ELF News Archives

July 2006

- Nursing homes with unblemished records are rare -

Of 16,437 Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes nationwide, just 314 — fewer than 2 percent — have been violation free for the last four years

Gannett News Service 7/27

- Elderly Abused at 1 in 3 Nursing Homes -

30 percent of nursing homes in the United States — 5,283 facilities — were cited for almost 9,000 instances of abuse over a recent two-year period, from January 1999 to January 2001.

ABC News 7/27

- Nursing Homes can be a Conveyor Belt to Hell -

Our world is such a goofy and wonderful place, full of oddities and eccentricities, and enriched with idiosyncratic and rather bizarre people, places and things we call life. But there is a group of people who don't have access to this fantastic rainbow of strangeness that we take for granted. This group would love to be a part, even a smidgen, of what's going on. They are the elderly, the folks who are often homebound and alone, needing companionship, wishing for a friend and always praying that a cherished relationship will come to their door.

AXcessNews.com 7/25

- Pension crisis—another corporate swindle -

You walk into your bank to withdraw cash. The teller says: “You have nothing in your account.” You thought you had money in there. But you don’t. The bank took your money to invest or to pay debts. Or they just wanted it for themselves. That’s what is happening to millions of workers who won pensions (deferred wages), sometimes in contract negotiations...

Workers World 7/25

- Medicare's 'doughnut hole' is about to trap millions -

Thousands — one estimate says 77,000 — of upstate New Yorkers are about to plunge into the hole designed as part of the Medicare prescription drug benefit to save the government billions but hurt the most vulnerable elderly, those with the highest drug costs.

Democrat and Chronicle 7/25

- Unique Long Term Care Locator Service Matches Seniors with Caregivers -

The U.S. Census in 2000 was a wake-up call for the long term care industry: Get ready for skyrocketing numbers of senior citizens, living longer and looking for services to help them during their later years.

PRB Web 7/24

- Firms holding on to elder boomers -

Baby boomers are starting to head into their 60s, and many expect to keep working well past the point when their parents retired. So, small businesses that depend on boomer employees aren't anticipating an exodus in the next few years.

Philadelphia Inquirer 7/24

- Checks find 1,000 felons in nursing homes -

Newly required criminal background checks have identified nearly 1,000 convicted felons living in Illinois nursing homes, and state officials expect that number will go up once all the checks are finished.

Chicago Sun-Times 7/24

- Migrants seen as remedy for ageing -

AUSTRALIANS' opposition to migration has softened markedly in the Howard years, in part because we fear the consequences of an ageing population, a new analysis says.

Sydney Morning Herald 7/23

- Mobility Key to Keeping Seniors Out of Nursing Homes -

A new study shows that mobility is one thing that can help keep senior citizens out of nursing homes. According to a report from the American Journal of Public Health, when older people stop driving, they're more likely to also stop living independently.

WLNS 7/21

- 1,000 felons live in Illinois nursing homes -

Background checks required by a new state law have found 1,000 convicted felons—including 60 sex offenders—living at Illinois nursing homes.

Chicago Tribune 7/21

- Long-term care loophole -

A loophole in the FSA rules for long-term care advice will leave elderly clients with the wrong recommendations from under-qualified advisers, according to Symponia.

FT Adviser 7/20

- Author opposes more nursing homes -

Workshops in Hawaii emphasize homelike settings for elder care

Star Bulletin 7/20

- Elder abuse is more than a family matter -

The years of one’s life after reaching 60 are often referred to as the “golden years.” Unfortunately, for some seniors, those years are anything but golden as a result of elder abuse.

Catholic Explorer 7/20

- We'd better care about long-term care -

If the government wants to spare taxpayers some of the expense of caring for the frail elderly, the government needs to make it easier for younger Americans to buy insurance to help cover the high cost of long-term care.

Star News 7/20

- Spreading awareness about elderly abuse -

In honor of Elder Abuse Month, local agencies are trying to break the silence about a growing trend. Local volunteers spent the day visiting area businesses, passing out silver ribbons and cards which outline ways people can help eliminate elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.

19 Online 7/19

- Women Bear Greater Share of Long Term Care Risks and Costs -

They have 60% greater chance than men of entering a nursing home

- Estimates suggest there are around 23 million unpaid care providers in the U.S. Seven in ten are women.
- Nearly one in five unpaid caregivers (19 percent) in America provide "constant care" of at least 40 hours of care per week. Of those who provided constant care, 80 percent are women.
- Women 65 years or older today have a 44 percent chance of entering a nursing home at some point in their lives compared to 27 percent of men.

Senior Journal 7/19

- Healthier Nursing Homes, Part 3: Resident involvement improves life -

Freedom, participation help those living in nursing homes.

South Bend Tribune 7/19

- Alzheimer’s Disease: Best Hope Are Dietary Supplements -

Would somebody kindly provide Charlton Heston a resveratrol pill? Or maybe some folic acid, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, carnitine or the Chinese herbal called huperzine.

Lew Rockwell 7/17

- Elder abuse on the rise -

Reports of elder abuse have risen dramatically over the past two years, and officials at Ethos said they don't expect them to drop off anytime soon.

TownOnline 7/17

- Diagnosing a sick nursing facility -

Bad surveys and bad-news stories about a nursing home can throw off its staff morale, he says. They can stab at the hearts of staff members — some of them single moms who labor as nursing assistants, starting at $7.50 to $9 an hour.

South Bend Tribune 7/17

- Author opposes more nursing homes -

The answer to patients who are hospitalized because of a nursing bed shortage, he said, "is to make your home- and community-based services more robust."

Star Bulletin 7/17

- Alzheimer's Researchers Study Patients' Brains -

Medical researchers say they are beginning to observe Alzheimer's disease as it progresses by producing some of the first pictures of the physical changes that take place in the brains of living adults.

Bloomberg 7/17

- The Welfare State's Attack on the Family -

So was the rule everywhere before the welfare state: your parents who took care of you financially as a child — you may need to help them in the future. This basic element of family life seems to be mind-boggling to supporters of the welfare state. Proponents of the welfare state constantly speak about our responsibility to society through redistributionist taxes.

Mises 7/16

- Complexity in long-term care coverage -

A new study confirms that middle-aged workers planning for retirement are paralyzed by long-term care insurance policies that are complex and impossible to compare. Baby boomers with elderly parents already have been hit with sticker shock at the high cost of assisted-living or nursing homes, which can cost $69,000 a year, mostly paid out of pocket, said study author Bonnie Burns of California Health Advocates.

Health/Medical News 7/14

- Nursing homes seen deficient on basic care -

Tens of thousands of nursing home residents must be sent to the hospital each year because of a breakdown in basic medical care at the facilities, specialists say, a scenario that exposes frail elderly people to unnecessary trauma and illness.

Boston.Com 7/14

- Retirement villages are 'a lifestyle choice' -

The retirement village, which is estimated to have 250 housing units, would target the mass market, he said... "It's not a high-end development, people who have money already have more lifestyle options," he said. "We're looking at retired professionals who can spend $300,000 on a unit, and still have enough savings to live on."... Whether this idea will have any takers remains to be seen.

TodayOnline 7/14

- Australia considers intergenerational nursing homes -

It used to be the social norm - children playing with their grandparents and learning from their elders. But the size and mobility of the modern family means that many children aren't in regular contact with anyone older than their parents, while many elderly people sit isolated in nursing homes craving contact. Overseas, the trend in modern care is to put the generations together. Research from the US shows these intergenerational programs benefit both young and old.

7.30 Report 7/14

- Housing units boost for aged -

The growing number of elderly Hunter residents suffering physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse has come under the spotlight at a public forum at Maitland.

MaitlandYourGuide 7/14

- Giving care to the caregivers -

Nationally, more than 44 million Americans are caring for an older adult family member or friend, according to a joint study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP in 2004.

Kansas City Star 7/11

- Assisted-living facility gets technology assist -

As the United States' 79 million baby boomers grow older, the nation is about to hit a caregiver crisis, says Andrew Carle, director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Baxter Bulletin 7/11

- Venture firm buys stock of assisted living sites operator -

"Brandywine is pleased to have found such an excellent partner in Warburg Pincus with its tremendous experience in both the health-care and real estate sectors, as well as a proven ability to help companies grow...

Business Journal 7/11

- Elder abuse rises 16 percent: Seniors likely not to report incidents -

In 2004, Adult Protective Services investigated 461,135 total reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse for persons of all ages in 49 states. That is a 16 percent increase over the 396,398 investigations in 2000.

NewsZap 7/10

- SOCIAL SECURITY- SECURITY OR INSECURITY? -

The plain and harsh truth is most have been led to believe that the current system is a retirement program funded with segregated entrusted assets, the integrity of which is guaranteed and backed by the U.S. government... The debate about whether there is a Social Security cash flow crisis in 2017 or 2042 also turns on whether those "bonds" have any value. The basic assumption is that the "bonds" in the fictitious trust fund somehow have value either for the U.S. or for workers and their families. They do not!

FMNN 7/07

- Health care made harder to get -

Starting this month, when you apply for Medicaid, take your passport along with you. Thanks to federal legislation passed in February, if you need health insurance, you're going to have to work hard to prove you're a citizen.

Seattle PI 7/07

- Ohio looking for more assisted-living homes for seniors -

Few assisted-living centers in Ohio are participating so far in a new program in which the state pays for the care of senior citizens who don't want to live in nursing homes but need too much help to stay in their homes.

AP Wire 7/07

- Family members should carefully research nursing homes -

It is a sad but true fact that neglect and abuse of the elderly at nursing homes is becoming too common an occurrence. Whether it be neglect due to understaffing, sexual abuse by staff, theft by caregivers or verbal mistreatment and abuse of senior citizens by those charged with taking care of them happens too often

Naperville Sun 7/07

- Turning grey power into profits -

Investment bankers are scrambling to snap up aged-care operators and turn them into listed property trusts...Nursing homes and hostels that were once run by not-for-profit organisations, such as the Salvation Army, could soon have investment bankers as managers and shareholders looking for returns in the form of capital growth and dividends.

SMH 7/06

- Agency concerned about elder abuse -

Reports of elder abuse have climbed over the past three years, from 686 in fiscal 2004, to 1,101 in fiscal 2005, followed by 1,232 in FY06, with one week yet to go in the current year.

TownOnline 7/06

- The pain of long-term care -

Until the Government comes up with a fairer way of providing long-term care, most of us will have to foot the bill for ourselves or our parents. Teresa Hunter examines what we can do to best meet this severe financial and emotional challenge

Telegraph 7/05

- Retirement not so super for boomer women -

Most baby boomers are unable to afford a comfortable retirement and only a lucky few have enough money to support even a modest lifestyle.

West Australian 7/05

- No cure in sight for Medicare, Medicaid -

If a local company lost $90 million on a deal, I would expect big headlines, maybe even a front-page story in The Press.

Grand Rapids Press 7/05

- Housing units boost for aged -

The growing number of elderly Hunter residents suffering physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse has come under the spotlight at a .public forum at Maitland.

Maitland Mercury 7/04

- GE agrees to buy 186 nursing homes -

The properties, contained in six senior housing portfolios, comprise 21,000 beds with an average occupancy rate of 90 percent, the company said last week. Half of the properties are in Florida, with the rest in 20 other states.

Journal Gazette 7/04

- Elder abuse rises 16 percent: Seniors likely not to report incidents -

A publication by The National Research Council estimates that between one and two million Americans 65 or older were injured, exploited or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.

Newszap 7/04

Return to News