support Services, the Medicaid program that covered care for Ivana Schnars and 5,600 other Texans. The state sets the attendant rate in the program at about $13 an hour, but after administrative fees and payroll taxes are shaved off, the rate families can pay attendants is lower.
Additionally, the state cut the attendant rates of two other Medicaid programs for individuals with disabilities — Texas Home Living and Home and Community-based Services — by 21 percent last year to $17.73 an hour to align the rates with other Medicaid programs. The decision affected caregivers for about 8,000 people in both programs. Dozens of people with disabilities and their relatives had pleaded with the agency in a meeting last year to reconsider the cuts.
The cuts saved the state $26.6 million over a two-year period. Texas Home Living, which providers say has long been a financially difficult program to run, has been hardest hit by the cuts—19 providers have terminated contracts.
“On a business level, you can’t do something where every month you’re not paying your bills and you have to borrow from one program to pay for another program,” said Doug Svien of the Company Rock House, a Stephenville provider group that has stopped participating in the Texas Home Living program. “Maybe somebody out there that can do it for less cost than I can do it, and God bless them.”
Texas Health and Human Services Commission officials said they’re working on improving retention and recruitment in Texas, including asking the Legislature to raise the pay for attendants. The agency estimates that it will spend $7.9 billion on community attendant services during the 2020-21 budget.
“We know long-term care providers in Texas have indicated they are facing difficulties recruiting and retaining the qualified community attendants needed to provide care. We are working to better capture data on attendant turnover and retention, which can be used to help determine effective strategies for improvement,” a statement from the agency said.
‘A really hard decision’
Ivana Schnars was born in Peru, where her parents were social workers in the 1970s. She was developing normally until a vims attacked her brain, leading to cerebral palsy.
Sue Schnars, who recently retired from her job as a special education administrator for the Pflugerville school district, had for years relied on attendants to feed her daughter, read to her, change her clothes and take her on outings, among other activities. More recently, she relied on them the most to help carry her, something the 61-year-old can no longer do.
Amy Gayer -Byles, Ivana Schnars’ caregiver for seven years, struggled to make ends meet. A part-time Austin Community College student saddled with a car note, Gayer Byles would forgo doctors’ appointments and often not use electricity in her apartment and skip meals to pay her bills. Although she loved Schnars — it’s evident by a scrapbook she made of their time together that now sits in Schnars’ room at the nursing home — Gayer-Byles needed to support a family, so she quit.
“That was a really hard decision,” Gayer-Byles said.
“There’s no other words,” Gayer-Byles said through tears. “You’re talking about real people. These are families. They’re struggling to live a day-to-day life, and more and more hurdles are being put in front of them. It’s just unbelievable.”
After Gayer-Byles left three years ago, four caregivers followed. One couldn’t live on $11 an hour. Another would bring her personal drama to work, Sue Schnars said.
“I had taken out ads through Care.com. I did Craigslist,” Sue Schnars said. “There were plenty of people who responded to my ads, but when I told them how much I could pay, they were like, no way. And the responses always were, ‘I can’t rent an apartment and live in Austin for 11 dollars an hour.’” Texas has the second-highest number of personal attendants — 196,790, according to a report by the Texas health agency. Personal attendants will continue to be in high demand across the country because of an aging population and lowpay that has led to high turnover, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to an email Schnars received from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, an official said: “You are not the first person reporting this issue. Austin seems to have its extra challenges with the relatively high cost of living, but rural areas seem to have staffing issues as well.”
QT Preston makes $12 an hour working part-time as an attendant, reduced by $1 as a result of recent state cuts, she said.
Preston, who also works as a behavioral therapist, said it would be impossible to live off that wage in Austin without juggling another job.
“Attendants should be paid way more because there is such a need in these individuals’ lives. They help the family as a whole because they give parents a much-needed break and an overall improvement of life for everyone involved,” Preston said. “A role of an attendant has been downplayed.”
Austin resident Jane Ayala, 72, makes $9 an hour working 14 hours a week with a disabled adult client who is on a Medicaid waiver program.
She takes her client to work at Chuck E. Cheese’s three days a week, picks her up, has lunch with her and takes her to activities. Aprivate agency pays Ayala $9 an hour.
“It probably covers gas and to have lunch with her, ” Ayala said of her pay. “I just love people, and I know that they need a break.”
‘Chasing nickels’
The state offers Medicaid services to people with disabilities through waiver programs. Home and Community-based Services and Texas Home Living programs serve people with more severe intellectual disabilities than the Community Living Assistance and Support Services program.
Personal attendant services covered through these Medicaid programs are meant to keep people with disabilities in their own homes, where they can either learn to be independent or rely on family to help them.
Staying at home not only is preferred for the well-being of the individual but also is less expensive for the state than paying to live in a group home or some other facility.
When the state proposed the rate cuts in 2017, about 50 people showed up to a hearing to protest the cuts. They said the cuts would force attendants to find jobs in retail and fast -food restaurants that pay comparably but require fewer skills. They said the state’s most vulnerable people would be in danger because their families would be forced to turn to low-quality attendants.
Employers of these attendants said there is a chronic shortage of staff.
“In the Central Texas area, you can work at Whataburger and get a rate higher than what some are receiving as far as salaries. When we try to find persons we can afford, it’s very difficult to find the quality that we’re looking for for the families we serve,” said Andrea Richardson, executive director of Round Rock-based Bluebonnet Trails Community Services. Bluebonnet Trails also was affected by the cuts.
Daybreak, a large provider, this year ended all but one of its Texas Home Living contracts, according to the state health agency.
“Before this rate reduction happened, providers had already been dropping out of Texas Home Living because rates had been slashed so many times already. This latest one was the icing on the cake,” said Sandy Frizzell Batton, executive director with the advocacy group Providers Alliance for Community Services of Texas.
Robert Ham with D&S Community Services, which operates in Austin as well as cities in other parts of Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky, said participating in Texas Home Living is a financial wash for him. Similar employees at state-supported living centers for people with disabilities make 40 to 60 percent more, he said.
“I’ve been in this business because it’s my passion to provide these services,” Ham said. “It’s always looked at as the state is just giving providers more money. It’s not that way. We’re chasing nickels. ” State health agency officials had dropped the rates in preparation for shifting these Medicaid waiver programs into managed care, part of a massive transition of Medicaid services mandated by the Legislature. Under managed care, the state contracts with private insurance companies and hospitals to administer services, saving the state money; critics of the model say the private companies, called managed care organizations, have denied care for people to save money.
A Medicaid program for children with disabilities has for the past few years been under managed care, and over that time, hundreds of parents have complained about the managed care organizations unjustly denying critical services for their vulnerable children.
The Health and Human Services Commission is required to release a report annually on the status of personal attendant services in the state as well as recommendations on how to improve retention and decrease turnover. The agency’s August report to the Legislative Budget Board and to the governor’s office recommended increasing the wages of attendants, as well as improving recruitment through local workforce development; creating a state workforce development plan to improve retention and recruitment of attendants; requiring employers of attendants to provide attendants with information about a federal program that offers low-cost child care; increasing training for attendants to improve job satisfaction; and allowing attendants to live with their clients so that family members can become attendants and be paid an attendant wage.
“I agonized over this decision. She’s my daughter, and I love her. For 43 years, I kept her home. For 43 years, I was able to make sure she was safe and clean and that she had everything that she needed. People at the retirement home are wonderful, but they’re not me.”
Full Article & Source:
DISABLED ADULTS FEEL MEDICAID PINCH
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Paid leave for caregivers of adults with dementia is charting new territory in the workplace
Dive Brief:
- Although paid family and medical leave benefits help caregivers of family members with Alzheimer's or dementia, less than half of adult caregivers reported accessing the benefit in a new study by UsAgainstAlzheimer's, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the diseases. The organization commissioned national research firm Public Opinion Strategies to conduct an online survey of working caregivers of someone with Alzheimer's or another category of dementia.
- The study showed also that among the 10 million millennial caregivers in the U.S., 15% looks after someone with Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. Other key findings in the study show that just slightly more than 50% of the working adult caregivers whose employers provide paid medical and family leave said they use it.
- Six in 10 caregivers reported having money-related problems from being unable to work or having to curtail the number of hours they can work while a loved one was sick. More than a quarter of working caregivers and 40% of working millennial caregivers said that either they or someone in their home has had to borrow money or pile up debt while caring for a loved one.
Dive Insight:
Caregiving of family members with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia might be an uncharted area that employers will want to note and step in with support.
Flexible work schedules are a top benefit among caregivers, according to an Unum study released in June. The vast majority of respondents (90%) in this study also said an employer's leave policies serve as a key decision-making factor in whether to leave or stay on a job. Paid leave has proven to be a benefit that attracts candidates and retains talent, giving employers that offer it an edge in recruiting and hiring in an employee-driven labor market. In trying to lower their turnover rates, major retailers are now offering paid leave to their hourly workers.
Millennials make up the bulk of the workforce and are now the age group known as the "sandwich generation," which has inherited the responsibility of caring for both children and aging parents. This dual role is demanding of workers' time, energy and financial and emotional wellbeing. Paid leave policies can help free them of some of the burdens associated with caregiving.
Of course, offering long lists of in-demand benefits isn't valuable to workers if they don't know they exist or how to access them. In more than one study, employees reported not knowing that their workplaces provide certain benefits. Employers must communicate benefits to ensure that all workers who need them can access them.
Full Article & Source:
Paid leave for caregivers of adults with dementia is charting new territory in the workplace
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Panola County grand jury indicts Carthage couple on elder abuse charges
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| Shane Cody Campbell and Shannin Lea Campbell |
According to our newspaper partners, the Longview News Journal, Shane Cody Campbell and Shannin Lea Campbell were arrested in November after Panola County Sheriff’s deputies found Shane Campbell’s mother and grandmother neglected at their home. The grand jury indictments were handed down Dec. 20.
The Panola County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call November 11 from a driver who was passing by and said a woman was lying in the front yard of a home on FM 959, police said.
Deputies arrived at the scene and found a woman on the ground on top of some trash; she was conscious but unable to speak and kept pointing toward the front of the house, police said. EMS was notified.
Deputy Jeremy Nagle knocked on the door several times, but no one answered, police said, so Deputy Philip Grimes gave the woman a pen and paper, and she wrote that there was someone in the house who needed help.
EMS arrived, and deputies entered the house and discovered another woman lying uncovered on the floor in her own waste, police said. She told the deputies there were other people in the house, police said.
Deputies knocked on a locked bedroom door, and Shane and Shannin Campbell opened the door, police said. Shane Campbell told deputies the woman in the front yard was his mother, who is deaf and mute, and the woman inside the house was his grandmother, police said.
He said he was caring for them; however, both women told deputies they had not received any medicine, nor had they eaten in days, police said. The deputies observed trash and human waste throughout the house and on the beds and floors — and the inside temperature was 55 degrees, police said.
As of the end of November, the two women were being cared for in a Longview nursing home.
Full Article & Source:
Panola County grand jury indicts Carthage couple on elder abuse charges
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New book among first to examine how people with disabilities can take legal, decision-making lead in lives
LAWRENCE — For decades, increasing numbers of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have lived their adult lives under legal guardianships. A new book co-authored by University of Kansas and Syracuse University researchers is among the first to explore a fundamentally new way of empowering people with disabilities to retain legal agency while still receiving necessary assistance: supported decision-making.
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“Supported Decision-Making: Theory, Research, and Practice to Enhance Self-Determination and Quality of Life” comprehensively examines supported decision-making and how it can be applied in policy and practice for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Published by Cambridge University Press, the text was authored by Karrie Shogren, professor and senior scientist and director of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities; Michael Wehmeyer, Ross and Mariana Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education and director of the Beach Center on Disability; and Jonathan Martinis and Peter Blanck of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, New York.
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“Supported decision-making is receiving increased attention in the U.S. and internationally. Essentially, it’s all about providing alternative models to plenary guardianship that can enhance self-determination and quality of life,” Shogren said. “The wholesale removal of legal rights under traditional plenary guardianship modes can be problematic, and we need alternatives that fully engage people with disabilities in decisions about their lives.”
Research has shown that people with disabilities can be effectively supported to engage in decision-making about their education, employment, health care and legal matters. Further, this can lead to enhanced quality of life. The new book examines how individuals with disabilities and their families and support providers can use supported decision-making as a framework to enable people with disabilities to be fully engaged in the decision-making process and empower them to identify the people who will support them in that process.
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The text summarizes research in supported decision-making and practical applications both within the United States and from other countries. The book highlights ongoing research to develop intervention and assessment strategies to enable support decision-making in practice. The legal section gives an outline of the frameworks to establish supported decision-making as an alternative to legal guardianships. Examples of legislation in various jurisdictions, including Texas and Delaware, are highlighted.
“It’s exciting to see the concept of supported decision-making gain traction in the U.S.,” Shogren said. “By focusing on legal, policy, research and practice implications, we can build the systemic supports to make supported decision-making a reality, and we attempt to target all of these areas in this text.”
The book’s practical application section includes guidelines and suggestions for how supported decision-making can be implemented, in practice, by individuals, their families, support providers and communities, even in states or jurisdictions where there is not legal precedent. Specifically, the practical applications provide guidance and recommendations for how families, individuals, communities, schools and support providers can work together across the lifespan to plan for and implement supported decision-making models. Guidelines for establishing legal and financial tools as well as community supports are covered as well, with an emphasis on the importance of thinking about all aspects of life in which decisions are made.
“I think this can help families who are wondering about what this kind of arrangement would look like in practice and enable the creation of more tools and resources that can be used to build systems of supports for people with disabilities across the life course,” Shogren said. “Supported decision-making cuts across multiple areas and can help us think about how we work across sectors without limiting or artificially restricting an individual’s potential.”
“Supported Decision Making” is part of a Cambridge University Press series on disability law and policy edited by Peter Blanck, who is also an author on this text. The book aims to provide a new way of looking at disability while also providing a roadmap for states, families, attorneys, policymakers, caregivers and others.
“The predominant model of legal guardianship is rooted in an antiquated understanding of disability. Supported decision-making is rooted in new ways of understanding disability that recognize the interaction of the person and the environment and focus on identifying and building the right system of supports to enable a person to fully participate in their lives and communities without artificially restricting their rights,” Shogren said. “We all need supports. People with disabilities may need more supports in some areas of life, but we just need to be creative in devising these supports while ensuring the person has agency over the decisions in their lives.”
“Supported Decision-Making: Theory, Research, and Practice to Enhance Self-Determination and Quality of Life” comprehensively examines supported decision-making and how it can be applied in policy and practice for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Published by Cambridge University Press, the text was authored by Karrie Shogren, professor and senior scientist and director of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities; Michael Wehmeyer, Ross and Mariana Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education and director of the Beach Center on Disability; and Jonathan Martinis and Peter Blanck of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, New York.
“Supported decision-making is receiving increased attention in the U.S. and internationally. Essentially, it’s all about providing alternative models to plenary guardianship that can enhance self-determination and quality of life,” Shogren said. “The wholesale removal of legal rights under traditional plenary guardianship modes can be problematic, and we need alternatives that fully engage people with disabilities in decisions about their lives.”Research has shown that people with disabilities can be effectively supported to engage in decision-making about their education, employment, health care and legal matters. Further, this can lead to enhanced quality of life. The new book examines how individuals with disabilities and their families and support providers can use supported decision-making as a framework to enable people with disabilities to be fully engaged in the decision-making process and empower them to identify the people who will support them in that process.
The text summarizes research in supported decision-making and practical applications both within the United States and from other countries. The book highlights ongoing research to develop intervention and assessment strategies to enable support decision-making in practice. The legal section gives an outline of the frameworks to establish supported decision-making as an alternative to legal guardianships. Examples of legislation in various jurisdictions, including Texas and Delaware, are highlighted.“It’s exciting to see the concept of supported decision-making gain traction in the U.S.,” Shogren said. “By focusing on legal, policy, research and practice implications, we can build the systemic supports to make supported decision-making a reality, and we attempt to target all of these areas in this text.”
The book’s practical application section includes guidelines and suggestions for how supported decision-making can be implemented, in practice, by individuals, their families, support providers and communities, even in states or jurisdictions where there is not legal precedent. Specifically, the practical applications provide guidance and recommendations for how families, individuals, communities, schools and support providers can work together across the lifespan to plan for and implement supported decision-making models. Guidelines for establishing legal and financial tools as well as community supports are covered as well, with an emphasis on the importance of thinking about all aspects of life in which decisions are made.
“I think this can help families who are wondering about what this kind of arrangement would look like in practice and enable the creation of more tools and resources that can be used to build systems of supports for people with disabilities across the life course,” Shogren said. “Supported decision-making cuts across multiple areas and can help us think about how we work across sectors without limiting or artificially restricting an individual’s potential.”
“Supported Decision Making” is part of a Cambridge University Press series on disability law and policy edited by Peter Blanck, who is also an author on this text. The book aims to provide a new way of looking at disability while also providing a roadmap for states, families, attorneys, policymakers, caregivers and others.
“The predominant model of legal guardianship is rooted in an antiquated understanding of disability. Supported decision-making is rooted in new ways of understanding disability that recognize the interaction of the person and the environment and focus on identifying and building the right system of supports to enable a person to fully participate in their lives and communities without artificially restricting their rights,” Shogren said. “We all need supports. People with disabilities may need more supports in some areas of life, but we just need to be creative in devising these supports while ensuring the person has agency over the decisions in their lives.”
Full Article & Source:
New book among first to examine how people with disabilities can take legal, decision-making lead in lives
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Senior Safe Act Aims to Protect Elderly From Financial Abuse
The Senior Safe Act allows financial services professionals to fight against fraud while maintaining their clients’ privacy. The legislation modifies provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed in 2010 to govern regulation of the financial industry following the 2008 economic meltdown.
The bill was first introduced by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) in January 2017. She modeled it on the elder financial abuse prevention program in her home state of Maine. Collins welcomed the law’s passage as “a much-needed step in the fight against financial exploitation of seniors.”
Maine’s Senior Safe Program is a joint effort between financial institutions, state regulators and legal associations to train banking and credit union staff on how to detect signs of elder financial abuse and help stop it. According to the legislation’s advocates, they are often the first to witness atypical withdrawals and unexplained transfers among customers.
“Unfortunately, elder financial abuse goes unreported far too often,” commented elder law attorney Michael Gilfix of Gilfix & La Poll Associates. “There are some common red flags which may indicate an individual could be a potential victim of financial exploitation, such as unusual activity on a bank account or unpaid bills. These and other warning signs can be a cause for concern.”
The Senior Safe Act provides financial services professionals with liability protection if they report any suspected financial abuse of their senior clients to the authorities. Employers are encouraged to establish a company-wide standardized program to train staff on how to spot elder abuse.
The Senior Safe Act was endorsed by the AARP, the Credit Union National Association, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and other financial organizations. They acknowledged that while the legislation will not completely eliminate elder financial abuse, it can help reduce its severity and contribute to prevention efforts.
Full Article & Source:
Senior Safe Act Aims to Protect Elderly From Financial Abuse
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Nursing home resident praises new law allowing cameras in rooms
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| Click to Watch Video |
The law took effect today and is part of the Nursing Home Virtual Visitation Act, which prohibits nursing homes from retaliating against residents who want to install cameras inside.
Yakina Morgan said she has had multiple issues at the nursing home where she currently is living. She said she filed a complaint a few hours ago with the state because she said her roommate stayed in soiled clothes all night. She believes the law that allows cameras inside the rooms will help keep better track of the residents.
"I think it's essential," Morgan said. "The things that I've seen here and of course my roommate being in her soil from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.... If you don't have a voice you will be mistreated."
Morgan said when staff finally arrived to change her roommate she was met with a miserable mood.
"I told about her not being changed for all those hours," Morgan said. "I told the nurse and kept calling and kept calling, and they came in with an attitude."
Morgan said that is the most recent of the problems that she's experienced. Recently, she said an aide was in the process of moving her so she didn't get a bed sore and she was called a vulgar word.
"Whore. She called me a whore. I said, 'What? That's verbal abuse,'" Morgan said. "You can't verbally abuse me. Are you serious?"
That's why Morgan said she is now speaking up. While the WBRZ Investigative Unit was at the facility today, we requested an interview or to talk to the administrator in charge. We were promised that someone would get back to us, but no one ever did.
"If you have loved ones, I urge you to please check on them," Morgan said. "Put the cameras up. You can see what's going on. If they need to be turned every two hours, or being fed...how they are being changed...you can see it for yourself. If you leave it up to these people it may not get done."
The cameras are voluntary and there are some requirements to install them. Signs have to be posted notifying people of the recording systems, and the patient or their family is responsible for the cost. Roommates would also have to agree to the installation or the nursing home must move them to another room.
According to an AARP article from June 2017, Louisiana ranked among the last in the nation for meeting long-term care needs for the elderly or people with disabilities.
Full Article & Source:
Nursing home resident praises new law allowing cameras in rooms
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Son accused of using $174,000 for mother’s care to go on cruise, buy cars, police say
Vincent Wiggins, 51, of Phenix City pleaded not guilty to one count of felony exploitation and intimidation of disabled adults or elder persons during a 9 a.m. hearing. Judge Julius Hunter set bond at $50,000 and bound the charge over to Muscogee Superior Court.
Police Detective Crystal Hatcher said police were contacted on Nov. 9 by Adult Protective Services about an elderly woman who may be the victim of financial exploitation at Orchard View, a facility located at 8414 Whitesville Road. An investigation determined the woman received an insurance check for $174,000 and Wiggins was given the check to take care of her monthly expenses ranging from $6,035 to $6,917. During a period between May 2017 and August 2018, the woman’s account went to zero dollars.
Police found purchases for clothing, hotel fees, payment to Tuskegee University, a cruise, checks written to Wiggins for $10,000 each and the purchase of two vehicles, Hatcher testified. The personal checks were cashed in February 2018.
During an interview with the victim, Hatcher said the woman felt something was going on with her finances. “She is very upset,” the detective told the court.
By November 2018, the monthly fees for her stay at the facility had reached $30,000. Hatcher said officials are trying to work something out at the facility.
Hunter questioned how long the money had been used inappropriately. “It’s troubling you got so far behind,” the judge said.
Hatcher said police have a history of payments while Wiggins was on the account. Some partial fees were paid on the woman’s account at the facility.
Matt Brown, an assistant district attorney, said it seems like the suspect has destroyed the victim’s account.
Wiggins was represented by Erik Smith, a public defender, who requested a reasonable bond on the charge.
Full Article & Source:
Son accused of using $174,000 for mother’s care to go on cruise, buy cars, police say
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Patient in vegetative state gives birth, sex abuse investigation underway: report
A woman who has been in a vegetative state since she nearly drowned 10 years ago has reportedly given birth to a baby last month, prompting a sex abuse investigation at the Phoenix-area nursing facility, AZ Family reported.
The baby was born on Dec. 29 and is doing well, according to the report. The woman is reportedly a patient at Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix. A source familiar with the situation told AZ Family that "none of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth."
"From what I’ve been told she was moaning. And they didn’t know what was wrong with her," the source said.
The facility has reportedly changed protocol after the Dec. 29 birth. Male staff needing to enter a female room are required to bring a female employee with them, the source said.
A Hacienda HealthCare nurse declined Fox News' request for comment because it would be a HIPPA violation and referred questions to the CEO of the nursing facility. Phoenix Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Hacienda issued a statement to AZ Family and said it has been in business in the valley for over 50 years and "has an outstanding reputation providing high quality specialized care for our patients."
"As a Healthcare provider, we cannot comment on any patient due to Federal and State privacy laws. Additionally, we cannot comment on any ongoing investigations. We can say that our patients and clients health and safety is our #1 priority and that we always cooperate, when asked by any agency, in an open and transparent way."
Authorities are investigating the facility for possible sex abuse, AZ Family reported. No further details were released.
Full Article & Source:
Patient in vegetative state gives birth, sex abuse investigation underway: report
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Ex-Nevada guardian to serve up to 40 years behind bars
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Families and victims of state appointed guardian speak out |
Victims of former Nevada guardian April Parks packed a Las Vegas courtroom for much of Friday morning.
Relatives of those who died under her watch and of those too ill or weak to attend the proceeding spoke of the torment she put them through and observed as District Judge Tierra Jones sent the 53-year-old to prison for 16 to 40 years.
Nine people described their personal grief, while also reading letters from several others who lost thousands of dollars and precious, priceless heirlooms that would never be replaced because Parks stole from elderly victims for whom she was supposed to care.
As the victims wept and told their stories of suffering, a shackled and seated Parks kept her head turned and never looked their way.
Larry Braslow, the first victim to speak during the nearly four-hour hearing, told the judge that a decades-old family address book had disappeared, while Parks was tasked with caring for his mother, Ruth. His father’s footlocker, which contained military uniforms and accoutrements, also was gone.
Karen Kelly, Clark County’s public guardian, read through a long list of names of people victimized who lived under “intense anxiety and anguish” for the final years of their lives because of Parks and those who worked closely with her. Parks’ business partner, Mark Simmons, and her husband, Gary Neal Taylor, also were ordered Friday to serve time in prison.
“The choices she made were out of greed, not because she didn’t understand the ethical obligations of being a guardian.”
Of the victims, Kelly said, “She didn’t see them as people. They were paychecks.”
The judge ordered the three defendants to pay more than $500,000 to their victims.
Herman “Bill” Mesloh, who is blind, said Parks first visited him at the Southern Nevada Medical and Rehabilitation Center in late 2013 after he had undergone various surgeries.
He was involuntarily isolated from his wife, Kathy, for six months, he said.
“There are some evil people in this world,” he said. “And April Parks is a predator of the worst kind.”
Another woman, Barbara Ann Neely, said Parks separated her from family and friends.
“She was not a guardian to me,” Neely said. “She did not protect me. As each day passed, I felt like I was in a grave, buried alive.”
Rudy North, yet another victim, compared Parks to Hitler and said, “This lady should be banished.
Parks, 53, pleaded guilty in November to exploitation, theft and perjury charges.
She told the judge on Friday that she accepted responsibility “but never intended harm,” adding that “things could have been done better. … We were a group practice, and honestly I think some things got ahead of us.”
She said she had a “great passion” for guardianship and took “great care and concern” in her work.
Parks was one of the most active private professional guardians in the region. She often acted as the surrogate decision-maker for 50 to 100 elderly and mentally incapacitated people, called wards, at a given time. As guardian, she had full control of their finances, estates and even medical decisions.
She originally faced more than 200 felony counts.
Simmons was ordered to serve seven to 18 years in prison, while Taylor was given a sentence of two to five years behind bars.
Handing down the sentences, Jones called Parks’ actions “absolutely shocking” and “downright offensive.”
Full Article & Source:
Ex-Nevada guardian to serve up to 40 years behind bars
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Dehydration in Elderly Is a Serious Health Risk
Dehydration is dangerous for seniors
Dehydration is a common and very serious condition in older adults – it can even result in death.For seniors, dehydration can cause many major health problems, including:
- Kidney stones
- Blood clot complications
- Passing out
- Rapid but weak pulse
- Lowered blood pressure
Dehydration is a common problem among seniors
In one study, 31% of residents in a long-term care facility were dehydrated. In a related study, 48% of older adults who were admitted to the hospital after being treated in the emergency room had signs of dehydration in their lab tests.Why do seniors get dehydrated?
There are many factors that make seniors more likely to become dehydrated.Common reasons include:
- Being less sensitive to the feeling of being thirsty
- Decreased ability to keep fluid levels in balance
- Less efficient kidneys, which causes urine to contain more water
- Common medications (like those for blood pressure) flushing water from the body
- Medications causing side effects like diarrhea or excessive sweating
How much water do seniors need?
A general rule of thumb for how much water to drink each day is to take one-third of the person’s body weight in pounds and drink that number of ounces of water.For example, a 150 pound person would need 50 ounces of water daily, which is about six 8 ounce glasses of water. Of course, if the weather is very hot or dry, compensate by having them drink more water than usual.
It’s helpful to get an idea of how much water intake is healthy for the average person. But, because each older adult takes different medications and has different health issues, it’s important to talk with their doctor to find out how much water is best.
Benefits of drinking enough water
Aside from avoiding the scary health consequences, staying well hydrated has its benefits too.Here are a few:
- Less constipation / less need for laxatives
- Fewer falls
- Reduced risk of urinary tract infection (UTI)
- Men may have reduced risk of bladder cancer
- Reduced risk of colorectal cancer
You might also like:
— 6 Ideas to Get Seniors to Drink More Water
— 11 Ways to Get Someone with Dementia to Take Medication
— 6 Ways to Get Seniors with No Appetite to Eat
Full Article & Source:
Dehydration is dangerous for seniors
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Florissant woman sentenced in financial exploitation of disabled person
FLORISSANT • After a four-year legal saga, a woman has been sentenced to probation for using a person with special needs to get a loan and cellphone services.
Vivian Ann Becker, 59, of the 3800 block of Kentucky Derby Drive, entered an Alford plea of guilty Nov. 30 to one felony count of financial exploitation of the disabled. Under the terms of the plea, if she completes her probation without incident, the case would be cleared from her public record.
An Alford plea means a defendant does not admit to the crime but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to get a conviction.
Becker could not be reached for comment.
As a condition in the case, she must not have contact with the victim, her former stepdaughter. She must also pay restitution to a witness, Verizon, Sprint and Check ’N Go totaling about $5,000.
According to court records, Vivian Becker was the ex-wife of the victim’s father, Bill, who died on Aug. 7, 2014.
A new caretaker contacted police when she noticed numerous collection letters addressed to the victim. Further investigation by police found that the accounts were opened in the victim’s name between July 2, 2014 and Nov. 9, 2014, including a $1,529.39 loan from Check ‘N Go at Mayfair Plaza in Florissant and cellphone charges.
Vivian told police that Bill Becker reached out to her and reconciled their relationship before his death because he wanted his adult daughter to have someone help her become more independent.
Vivian told police that she had taken her former stepdaughter to open the accounts because she thought it was important that the victim have a mobile phone, and be able to pay moving expenses so the two women could move into a new residence together.
The victim told police that Vivian had told her that the accounts would help her establish credit that would allow her to buy a car and perhaps a house of her own, even though she didn’t drive nor have income other than disability payments.
She also told police that Vivian, while married to Bill, would sell their belongings at garage sales without their permission. She also said Vivian often threatened to put her in a group home if she didn’t do what she was told.
Full Article & Source:
Florissant woman sentenced in financial exploitation of disabled person
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From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: WHO WILL BE YOUR GUARDIAN?
By Marcia SouthwickAt last, the abuses within the guardianship system are beginning to come to light! The mistreatment of elders whose dignity is stripped by removal of rights is tragic and, in this country, it is happening in epidemic proportion.
Nearly every week now, new articles are appearing about professional guardians who financially abuse the people they are supposed to protect. Both The New Yorker and The New York Times have done excellent articles—we hope other News outlets, especially TV, with 24 hours of air time each day and the myriad talk shows, will follow their lead. This is a subject, and Financial Elder Abuse, which is often achieved through the use of guardianship, must be at the top of the list of subjects that are unquestionably “in the public interest”.
No Adult is more vulnerable than a person held in guardianship. Their entire right to be heard or to fight back has been eradicated by the court. Under current law in many states, a protected person is denied the right to enter into a contract with another person or business, leaving them unable to engage a lawyer to help them seek protection. With a “court-crony” guardian appointed to act "in your best interest," rather than a lawyer of your own choosing by your side, aren't you a sitting duck if something goes wrong? The answer is a resounding YES. What if the guardian assigned to you is a person whose only interest is in exploiting those under his or her control?
In 2013, AARP stated that it's "best guess" estimate was that there were 1.5 million American adults under guardianship—You can be sure that number is much larger in 2019.
No one is looking over the shoulders of these "professionals" who the courts put in control of people’s assets and life altering decisions. Families frequently walk into this situation unintentionally by going to court, thinking that they'll get help for their elder loved one during family conflict. But once the door closes behind a guardianship proceeding, anything can happen, leaving lives broken and scattered.
The public really has no understanding of the nature of these proceedings--they can, and frequently do, happen without witnesses or testimony—except the testimony of a lawyer who stands to make money if the guardianship is put in place. The guardians charge ridiculous fees ($100 to open the mail) and spend like there is no tomorrow. The elder's assets can be easily depleted by professionals without accountability, a problem that has turned this cottage industry into a shameful money grab. In New Mexico, researchers are just beginning to go through court records to figure out just how many guardianships there really are in that state. There are no systematic, central records. Can you imagine? Guardians and conservators are let loose with people's money and entire lives without having a degree in finance or any special training in investments or healthcare. In fact, in many states, according to the Center for State Courts, there are no statutes that require real training, and only 13 states require criminal background checks. See http://www.eldersandcourts.org/Guardianship/Qualifications-of-Guardianships.aspx
Frequently the judge will not insist that a guardian account for every penny of the ward’s money spent. The guardians just keeps spending and charging and spending and charging.
Idaho and Minnesota are the only states keeping track of the money that is under the control of guardians or conservators; The combined total is over $1 billion. It is frightening to think how much it is nation wide.
THE GUARDIANSHIP SYSTEM HAS BECOME ALL ABOUT MONEY IT'S A RIP-OFF.
Dorothy ended up in guardianship due to a family conflict. Her daughter Diane, describes the shock of finding out that a professional guardian has complete and final control over every aspect of her mother's life. "On August 22, 2011, the guardian, Mary Giordano, along with a caseworker in Plainview, NY, went to my mother’s house and told her they were taking her to the hospital for a problem she had with her recent surgery. That is the only reason she willingly got in the car. Instead, they took her to Meadowbrook Care Nursing Home in Freeport, a sub-standard nursing home with substantiated reports of abuse, and registered her there as a resident. This location isolated Mom from her family, friends,and healthcare providers." So many seniors don’t know the guardian and the court has prohibited family and friends from visiting. So, they sit all alone in a strange place, their life slipping by, and wondering why their family has abandoned them.
Listen to Dorothy Wilson’s pleas for help at the end of this video and you will weep to see what it is like to be under a guardianship with no control over your life. She feels as if she's in prison without having committed a crime. (In another video, she says that precisely). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhOWppokCrQ
If Dorothy isn't an example of someone who has been abused by this system, no one is. Something needs to be done for people in this situation, and it needs to be done now! 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day and every one of them has a target on their back—With a lifetime of hard-earned savings and insurance to plunder, they have exactly what these for-profit professionals want: they only have to ensnare them in the benevolent net of “just wanting to help" or " just wanting to do what's in their best interest". If you are a baby boomer, be aware that you too can easily become a far lesser version of the person you are at this moment—a person with rights to come and go freely, a person entitled to spend your own money as you wish, and a person with the power to live where you want and see who you want.
Educate your children about what family conflict could do to you and their future. Judges have a way of saying, "I don't go out looking for people to put into guardianship. The cases come to ME." They've got a point—so, for now, the only REAL remedy for Boomers is to stay out of court if at all possible.
Full Article & Source:
From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: WHO WILL BE YOUR GUARDIAN?
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Bride's wedding dance with terminally ill dad in wheelchair goes viral
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| Mary Bourne Butts (née Roberts) dances with her father Jim. (Blue Room Photography) |
The traditional father-daughter wedding dance between one Alabama bride and her dad is being hailed as the best rendition to date, after footage of the emotionally powerful scene went viral on Facebook.
On Dec. 29, Mary Bourne Butts (née Roberts) was thrilled to hit the dance floor with her father, Jim. Though many brides look forward to the classic reception ritual, Mary Bourne, a professional dance teacher, was especially grateful to have her father by her side on the big day.
Full Article & Source:
Bride's wedding dance with terminally ill dad in wheelchair goes viral
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Attleboro COA takes aim at financial abuse of elderly
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| The Larsen Senior Center in Attleboro |
An on-screen ad popped up and gave a phone number he could call for repairs.
He did and was instructed to buy Google Pay cards and give the numbers to the person he called.
Supposedly someone would then come to fix his computer.
But no one ever did, and now he’s out $7,000.
Police Chief Kyle Heagney told The Sun Chronicle at the time that all residents, but especially elderly ones, need to be wary of this kind of fraud.
“This is a terrible exploitation of our elderly citizens,” Heagney said. “Especially this time of year, for someone to take advantage of the elderly is disheartening.”
That crime came just as the city’s council on aging ramped up an effort to help elders deal with abuse of all kinds — physical, emotional and financial.
“Abuse and neglect of our senior population is far more common then we may want to think and is a growing problem,” Council on Aging Director Madeleine McNielly said in a letter to The Sun Chronicle. “The incidence of financial exploitation, the misuse or withholding of an older adults’ resources, is growing nationally. Fraudulent telemarketing schemes and unscrupulous scam artists increasingly target elders, resulting in significant financial losses.”
She said a study by the U. S. Administration on Aging estimates that up to 1 million elderly are physically abused, neglected or financially exploited each year.
In addition, cases of abuse are not reported far more often than they are, she said.
She cited studies showing only one out of every 25 cases is reported.
A significant part of the growing abuse is financial, McNielly said.
“One third of reported elder abuse cases last year involved allegations of financial exploitation and the number is expected to grow as the population ages,” she said. “National and state elder services recognize that addressing financial exploitation is a priority.”
To make matters worse, the perpetrators are often members of an elder’s family, which is damaging emotionally as well as financially.
“Loved and trusted family members too often make illegal and improper use of resources, resulting in emotional and financial damage that is devastating.,” McNielly said.
“Elders and vulnerable adults are left unable to pay for their basic daily needs, including housing, food, critical utilities and medications, and are traumatized by this victimization. “
So to help stem the tide of elder abuse, the COA is hosting a program at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at the city’s library on North Main Street “to aid in early identification and prevention of elder financial exploitation and fraud.”
Presenters will include Gabriela Vieira, vice president, Banking Center Manager, Webster Bank; former city detective Arthur J. Brillon, now a special investigator from District Attorney Tom Quinn’s Financial Abuse Investigative Team; and lawyers from South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc.
Full Article & Source:
Attleboro COA takes aim at financial abuse of elderly
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From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: The Changing Face of Joan
By Joan Hunt
The thing I miss the most about being a younger person is supple skin. The face that looks back at me in the mirror has all the same features, but the skin doesn’t seem to fit around them quite as nicely as it used to. There is a little excess around the chin and wrinkles around the eyes that look like they don’t exactly know what to do with themselves.Men often handle this problem by growing a mustache and a beard. Women are stuck with plastic surgery, injections, or extraordinary makeup. Being averse to the physical and financial pain inflicted by the first two choices, I had to find a makeup regimen that could keep me from cringing when I look in the mirror.
Now here’s the conundrum. As a woman ages, it takes more makeup to make her look good, but at the same time any amount of makeup is more obvious on more mature skin. What to do? Well, fortunately my eyesight isn’t as good as it once was, and for a while it worked to just not look too closely at my face in the mirror. But it was getting harder to put what makeup I did wear on my face because I couldn’t see what I was doing. So, I bought a magnifying mirror. Big mistake!
I immediately called my youngest daughter, who is a makeup artist, and begged for help. If she could make a normal person look like the Frankenstein monster, might not the reverse be true? She laughed at me and fit me into her schedule for the following week.
Hillary does a lot of weddings, and she shared that one of the biggest challenges she has is working with the mother of the bride. First, they are emotional because their daughter has chosen a life partner that isn’t her. Second is the rite of passage. Mom’s role now includes her in the older generation, and most of us have a little trouble being relegated to the back seat. And beyond that, most women in this age group haven’t changed their “look” or their makeup regimen for over a decade.
They end up being very grateful for my daughter, because she has targeted mature skin as one of her specialties. And she works with them until they are comfortable with their new look.
“So, why have you let your own mother walk around looking like a stegosaurus all these years?” I ask her. Apparently, she has been giving me hints and tips all along, but I wasn’t taking them seriously. Now I am.
Just a few quick tips to share what I have learned. Moisturizer is essential, both at night and under makeup during the day. Let it soak in before applying makeup. Next is the foundation primer, which prepares the skin for the makeup. Liquid is best, applied with an egg (a little egg-shaped sponge that retails for about $20). I am still unsure how often to wash this little gem, but I think it should be dry during application.
Foundation makeup needs to be the exact right shade, and it is worth spending a little more on this because it makes all the difference. Then liquid blush, not too much, blended on the top of cheekbones with the egg, followed by a highlighter just above that and leading around the outside of the eyes to make them pop.
My eyebrows have become thin and curly. An interesting challenge. We draw little lines along the shape of the brow, blend the foundation into them, and then blend with a brush. A little liquid eyeliner, then two applications of mascara to pump up the three eyelashes I have on each eye. Fake ones would be better, but I don’t have the patience. Lip liner, followed by gloss on the bows and on the under lip to plump them out. Spray entire face with a setting spray. And voila!
Sounds like I would look like Tammy Faye Bakker by now, remember her? But applied subtly and by the right hands, this is transformational. The idea is that it takes more to look like less. But yes, there is a downside. It cost me hundreds of dollars to acquire the high-end makeup items it requires, and in my inexperienced hands I need to start around 9 a.m. to look good by noon.
I will continue working on the techniques, and eventually I am sure it will become second nature. In the meantime, I am grateful to have a daughter who possesses this great information and talent. And on the days that I don’t have time to enhance my natural look, I remember what my grandmother told me when she started to get wrinkles and a sagging jawline.
“Smile,” she said. “It takes ten years off your face. And people will always be happy to see you.”
Full Article & Source:
From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: The Changing Face of Joan
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Tonight on Marti Oakley's TS Radio Network: Abolishing Probate With Guest Claudia Donnelley
Join us this evening January 7, 2019 at 7:00 pm CST~
Our guest this evening is CLAUDIA DONNELLY, a long time activist and advocate in Washington State. We will be discussing:
1. Uniform Act on guardianship…..what is it and why should we adopt it or not?
2. Special meetings you mentioned where the public was not invited or informed. Who was there? What was their purpose?
3. Claudia received a letter from a state representative that said she was disruptive…when she had never been at a meeting that Claudia attended where she was accused of being disruptive…where did she get that info?
4. What is on the legislative table for this year in Washington state and whom do you consider to be your biggest adversary in making necessary changes?
If time permits. we will also update everyone on a mutual friend of ours who was stalked by APS all the way from Washington state down to Texas and back again!
LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later
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