Tag Archives for AARP Rhode Island

McKee-Matos final “Rhode Island 2030 Plan” must not forget seniors

Published on October 25, 2021 in RINewsToday

Over a month ago, Gov. Dan McKee penned a Providence Journal op-ed calling for the General Assembly to release the $1.1 billion (at least 10%) in federal COVID-19 aid to address the state’s immediate needs, including shoring up minority and women owned small businesses and specific sectors – tourism, travel and events, and child care. The federal funds should also target worker training programs and increase the state’s affordable housing units.

On Oct. 15, Gov. McKee and Lt. Gov. Matos rolled out “Rhode Island 2030”, a working paper containing preliminary recommendations to begin public debate on how the American Rescue Plan Act’s State Fiscal Recovery Fund should be spent. Beginning Oct. 26, public hearings will be held on the McKee-Matos working paper, “Rhode Island 2030: Charting a Course for the Future of the Ocean State”.

The 55-page working draft provides summaries of what the administration heard during the Facebook live Rhode Island 2030 Community Conversations. The document also highlights current state agency initiatives in the relevant topic areas, suggests broad goals for 2030, and recommends short-term and long-term actions the state should take to reach those goals.

With the working paper’s release last week, debate has intensified as to how the McKee-Matos Administration should spend the state’s $1.1 billion allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act’s State Fiscal Recovery Fund. On Oct. 19, the Rhode Island Foundation added its own wish list in a report, “Make It Happen: Investing for Rhode Island’s Future”, which studied and analyzed options for spending the federal COVID-19 recovery funding over the next three years.

The public input included approximately 400 ideas submitted by the public via email, stakeholder conversations with more than 140 people, five focus groups with Rhode Islanders from communities hardest hit by COVID, and 11 nonprofit-led, community visioning sessions throughout the state. The 56-page report’s recommendations, shared with Mckee-Matos and the Rhode Island General Assembly, recommends investing in six key areas: housing, behavioral health, workforce development, small business, neighborhood trusts, and immediate relief.

Senior Advocates Weigh In 

In an Oct. 18 email, Maureen Maigret, policy consultant and chair of the Aging in Community Subcommittee of the Rhode Island’s Long-Term Care Coordinating Council, emailed her thoughts about the working paper to the aging network.

Here are a few of Maigret’s observations:

The working paper does not consider seniors to be an integral part of families, says Maigret, noting that “older couples are a family, some families are multi-generational with older adults being provided care by family members or helping with childcare and sharing household and family responsibilities. “While the plan recognized the pandemic caused many parents to leave the labor force, it does not mention that it also caused some employed family caregivers to leave their jobs as the caregiver workforce shortage intensified with COVID-19, leaving many caregivers without service,” she said.

Maigret called on state funded provider reimbursement to be at a level to provide competitive and living wages to all Direct Care staff and to support reasonable administrative costs.

While the working paper makes only an indirect mention of seniors about workforce development and postsecondary education, child care workers, nursing home staff and tipped workers are severely underpaid, notes Maigret. “There must be a target focus for these workforce fields, especially in lieu of the recent trends of workers leaving their jobs,” she says.

“There is no mention of any particular effort to strengthen programs that were in the labor force before the pandemic,” says Maigret.

As to workforce shortages, Maigret notes that the draft “fails to address the need for nursing home transformation and Covid’s significant impact on deaths and hospitalizations of nursing home residents, as mostly their physical structures are outdated with residents sharing rooms and bathrooms which makes infection control difficult, and contributes to high infection rates.”

Maigret noted that the working draft highlighted the need to expand broadband for Ocean State residents and businesses. “It did not include any specific facts on broadband accessibility for older adults or mention transit needs of older adults,” she said.

Giving Seniors a Brighter Tomorrow

AARP Rhode Island joins Maigret, calling on McKee-Matos to not forget Rhode Island’s seniors.

“The governor’s “Rhode Island 2030” framework includes the top two priorities that AARP Rhode Island has identified as critical,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director Catherine Taylor in an Oct. 19 statement. “Investing in the future of health care and housing in Rhode Island is vital to ensuring that citizens – of all ages – have a brighter tomorrow. We look forward to working with state leaders to advance these two priorities as decisions are made on spending ARPA funds.”

AARP Rhode Island especially agrees with the governor’s plan that municipal barriers for Accessory Dwelling Units need to be removed in order to create more affordable and accessible housing in our town and cities.

Like Maigret, AARP Rhode Island expressed concern about a lack of inclusion for older Rhode Islanders in many sections of the McKee-Matos working plan.

Considering that the vast majority of Rhode Islanders want to live independently in their homes and communities, the plan needs to include protecting the HCBS workforce employed by many small businesses, safeguarding the financial stability of HCBS providers, and accelerating meaningful reform of long-term services and supports.

To support healthy and accessible housing, AARP Rhode Island calls for increased funding for property owners to make improvements to existing housing, including weatherization, lead abatement, and disability access. In their July letter to the governor and state leaders, AARP Rhode Island recommended expanding the funding of the Livable Home Modification Program in order to increase the state’s accessible housing stock. Demand for this program continues to rise, often resulting in a waitlist by mid-fiscal year.

AARP Rhode Island advocates strongly for investing in transportation to help create livable communities where residents of any age are able to connect with the services and amenities they want and need. Creating communities that are accommodating to people of all ages and all modes of transportation is vital to allowing people to age in their own homes, within their own communities.

“AARP Rhode Island is committed to working with state leaders to make certain that ARPA funds are invested in a way that ensures that Rhode Islanders of all ages and abilities can recover and thrive,” said Taylor.”

A Call for Your Comments

“There are obviously significant objectives & responsibilities that must be developed and pursued to strengthen Rhode Island’s recovery from the pandemic – including the well-being of our aging community and how we can become an “Age-Friendly State” (currently, 8 states in the AARP network). 

This community conversation must become a statewide collaboration – engaging families, older adults, grandparents, etc. Such a strategic effort would greatly enhance the recently released working document: “Rhode Island 2030: Charting a Course for RI’s Future,” says Vincent Marzullo, former federal civil rights and social justice Director in Rhode Island for the Corporation for National & Community Services.

Public input sessions on  the McKee-Matos working paper begins Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. at Harry Kizirian Elementary School (60 Camden Avenue, Providence). Additional public input sessions will be held at 5 p.m. on the following dates:

  • Thursday, Oct. 28, Hope & Main (691 Main Street, Warren)
  • Tuesday, Nov. 2 at the Community College of Rhode Island (400 East Avenue, Warwick)
  • Thursday, Nov. 4 at Innovate Newport (513 Broadway, Newport)
  • Tuesday, Nov. 9 at United Theatre (5 Canal Street, Westerly)

You can also submit your feedback, online, at www.RI2030.com

For a copy of the McKee-Matos working paper, go to https://ri2030.com/_files/public/RI%202030_final.pdf.

For a copy of Rhode Island’s American Rescue Plan Report, go to https://assets.rifoundation.org/documents/RIF_MakeItHappen_DIGITAL_vF.pdf

Now is the time for creative ideas and reactions to these plans – please take the time to be an advocate for seniors in Rhode Island – and for other causes and issues that are important to you.

Older adults still worried, coping with COVID-19 Delta, poll shows

Published October 11, 2021 in RINewsToday

With the COVID-19 Delta variant numbers having surged across the nation, Joe (70) and Joyce (66), residing across the Rhode Island border in Seekonk, Massachusetts, continue to keep their distance from others, only seeing vaccinated friends and spending time with their daughter and her husband and grandchildren. During the first year of the pandemic, my friends pre-ordered their groceries and picked up the filled bags outside the store, where an employee quickly put the bags in their trunk. Now, this includes a quick 15-minute trip into the store, if necessary. They continue to not eat their meals in restaurants but will pick up their order curbside or eat outside.

Like my longtime friends, many older adults age 50 and over still remained concerned about this virus and continue to isolate themselves from others (especially those unvaccinated) and practice social distancing and wear their masks.

Still Feeling Socially Isolated

According to a newly released survey on Sept. 29, 2021, by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and funded by The SCAN Foundation, while a majority of adults age 50 or older see their quality of life, mental health, and satisfaction with social activities and relationships positively, they rarely, or never, feel socially isolated. But still, 18 months into the pandemic,1 in 3 still feel socially isolated at least sometimes. And 1 in 4 feels that their social life and relationships have gotten worse over the past year.

The poll survey includes 1,015 interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults age 50 and older living in America. Interviews were conducted between Aug. 20 and 23, 2021, via internet and phone, in English.

The research findings indicate that those older adults most worried about themselves or a loved one being infected by COVID-19 are most likely to practice social distancing, by avoiding travel, staying away from large groups of people, and wearing a mask. They are the ones most often experiencing feelings of social isolation. The researchers say that these people rate their quality of life, mental and emotional health, and social activities and relationships as worse than those less concerned about the virus.

The study’s findings indicate that being vaccinated does not provide the older persons with relief. Those who are vaccinated are more worried about infection from the virus, are more likely to practice social distancing, and are more likely to describe their mental health as worse than last year compared to those who are not vaccinated.

Touching Others Thru Video Chat and Social Media

To cope with isolation, older adults are using video chat and social media more often since the beginning of the pandemic as the frequency of activities like visiting with friends and family in person, doing volunteer work, attending religious services, and talking with neighbors have declined, the study’s findings indicate. And despite struggles with mental health and isolation, more report that their use of mental health services has declined (34%) than increased (6%).

In addition to the increasing use of technology to socialize, more older adults are using video chat, email, and other technology to receive health care remotely, say the researchers, noting that 63% have used telehealth at some point during the pandemic, up from 56% who had used it as of March 2021. Fifty-1% users expect to continue using it once the pandemic is over, too.

Still, adults age 50 and older are more optimistic than pessimistic that they will be able to fully return to their pre-pandemic activities in the next year, though 17% have already done so.

The results of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research can be found in “Long-Term Care in America: Coronavirus Worries and Social Isolation among Older Adults,” released on Sept. 2021.

Nursing facilities gear up for October vaccination deadline

Published in RI News Today on September 20, 2021

Over a month ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to public health practitioners and clinicians about the urgent need to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage across the United States to prevent surges in new infections that could increase COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality, overwhelm health care capacity, and widen existing COVID-19-related health disparities.

According to the July 27 Health Advisory, there is growing medical evidence that the Delta variant is at least twice as contagious as the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is reported that most cases of COVID-19 hospitalizations and death are in unvaccinated people; however, there are breakthrough infections in vaccinated people because of the surge of infections among the unvaccinated. This is a particular concern in nursing homes, where vaccinated residents are infected by unvaccinated staff.

The Biden Administration announced plans in August to require COVID-19 vaccinations for nursing home staff as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee, along with other states’ leadership, took similar steps to protect nursing home residents by requiring all healthcare staff to be vaccinated and the new federal mandate will ensure consistent and equitable standards throughout the country. At a COVID-19 update held at the state capitol in early August, McKee called for the new vaccine mandate (as a term of employment) to take effect.

COVID Cases Rise in Rhode Island Nursing  Homes

Coronavirus continues to increase in nursing homes, warns AARP Rhode Island in a statement issued on September 17. According to the latest data from AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard, in the four weeks ending August 22, resident cases increasing from 0.05 to 0.34 per 100 residents and staff cases increasing from 0.11 to 0.88 per 100 residents since the mid-July report.

Nationally, cases are concentrated among the unvaccinated, and those residents were three times as likely to contract COVID-19 last month compared to residents who are fully vaccinated.

The last eight months have shown vaccines to be the most effective tool in preventing COVID-19 related deaths, says AARP Rhode Island’s statement. There were modest increases in vaccination rates during this four-week period, with 92% of Rhode Island Nursing Home residents and 76% of staff fully vaccinated as of August 22.

“This month’s dashboard underscores why all staff and residents in long-term care facilities must be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director, Catherine Taylor. “For unvaccinated nursing home residents, their risk of an infection is back up to the levels we saw a year ago. Too many people in Rhode Island who lived and worked in nursing facilities have died from COVID-19, and no one wants to see that tragedy repeated,” said Taylor.

The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard also found over a 300% increase in RI nursing homes reporting an urgent need for PPE in the period ending August 22, with almost 10% of facilities in Rhode Island reporting they did not have sufficient PPE.

Nursing Facilities Struggling to Maintain Adequate Staffing

While the Rhode Island Health Care Association supports Governor McKee’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations across the health care continuum, says John E. Gage, President and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, representing 64 of the 77 nursing facilities in the Ocean State, nursing homes are struggling to maintain their staffing levels to meet the state’s direct care requirements, but many are struggling to maintain that level, he says, noting that next month’s deadline requiring nursing facility staff will further strain the already “precarious staffing crisis in the state’s nursing facilities”.

Gage noted that the state’s Department of Health has surveyed facilities this week regarding the number of staff that will be unable to enter facilities in two weeks because they are unvaccinated. “It is reported that nursing facilities will lose 7% of their workforce – 706 staff of 10,137 in the workforce across all disciplines,” says Gage, noting that 495 out of the 706 are clinical staff members.

According to Gage, “Rhode Island nursing facilities are ranked the fourth best state for resident vaccinations and fifth best state for staff vaccination rates in the country. He notes, when taking a look at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data released last week, in Rhode Island 92.65% of residents are fully vaccinated compared to 84.1% nationwide. As to staff, 78.99% of Rhode Island’s nursing facility staff are fully vaccinated compared to 63.7% nationwide.

Gage says, “The vaccine mandate will further add to the challenge of staff retention and recruitment. We are facing the implementation of a minimum staffing mandate to take effect 1/1/22. There’s not adequate staff available to hire, and the legislature did not provide for adequate funding to achieve the upcoming mandate”. 

Finally, Gage notes that while visitation is currently open at Rhode Island nursing facilities there are many factors that make it difficult to stop the spread of COVID-19 from staff to residents. “Our staff are members of each and every community in Rhode Island  They interact with others outside of work who may or may not be vaccinated, and many have children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination. To further complicate matters, there are breakthrough cases among those who are fully vaccinated, especially now with the prevalence of the Delta variant,” says Gage.

“Rhode Island facilities will continue to take all steps necessary to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 infections,” says Gage, noting that vaccinations are the key to eradicating this pandemic, together with the proper use of personal protective equipment.  

The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard analyzes federally reported data in four-week periods going back to June 1, 2020. Using this data, the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the dashboard to provide snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, with the goal of identifying specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner.

The full Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard is available  www.AARP.org/nursinghomedashboard, and an AARP story about this month’s data is available here. For more information on how COVID is impacting nursing homes and AARP’s advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes.