Author Archives for Herb Weiss

The Best Of…Seniors Can follow Steps to Avoid Heat-Related Illnesses

Published July 8., 2002, Pawtucket Times

On July 3rd, it was so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement outside of McCoy Stadium.

Although more than 10,500 fans had bought tickets to watch the PawSox game against the Ottawa Lynx, which concluded with a 45-minute fireworks display, only 8,300 fans showed up, according to Ken McGill, co-chair of teh Pawtucket Fireworks Committee.

There were even smaller crowds who set up chairs in the parking lots and on sidewalks in the surrounding neighborhoods around McCoy Stadium to watch the much-awaited fireworks display, McGill said.

But despite the searing heat that evening it was clear that some just like it hot.

As the PawSox game was winding down, Ray Ethier, 60, a former union electrician, chatted with his friend, George Panas, 59, of Spumoni’s Restaurant.

“I don’t mind the heat.  I just don’t like this humidity,” he candidly admitted.  However, Ethier acknowledged that the heat has slowed him down a bit, because “it’s too hot to play golf.”

Panas doesn’t mind the searing outside heat either, or even working in a hot kitchen.

“When people are sweating buckets in the kitchen, I feel as cool as a cucumber,” he said.

Fifty-seven-year old Stan Lachut, a retired Pawtucket school teacher, waited with his wife Beverly, for darkness and for the fireworks show to begin. Standing by the barbecue tent and surrounded by more than 200-plus guests of the Pawtucket Firework’s Committee, the Cumberland residents said the heat’s not a problem for him, either.

“Being outside in summer is a time you can spend with your family and friends,” he said, whereas “colder temperatures force people to stay inside buildings.”

On the other hand, not everybody like summer’s hot days

Ttemperatures in the mid-90s, combined with high humidity, can become uncomfortable and a serious health hazard for seniors.  And many are heeding the advice of experts gleaned from radio, television, and local newspaper articles about how to cope with the scorching summer heat.

Patricia A. Nolan, M.D.,  the state’s top health official, gave her advise on surviving Rhode Island’s current heat wave.

Seniors, small children and the mentally ill are the most susceptible to health problems from searing summer heat waves, said Nolan, who serves as the director of Rhode Island’s Department of health.  High temperatures can be especially dangerous to persons’ with cardiac and respiratory probems and to mentally ill patients taking psychotropic medications, she said.

She noted that psychotropic medications make it harder for an individual to cool down.

According to Noran, the early symptoms of heat-related illnesses include muscle cramps in the arms, hands, abdomen and legs.  Muscle cramps are a result of dehydration and salt loss, primary problems associated with heat stress.  Additionally, Nolan said that fainting in the heat is another early symptom

If someone faints because of the heat, take the person into a cool place and cool them off by using a wet, cool cloth, Nolan recommends.

“You want to sponge people down and fan them to reduce their body heat,” she says.

Heat exhaustion, or heat-stork, is a more serious problem related to dehydration caused from high temperatures Nolan stated.  “Feelings of complete exhaustion, confusion, nausea or vomiting are real danger signs,” she said, adding, “If this occurs, you must get the body temperature down by addition fluids through intravenous methods.”

To successfully beat the heat, seniors should cut back on outside physical activities and drink plenty of water, Nolan recommends.

While water is the best fluid to drink on a hot day, fruit juice can also be considered a viable substitute.

“Cooling off with a cold beer is not the best plan,” Nolan said, noting that alcohol coffee, tea and soda are loaded with caffeine, which can increase the changes of dehydration.

“Seniors who tend to be most vulnerable to heat are those who don’t have a way to get cool for a part of the day,” Nolan said.  “One of the reasons heat waves affect the elderly more than the general population is because seniors are isolated, can’t get to a cool place, don’t have air conditioning and are afraid to open their windows at night when it finally cools down.”

Nolan warned that with temperatures in the mid-90s, staying indoors in a really hot house or apartment is not the best thing for seniors to do.

“Go to an air-conditioned shopping mall, see a movie, visit a restaurant, or get yourself into an air-conditioned space,” she recommended.  “If you can do this for an hour on a really hot day, you can protect yourself from serious health-related problems.”

Sometimes seniors get into trouble during days with high temperatures because they just don’t realize the danger,” Nolan noted.

During these days, it becomes important to monitor elderly parents or older friends, she says.

“Call on them every day to make sure they are coping with the heat.  Take them out to a cool place, like a shopping mall, a library, or a restaurant to let them cool off.”

In Rhode Island, some seniors tend not to adjust their behaviors to the heat because it’s only going to be hot for a few days,” Nolan says.

However, adjustments are fairly easy to make, she noted, stating that not making them can be hazardous to their health, and perhaps even deadly.

Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who writes about aging, health care and medical issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

Morgan Health Center receives Prominent Award

Published in Pawtucket Times on July 1, 2002

Patient abuse, financial exploitation, Medicaid fraud, and poor nursing care.

In many cases, these activities are often picked up by the print and electronic media across the state.

The nursing facility industry will tell you that “bad news can sell a lot of newspapers.” In many cases, stories about good patient care, a loving staff and facilities that deliver high standards of care do not even reach the pages of a newspaper talk show or nighttime newscast.

Here’s a story that hopefully will be picked up and reported by Rhode Island’s print and electronic media.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) has awarded Johnston-based Morgan Health Center with Accreditation by Full Standards of Compliance for providing quality long-term care and subacute services.

Nearly  2,300 nursing facilities across the nation are JCAHO accredited every three years, notes JACHO spokesperson Charlene Hill.

Hill says that only five percent of these facilities receive the survey’s highest designation, that is, Accreditation with Full Standards Compliance.

In the Ocean State, 19 facilities out of 96, have been JCAO-accredited Only Morgan Health Center and The Clipper Home in Westerly, have obtained JCAHO’s highest designation.

What does JCAHO accreditation really mean to the consumer”

“JCAHO standards, in many cases, exceed federal nursing facility requirements,” Lois Richard, administrator of Morgan Health Center, tells All About Seniors,

Here’s an example of the difference between federal regulatory requirements and JCAHO. Federal law does not require a nursing facility to implement a process to accredit members of its medical staff, she says. However, JCAHO accreditation requires that facilities determine if physicians have hospital privileges, validate that they care malpractice insurance, actually have a medical license and practice within the scope of their license.

Ricard added JCAHO also requires that registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants also be credentialed in what they do. “Their skills and techniques are monitored annually or whenever necessary,” she said.

According to JCAHO, its accreditation process is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards.

JCAHO uses standards to conduct a survey every three years that is evaluative, consultative, and educational. The primary goal of this survey is to assist a facility to identify and correct potential problems and improve the safety and quality of care and services provided.

During the survey, information, is collected through  observation, interviews with residents and staff and document reviews. The survey measures the organization’s against objective, state-of-the-art standards contained in the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Long-Term Care.

Richard said her facility now enters its third accreditation cycle. The 120-bed skilled nursing facility sought its initial accreditation in 1996.

For Roberta Hawkins, state ombudsman and executive director of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care, it is no surprise that Morgan Health Center was awarded JCAHO’s highest designation. Lois Richard is “personally vested in the facility,” Hawkins said. “It is more than just a 9-to-5 job, that’s what makes the difference,” she says.

The next survey is scheduled for 2005. Richard said to get another perfect scored, “you have to be doing what is expected of you every day.”

“As a JCAHO accredited facility, you’re consistently looking at what you do to identify the problems in order to respond proactively before they occur,” says Richard.

“You can’t let things fall through the cracks. If you do , things will start slipping,” she notes.

For their successful effort of reaching the highest level of JCAHO accreditation, Morgan Health Center, and its staff must be commended for their efforts. Positive stories about nursing facility care might even reduce the fear that seniors experience when they have to consider nursing facility care for their loved ones or for themselves.

Editors and news directors might believe that a negative story about poor care in nursing facilities might shed light on an issue that needs to be addressed by public officials.

While this is true, it is now time to give as much weight to stories that recognize the hard efforts of nursing facility staff who strive against incredible odds (from inadequate Medicaid reimbursement  to chronic staffing shortages) to provide higher standards of care.

The way I look at it, allocating more print space or air tie to recognize facilities providing quality of care is only-balanced journalism.

Congress to Debate Pharmaceutical Drug Benefit

Published in Pawtucket Times on June, 24, 2002

A looming November election is prodding Congress to get serious and tackle one of the hottest issues of interest to seniors – skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs that hit them hard in their pocketbooks.

At press time, two House Committees have now marked up the 255-page GOP prescription drug proposal. The final GOP bill is expected to be brought to the House floor for a vote later this week.

Congress is now poised to consider three prescription drug benefit proposals – two would expand Medicare and one would follow a private marketplace approach toward creating a meaningful prescription drug coverage for seniors.

Under the 10-year GOP proposal, which has a $ 350 billion price tag, drug coverage would be directly purchased by Medicare beneficiaries from insurance companies. Seniors would pay a $250 annual deductible along with a $ 34 monthly premium.

For low-income beneficiaries, Medicare would pick up the tab, paying for both premiums and deductibles. The GOP drug benefit would cover 80 percent of senior’s annual prescription drug costs up to $ 1,000; 50 percent up to $ 2,000 and none of the costs between $ 2,000 and $ 3,700, after which a catastrophic benefit would kick in.

In sharp contrast to the GOP plan, the Democratic House proposal costing about $ 800 billion includes a $ 25 per month premium with an annual deductible of $100.

Under a new Part D in Medicare, beneficiaries would pay 20 percent of the drug costs -up to $ 2,000, after which Medicare would pay 100 percent. Under a Senate Democratic proposal, costing up to $ 500 billion, seniors would pay a $ 25 premium but have no deductible. The Senate version would also set a limit of $ 4,000 in out-of-pocket expenses and require co-payments of $ 10 for generic drugs and $ 40 for preferred brand-name medications.

A vote on the Senate prescription drug package is expected to take place next month.

Democrats and Republicans are now cranking up their public relations machinery to take potshots at each other’s bills and tout their own proposals as “the real drug benefit.”

The bipartisan bickering surrounding the prescription drug-coverage issue is complex at best, especially for the senior voter ho must attempt to understand the minute details of the Democratic and Republican proposals.

Even wading through the pounds of press releases and background papers, generated by both parties’ spin machines and special interest groups, can become a challenge task at best.

Literature created by the House Republican Speaker’s Prescription Drug Action Team calls the Democratic prescription drug proposal an “election-year gimmick.”

The GOP plan stays within an already-agreed upon federal budget of $ 350 billion over 10 years to strengthen Medicare with prescription drug coverage, a flyer says, noting that the Democratic plans “simply spend billions more.”

Furthermore, the Republican generated literature announces that Health and Human Service Secretary Tommy Thompson has thrown the administration’s support firmly behind the GOP House proposal.

The HHS agency report finds competition among private insurers that offer the pharmaceutical benefit, concluding this approach would provide real financial relief for seniors.

According to HHS, analysis of the GOP proposal, seniors would save as much as 70 percent on their overall out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions. In addition, seniors would save 60 to 85 percent per prescription.

Meanwhile the Democrats have taken aim at the GOP proposal charging that it only serves the interest of the pharmaceutical industry.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) gives his thumbs-up to the House Democrats plan, considering it to be the best legislative fix for protecting seniors against spiraling  costs. The Rhode Island congressman told All About Seniors the GOP proposal would pay, at most, 25 percent of the costs of medications. Moreover, Kennedy added seniors would face an enormous  gap in drug coverage, too. Seniors would be responsible for paying the tab if their medication costs fall between $ 2,000 and $ 3,700.

Washington, DC-based aging advocacy groups are also throwing their two cents into this complex congressional debate on prescription drug coverage.

In March 2002, the AARP, the nation’s largest advocacy group, released survey findings that indicate aging baby boomers and seniors see a public-sector response as the way to bringing meaningful pharmaceutical coverage to seniors.

According to the survey, eight in 10 Americans age 45 and over favor making prescription drug part of the Medicare system. Sixty-seven percent strongly favor this benefit.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national group that advocates for high quality, affordable health care, charged the “House Republican prescription drug plan is far designed to provide political protection for House incumbents than drug cost relief for America’s seniors.”

“The proposal provides precious little assistance and keeps prescription drugs unaffordable for millions of seniors,” Pollack said.

The closer you examine the provisions in the GOP prescription drug proposal, you will see major flaws, Pollack stated. “The proposal provides a very meager benefit and forces seniors to pay the lion’s share of drug costs,” he says, adding this will result in many seniors not being able to affordable medications they need.

Meanwhile, Pollack stated that using private insurance companies to provide prescription drug coverage is the wrong approach. He said there is no guarantee insurance companies will offer drug coverage in specific communities, and the GOP proposal allows insurance companies to define the coverage they offer in different locations.

“Seniors will have no certainty about the premiums they need to pay, the cost-sharing they will bear, the drugs that are covered and under what conditions they can obtain those drugs,” notes Pollack.

When both chambers pass their prescription drug proposals, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said he believes the Senate and House can reach a compromise at the conference committee table.

However, he warned a compromise cannot come at the expense of a senior’s bank account.

I hope Congress listens to and hears a key message from AARP’s 2002 survey – that is eight in 10 of those participating consider providing a Medicare prescription drug benefit to be an extremely important priority for the President and Congress.

With pharmaceutical drug costs continuing to increase, millions of senior voters can no longer afford to wait for a solution blocked by political bickering.

At best, with a little more than four months until the November elections, Democratic and Republican lawmakers might just choose to put politics aside and strike a compromise that can achieve  widespread bipartisan support in both chambers for passage of a meaningful pharmaceutical benefit law.

It’s that time.