Author Archives for Herb Weiss

Seniors Held Their Ground During Legislative Session

Published in Pawtucket Times on July 16, 2001

As the dust settles with the aftermath of the 2001 General Assembly session, senior advocates and providers held their ground with the state legislature allocating small funding increases in some existing programs, but no major expansions or new programs were implemented.

More than 2,500 bills were introduced during the 2001 General Assembly session, with lawmakers considering a small handful of proposals that specifically targeted senior programs and services.

Pawtucket Rep. Antonio J. Pires, who heads the House Finance Committee, gives his take to The Times on the session as it related to older Rhode Islanders.

During this year’s legislative session senior advocates called on the General Assembly to consider increased funding for Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Elderly Program (RIPAE).

Recognizing the high cost of prescription drugs and its adverse impact on the elderly, lawmakers ratcheted up the $10.3 million RIPAE program by $ 2 million. With the passage of the state’s Fiscal Year 2002 budget, the size of a large phone book, lawmakers appropriated a 20 percent increase to support the RIPAE program, stated Pires.

The General Assembly expanded the drug formulary lists of drugs to include prescription drugs to treat osteoporosis,” Rep. Pires noted. Additionally, he added that the state’s budget now provides 100 percent of covered drug costs incurred once the program’s poorest clients spend more than $ 1,500 in coo-payments in a year.

While senior advocates had pushed for more drugs to be covered by RIPAE drug formulary, Pires stated, “We can’t afford to pay for an o pen formulary program yet because of budgetary limitations.” In next year’s legislative session, when more state monies are available, coverage for gastrointestinal drugs will seriously be considered, he added.

“It’s a trade-off,” Pires said, in explaining why lawmakers choose not to add drugs to the RIPAE formulary list but rather to increase the eligibility income limits to allow an estimated 3,l50 seniors and disabled persons to participate in the state’s Medical Assistance Program. This program pays for nursing home care for low-income eligible seniors. The enacted state budget included $ 1.8 million from all sources of funds, including $ 857,485 in general revenues to increase the eligibility income for those who are 65 years old or disabled. Now individual income limits increased from $ 576 to $  686 per month, he said, noting that income limits for couples also increased from $ 889 to $ 921 per month.

According to Pires, the Fiscal 2002 State budget also includes $ 85,000 to continue funding the state’s elder guardianship program enacted last year. “The program brings volunteer guardians to assist frail elderly who are cognitively impaired and without families or friends in decision making,” he said. This year’s funding would allow a full-tie coordinator to be hired who will recruit and train the volunteer guardians. Ultimately, the funding would also allow the program to be phased in statewide over a three-year period, he said.

“We also continue to fund the state’s Elder Information Network Program,” Pires added, noting that the FY 2002 budget includes $ 425,000, a $ 12,300 increase over last year’s budget. Funding for this program provides grants to 15 community-based agencies to employe specialists to link information and services across the state.

This session Rhode Island lawmakers also moved to soften the blow of federal cutbacks to RIPTA by providing an additional $ 2.5 million to the state’s transportation agency. “RIPTA found itself in need of cutting routes to balance it’s budget,” Pires stated, noting that the General Assembly responded to the federal cuts by appropriating one-half cent of the state’s gasoline tax to help the agency keep its exiting bus routes.

“RIPTA may have to make some adjustments to their bus routs but not to the extent that they had fared,” Pires said. Ensuring that buses continue to run throughout the state are important because this mode of transportation provides older riders their mobility and independence, he said.

Finally, on the heel of calls by the nursing home industry and senior advocates, Pires noted that the General Assembly allocated $ 4.5 million with a $ 4.5 million federal match, to provide higher salaries for certified nursing assistants to keep them in their profession.

While nursing home providers did not get the $ 14.1 million, they requested, the 2002 state budget called for a funded study to develop a new plan on how nursing homes would be funded, Pires said. “We anticipate that the modern payment principles that will be developed will ensure continued quality of care for the elders in facilities,” he added.

But the funding allocated by the General Assembly to alleviate the direct care staff shortage and a study to develop a new payment methodology still leaves many nursing home providers and senior advocates seriously concerned about the direction of quality care with the inadequate paid to a shrinking work force.

Based on an independent study, providers found that last year health care worker turnover approached 92 percent in Rhode Island facilities due to low wages in relation to the work performed, stated Hugh Hall, chair of the  Direct Care Staffing Coalition and administrator of Cherry Hill Manor.

Hall noted that certified nursing assistants must complete 125 hours of training followed by a state licensing exam, both written and practical, to perform this type of work. These workers have found they can make as much or more working in local retail establishments than in nursing facilities, he says.

While nursing home providers appreciate the funding that the legislature has approved, it doesn’t go far enough, says Hugh, to address the inadequate wages that the state is funding for direct care workers. “The state continues to cut the same size of the pie for an ever-increasing aging population,” he noted.

In response to those seeking better funded programs this year, Pires stated, “We had limited resources to expend so there wasn’t a lot of new programming this year but quality of life and independence remains my top priority as chairman of the House Finance Committee.” The eight-term Democrat noted that this year’s focus was to ensure that the existing level of senior services would not be cut but maintained with some incremental expansion.

City Tackles Fire, Safety Issues for Elderly  

 Published in the Pawtucket Times on July 9, 2001

Over the years, Maxx volunteered to work with disadvantaged youth and was actively involved with his synagogue. But when House Speaker John B. Harwood appointed the former retailer and court investigator to the Rhode Island Commission on Safety and Care for the Elderly in the mid-1990s, Maxx took on a new role – senior advocate.

By attending commission meetings, he saw first hand how a senior driven group working with police senior advocates could effectively tackle problems to ultimately make life better for older Rhode Islanders.

In 1997, at a meeting of the Pawtucket Senior Citizens Council, held at the Leon Mathieu Senior Center, Maxx pushed for a special committee to bring seniors together with senior police and fire advocates.

After selling his idea, the city’s senior advisory group unanimously passed Maxx’s motion and Mayor James E. Doyle created a 13-member panel of city officials and seniors. The newly created group would be called The Mayor’s Committee on Elderly Fire and Safety Issues.

Although other communities have senior advisory groups, Maxx firmly believes that Mayor James E. Doyle of Pawtucket goes the extra mile. “I know of no other city or town where the mayor will regularly sit down with seniors month after month,” says Maxx.

Maxx’s idea for creating the Mayor’s Committee on Elderly Fire and Safety Issues (commonly referred to as the Fire and Safety Committee) came just at the right time. During Mayor Doyle’s 1977 campaign, from face-to-face meetings with seniors, he learned that many of them were concerned about the safety of elderly who resided in senior complexes or in their homes,” noted Ken McGill, Pawtucket’s government affairs aide.

“The newly created Fire and Safety Committee would look at a wide range of issues, from pot holes in the street, missing stop signs and issues surrounding elderly drivers to fire and safety concerns, stated McGill. “The mayor has appointed a fire official to serve along with the senior police advocate on this group,” he says, noting that this was the first committee to do this.

According to McGill, in 1997 the Fire and Safety Committee supported the mayor’s new initiative called Check-Em program. Over the years they have monitored the effectiveness of the program and promoted it to the city’s senior population.

Wit its initial $ 7,000 price tag for software, today the program makes daily calls to more than 100 seniors residing in city-owned senior complexes or to those in their own homes. “If the person picks up the call that’s the end of it,” said McGill. “However, if no one picks up the phone after two calls the Pawtucket Policy Department will call a designated person. If the senior cannot be reached, then a patrol car will be dispatched to the residence,” he said.

“This program has been very successful and it gives adult children peace of mind that someone is watching out for their elderly parent every day,” said McGill.

In 1998, the City’s Fire and Safety Committee moved to protect the hard of hearing and deaf from fire. With their urging, the City of Pawtucket allocated $ 2,000 to participate in a program sponsored by the Ocean State Center for Independent Living. By the city’s participation in the “Shake-a-Wake” program, 27 Pawtucket seniors who were deaf or hard of hearing received a free smoke detector. When placed under a pillion the sensitive device would vibrate if smoke was detected, waking up the sleeper who could not hear the alarm.

Two tragic fire deaths in the senior complexes in 1999 caused the City’s Fire and Safety Committee to act.  McGill stated that more than 5,000 fire safety tip brochures were distributed to every resident tenant in 14 senior complexes. This project spun off another initiative, called “Smoke Where It’s Safe Solution” or SWISS. The educational outreach initiative brought the Pawtucket Fire Department into every senior complex to tell seniors of the dangers of smoking while lying in bed or sitting in a chair.  Additionally, the elderly tenants were told what to do if a fire was detected in their building.

“During the year 2000 ‘I’m Ok’ door knockers were also printed courtesy of Med-Tech Ambulance Company and distributed throughout the city-owned elderly complexes,” noted McGill. The door knockers have a.m. and p.m. printed on each side. Floor captains can now go on their rounds each morning and evening to see if the door knockers are changed to reflect the time of day. No changes in the sign will result in a knock on the door, he says.

McGill stated the Fire and Safety Committee also sprung into action in 2000 after a gas leak at Slater House in Pawtucket. The group expressed concern to the Pawtucket Fire Department about the small Knox boxes located outside of the city’s senior complexes. The boxes were only large enough for one key for the fire department to gain access to the complex.

After contacting all senior complex property managers and requesting them to install a Knox vault to allow placement of more items including a list of tenants, several complied.

Lou Brennan, 73, a former bookkeeper and Pawtucket resident, has been a member of the Fire and Safety Committee since its inception. “The success is due to the hard work of its members,” Brennan says. “We’re the eyes and ears of the elderly in the City of Pawtucket. What we see and hear we bring back to the table and the mayor and other city officials act on them for our benefit.”

The Best of…RSVP Provides Volunteer Opportunities Statewide

Published July  2, 2001, Pawtucket Times

A little bit of leisure activity, combined with a part-time job, with a little volunteering are just the right mix of ingredients to make Janet Catineault’s retirement years fulfilling.

At age 68, Catineault, who formerly was employed by Fuller Box Company in Central Falls and International Packaging in Pawtucket, now works as a part-time receptionist at the City ofPawtucket’sLeonMathieuSeniorCenter.  The semi-retired Pawtucket resident has joined 4,500 senior volunteers in Rhode Island who give time to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.  This federally funded program, authorized by Congress in 1971, helps people age 55 and older put their skills and live experience to work in their communities.  RSVP volunteers serve in a wide variety of organizations ranging from hospitals and nursing homes, youth recreational centers to local police stations, historic sites to education facilities.

Serving as an RSVP volunteer at the Leon Mathieu Senior Center, Catineault has taken on the role of a friendly visitor an elderly woman.  “I took her out to visit different nursing homes,” said the RSVP volunteer, noting that a tour of these facilities allowed her older companion to have a choice in the selection of a facility.   Additionally, Catineault has served meals at the Pawtucket senior center and has assisted another homebound elderly person with shopping, banking, and housework.

“I volunteer with RSVP because I enjoy helping people out,” Catineault tells The Times.  “I thought about doing this for years and now that I have a few extra hours, I do it.  When we visit seniors it gives them something to look forward to, a little lift for the day and makes them feel important,” she said.

At the RSVP program, sponsored by Blackstone Valley Community Action Program (BVCAP), there are 43 volunteer sites throughout Pawtucket,Central Falls, Lincoln and Cumberland, noted Caleb Petrin, the nonprofit community action program’s RSVP Director.

According to Petrin, 183 seniors age 55 and over have signed up to give their time at 43 volunteer sites throughout Pawtucket,Central Falls,LincolnandCumberland.  These seniors put in approximately 6,000 volunteer hours in nursing homes, churches, senior centers, meal sites, historic sites, like Slater Mill, hospitals, along with assisting in educational outreach initiatives, tutoring and mentoring.

From his office at BVCAP, Petrin along with a part-time staffer determine community needs, design programs, and finally recruit and place RSVP volunteers.  “Our RSVP program is specifically designed to get seniors to become more involved and to have a stake in their community,” he said, noting that the volunteers bring their life experiences and skills to improve the quality of life at the volunteer sites.

Senior RSVP volunteers are recognized in a newsletter and at an annual recognition dinner, Petrin noted, adding that the event serves as a way for volunteers to share with each other their positive volunteer experiences.

“One of our newest volunteer stations is atPawtucket’s Slater Mill Historic Site,” Petrin said.  “Now we have two RSVP volunteers who provide information about the historic mill  to visitors. These positions are going to be evolving from providing information into helping with programming and interpretation,” he added.

Vin Marzullo, Rhode Island Director of the Corporation for National Service, an independent federal agency responsible for overseeing the nation’s domestic volunteer programs and RSVP states that other RSVP offices are located in Cranston, East Providence, South Kingston, Providence, Kent County and Woonsocket.

Marzullo stated that volunteer service time is valued at $ 13 per hour.  Thus, he calculates that volunteer service provided by 4,500 Rhode Island RSVP volunteers is valued at $6.5 million.

RSVP volunteers are playing a tremendous community problem-solving role.   “The reality is our seniors are experienced, knowledgeable of the community and they’ve addressed so many life challenges and situations.  They can help so many people in need if they are given the opportunity, Marzullo said.

Marzullo firmly believes that RSVP allows older Americans to be valued and continue their contributions to their communities.

Herbert P. Weiss is a Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based free lance writer covering aging, medical and health care issues.  This article was published in July 2, 2001 in the Pawtucket Times. He can be reached at hweiss@aol.com