Author Archives for Herb Weiss

The Best Of…Old Tales of Ireland Add Comedic Dimension to Concert

Published March 11, 2002, Pawtucket Times

            Some people just know what they want to do in their professional careers.  But like many others, world-renowned Irish Storyteller Jimmy Kennedy fell into his chosen trade.

            Kennedy became a comedian by accident.  The 77-year-old, Dublin-born Kennedy chuckled when he was asked to remember an event that took place at the beginning of his career — an event that played a key role in changing his life.  The budding singer was asked to replace a comedian who failed to show up at a variety show.  So like a trooper, Kennedy went onstage and told a few traditional Irish stories.

           “I had a few stories that I had told around the table at the local pub,” Kennedy said. “I simply told those stories, he said, explaining in his heavy Irish brogue, this accident had pushed him into a life-long career of comedy.

           Kennedy known as “Ireland’s Master of Mirth, comes to Pawtucket next Saturday on St. Patrick’s weekend to perform with the internationally renowned Three Irish Tenors. The trio is comprised of Tom Cregan, from the Royal Opera Convent Garden; Claran Nagle from Riverdance: The Show; and Anthony Norton, from La Scala Milan.  Joining Kennedy and the Three Irish Tenors is Soprano Jacqueline Whelan and her Irish harp, as well as a  host of dancers and musicians.

           The Irish performers come to the Tolman High School auditorium in Pawtucket on a three week nationwide tour of the United States.  The Pawtucket stop is their only appearance in Southern New England. This is Kennedy’s fourth tour with the Three Irish Tenors.

           During the two-and-a-half hour show, Kennedy will dress as a Seanchai, and an old storyteller who wears and old suit and cap, holding his walking stick.  He will sit next to a turf fire and spin this tales.” It’s a family oriented show that provides great entertainment for both seniors and their grandchildren,” said Kennedy, who explains that shows like this usually play in Irish hotels during the summer throughout Ireland.

          Neither Kennedy’s father, who worked in the whisky business, or his homemaker mother, who cared for her 11 children, ever showed any inclination of going into show business.  But he young Kennedy did. At age 11, he was a “boy soprano” in the church, belting out our songs to his congregation.  Three years later, he would win a talent competition at Dublin’s Queen Theatre, fanning his love for appearing before audiences.

           Add these early experiences with daytime jobs on radio and in television, and Kennedy was ready to  hit the road to perform.

          “I have been on the road touring for most of my life,” said Kennedy, who noted that show business had enabled him to travel to many parts of the world that he could not afford to see.  His performance tours began in 1943, later taking him throughout Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, the Far East, the United States and Canada and to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Alaska on cruise ships.

          During World War II, a patriotic Kennedy entertained American troops in Germany with his Irish songs and comedy routines.  One such tour led him to meeting a dancer who would become his future wife. Of course, his two children and grandchildren are musically inclined.

          With more than 60 years invested in show business, Kennedy said he has played with some of the names in the Irish entertainment industry, specifically the Irish Rovers, Dame Vera Lynn, who was known as the “armed forces sweetheart,” Paddy Noonan, Noel henry, Jimmy O’Dea and Stanley Hollway, the famous British actor who played in “My Fair Lady.”

          Kennedy also played at the Gaiety Theater in Dublin in the early 1950s, which was one of the highlights of his career..  At this widely respected theater, he went on stage with the late comedic actor Jimmy “Odea.

           “To play the Gaiety in Dublin was considered to be a feather in your cap,” he quipped.

           During his career, Kennedy has recorded his comedy routines on a number of albums including “Innisfree,” “Green Isle, Sounds of Ireland,” and “A Little Bit of Irish.”

          What’s the secret to his success of being a “Seanchai?”

           Kennedy said his routines concentrate on good, clean Irish humor. “It is stories of Irish life and situations,” he noted.

           Kennedy Does not plan to retire soon, saying, “the great thing about show business is that there is no retirement as long as people want to see you.” He added, “I often say to people that when I walk up in the morning, ‘this may be my last day.’ Someday I will be right.”

             Now that’s humor.

              The event is being sponsored by the Northern Rhode Island Council on the Arts and Convergence Pawtucket. 

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

Staffing Crisis Hits Nation’s Nursing Facilities

Published in the Pawtucket Times on February 25, 2002

A yet-to-be released federal report paints a very bleak picture about the quality of care provided in the nation’s nursing facilities.

According to an article published last week by The New York Times, a draft federal report finds that 90 percent of the nation’s nursing facilities do not have enough nursing staff to properly care for their residents.

Simply, put, the lack of staffing reduces the quality of care provided in nursing facilities, increasing the incidence of bedsores, falls, malnutrition, weight loss, urinary tract infections and blood-borne infections, the report notes.

According to the draft report, which was ordered by Congress, is expected to be officially released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April, reaching appropriate staffing in nursing facilities would cost the federal government big bucks.

With a $ 7.6 billion annual price tag, about an 8 percent increase over current expenditures – the report – entitled “Appropriateness of Minimum Nurse Staffing Ratios in Nursing Homes” – recommends cheaper ways to fix the staffing crunch in the nation’s facilities.

Rather than regulate minimum ratios of nursing staff to residents, the report calls for better management techniques and training of certified nursing aides CNAs) to increase staff productivity and to decrease CNA turnover. Additionally, market demand sparked by an informed public that has access to publicly reported nursing staff data may even increase nurse staffing levels in facilities, the report notes.

The New York Times article does not get to the root of the nation’s staffing problems in nursing facilities, charges Al Santos, executive director of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, the state’s largest trade group that represents nursing facility providers.

“While the article only focused on the inadequacies of staffing levels across the country, it failed to report on its cause – a lack of adequate government reimbursement for nursing facility care,” Santos said.

Santos stated the federal report, which is detailed in the New York Times, is correct in its assessment that the shortage is “likely to become worse.

It should come as no surprise to policymakers that in order to increase wages and to make frontline nursing jobs competitive. Medicaid can no longer pay roughly $ 4 per hour, per patient for shelter, meals, labor costs, special care, certain therapies and other items,” Santos adds. “Costs far outweigh government reimbursements for patient care, and chronic under-funding of Medicaid directly impacts staffing.”

There is no doubt in my mind that the lack of adequate staff in facilities create poor quality of care,” says Roberta Hawkins, executive director of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care, who also serves as the state’s ombudsman on nursing facility issues. Hawkins said she fears that the continuing staff shortage in Rhode Island facilities will chip away the past 25 years of improved resident care that has resulted from state and federal nursing facility reforms.

Although inadequate pay and benefits are obstacles to retaining staff, Hawkins predicts that it will become even more difficult to recruit CNAs when more horror stories about poor care appear in local newspapers or on state or federal agency websites.

“As a society, all of us are responsible for the care not being provided to nursing facility residents. If we don’t provide that money to pay for the best of care, we are partially responsible for that care not being provided,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins sees as permanent fix to this ongoing staffing shortage found in Rhode Island facilities – tie the reimbursement rate to the level of resident care provided. For instance, facilities with heavy-care residents would receive a higher Medicaid reimbursement rate, which takes into account the increased staffing needs of those residents.

But adequate Medicaid funding is not the only solution to the continuing staff shortage dilemma facilities face, Hawkins warned.

“We need to create upward mobility in nursing jobs, improve training specialty care provided to Alzheimer’s residents, bedridden residents and to those requiring rehabilitation,” she said.

The new federal study doesn’t surprise Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, who chairs the state’s Long-Term Care Coordinating Council (LTCCC) and to those involved in providing or regulating nursing facility care in the Ocean State.

Just last year, a statewide LTCCC study found Rhode Island’s nursing facilities reported a shortage of certified nursing assistants, the staff who provide 90 percent of the direct care to residents.

“The report gives us useful information to look at the issue of staffing and quality in Rhode Island nursing facilities,” Fogarty said. “It also should serve as a clear signal to Congress that it must do a better job of planning and funding long-term care.”

A state commission chaired by Human Services Director Jane Haywood, is currently studying how the existing Medicaid reimbursement system can be improved.

Even with a mounting state budget deficit, it is now time for the governor, state lawmakers and state officials to put the energy and resources into tackling this ongoing staff shortage issue.

With major input from the nursing facility industry and from Hawkins and her resident advocates, Haywood’s final blueprint for changes in the state’s Medicaid program must be taken seriously. With a state election looming in November, candidates running for governor, the Rhode Island General Assembly and Congress must do their homework, study the staffing crisis in the state’s nursing facilities, and develop their positions to confront this pressing policy issue.

More than 10,000 nursing facility residents and their families pray that the report to be issued by the Department of Human Services will not end up in some back office on a dusty shelf.

Aging Programs Get Slashed in Bush’s War Budget

Published in Pawtucket Times on February 18, 2002

In the shadow of the horrific terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th, domestic programs take the backseat in President Bush’s $ 2.13 trillion fiscal year 2003 budget, released in early February, with significant funding increases being targeted for both military and  homeland defense.

As 77 million baby boomers approach their 65th birthdays within the next decade, aging groups say the President’s wartime budget does not go far enough in many areas to meet the aging baby boomer’s needs in the coming years.

One of the most hotly debated Congressional issues is affordable prescription drugs. With the Congressional election looming next year, this is certain to be a key issue in every state. Don’t look for this issue to lose importance to seniors or to the aging groups who call for meaningful Medicare drug benefits.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next 10 years, Medicare beneficiaries will spend about $1.6 trillion out-of-pocket on prescription drugs. But the recently released Bush budget proposal only contains $ 190 billion over 10 years for Medicare reform, including $ 77 billion to assist seniors with prescription drugs.

The National Council on Aging (NCOA), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, estimates that on average, the Bush administration’s proposal would cover less than one out of 10 dollars spend on drugs by seniors.

Martha A. McSteen, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, agreed that Bush’s budget proposal shortchanges seniors and the disabled in providing needed health care and services.

In his State of the Union address, the president restated his campaign promise to provide prescription drug coverage for every senior, noted McSteen, who added, “That is an empty promise if the budget does not contain these needed resources.

“At least $ 450 billion is needed over the next 10 years to provide a comprehensive and affordable prescription drug benefit as part of the Medicare program,” McSteen says.

John Rother, AARP’s Policy and Strategy Director, said, “Although federal budget constraints are greater than last year, so too is the need for affordable prescription drugs for Americans age 65 and over. Unfortunately, disease and pain did not disappear with the budget surplus.”

However, U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-Rhode Island, said he believes the President’s budget request recognizes the precarious state of the Medicare system, as well as other challenges faced by the nation’s seniors.

“The president has acknowledged the need for a Medicare prescription drug benefit as well as [the need] for a significant increase in funding for disease research conducted by the National Institutes of Health,” he said.

While Chafee said he will push for legislation that will create more comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefits than the legislation proposed by the president, he warned the deficit created by the combination of the economic slowdown, the war on terrorism and last year’s tax cut will make enactment of any new spending programs more difficult to accomplish.

Meanwhile, programs under the Older Americans Act, are provided with less funding in Bush’s budget proposal than they were last year.

“Around the country, people are on waiting lists for meals-on-wheels programs and congregate meals programs,” said McSteen.

“There are state and local programs that need additional federal funds to counter the increasing problems of elder abuse. The administration’s funding request for these programs is woefully inadequate.”

Other federal programs get sliced and diced under the Bush administration’s FY 2003 budget, according to U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, who pointed to an 8 percent cut for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s budget for chronic care.

The four-term Congressman and member of the House Aging Caucus said he finds this cut troubling due to the significant gains that have been made in efforts to prevent and treat diseases that effect an aging population.

With a growing number of families caring or loved ones with Alzheimer’s Disease, Kennedy said he strongly opposes the Bush administration’s axing of the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program, which helps protect and locate missing patients with the devastating disease.

The program has assisted in the return of more that 5,700 wanderers and increased its data base to 67,000 persons with Alzheimer’s,” said Kennedy. “It has succeeded in its many efforts on a budget of $ 898,000 in fiscal year 2002.”

While prescription drugs comes up a loser in the Bush budget, some aging initiatives are clearly on the White House’s radar screen.

Bush’s budget proposal provides about $ 3 billion in additional funds toward research and is the final installment in a five-year effort to double the size of the National Institute of Health budget, says McSteen. She said she believes increased federal funding would assist in “producing breakthroughs in the prevention, treatment, management of conditions associated with aging.”

The Administration’s budget also provides a personal exemption to home caretakers of family members and the funding of respite and direct care worker demonstration projects.

Now Bush’s Budget proposal moves to Congress, where a Republican-controlled House and Democratic Senate will make major revisions, ultimately hammering out a final road map to federal spending.

The funding of federal programs to meet the needs of older Americans is crucial as our nation’s population ages.

Furthermore, with an increasing federal budget deficit, Republican and Democratic lawmakers must not get tied down to partisan wrangling as they attempt to iron out differences in creating a Medicare benefit to make prescription rugs more affordable to seniors.

As the Congressional elections get closer, seniors will call for concrete legislative action, not political rhetoric or fancy words.