World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is commemorated every June 15. This year, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) at University of California, Irvine is asking people from all over the country to email brief video clips which will be used to create a video public awareness message about elder abuse.   Video clips can tell stories about abuse or can tell why you “stand for dignity, but will not stand for elder abuse.” The deadline for submissions is April 27, 2012.

For more information, visit NCEA’s website.

Back to top

The National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) announced a funding opportunity for aging organizations. The initiative, called “What’s Working,” is asking aging organizations to share their effective practices within their volunteer programs. Two statewide programs will be selected as recipients, receiving $12,000-$25,000 in funding. Local programs are also eligible for funding. The deadline to submit is April 20, 2012. 

For more information, visit NASUAD’s website.

Back to top

The National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) is holding a webinar on April 17^th entitled Advocacy in Washington: Community and Social Change. The webinar, led by NSCLC Executive Director Paul Nathanson, will cover the arenas you need to be aware of in terms of picking an issue, influencing public policy, how interest groups work, techniques that work and how to define success.

Advocacy in Washington: Community and Social Change
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
2:00pm-3:30pm EST

Back to top

A new study found that black nursing home residents have lower flu vaccination rates than their white counterparts. The study found that over three consecutive flu seasons (2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09), the odds of being vaccinated were 14-16 percent lower for blacks than for whites within the same facility.

Researchers also found that nursing homes with high proportions of black residents had lower vaccination rates for both blacks and whites than did facilities with lower proportions of black residents. Since these facilities generally have a high proportion of Medicaid residents, they have less revenue. The researchers suggest that low revenue, insufficient staffing, and poor-quality performance may all contribute to the lower vaccination rates in these facilities.

For more information about this issue, read the full article on the study.

 Back to top

NORC has recently released a final report from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Strategy Session conducted by the Ombudsman Resource Center in December. Consumer Voice (through NORC) received a supplemental grant last fall from the Administration on Aging to pull together a daylong working Strategy Session to discuss a range of challenging issues faced by State and Local Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs. A group of about 25 individuals, all experts on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program or the field of Aging came together in December to discuss and provide recommendations (when possible) on the issues of The Office of Ombudsman (as included in the Older Americans Act); Conflict of Interest related to Ombudsman Program Placement; Conflict of Interest related to Individual Ombudsman Roles and Responsibilities; Systemic Advocacy; LTC Ombudsman Services to Residents; and Ombudsman Training.

For each of these issues, there is a need for additional guidance from AOA. This project was supported by AOA as they look at obtaining input on needed guidance and determine opportunities through which they can provide necessary guidance.

The contents of the report were shared with AOA Assistant Secretary Kathy Greenlee and other AOA staff at an in-person meeting in mid-December. The final report was submitted to AOA and shared with the workgroup participants. It will also be sent to the State and Local Ombudsmen.

 Back to top

Brian Lee, Executive Director of citizen advocacy organization Families for Better Care, was recently quoted in a Senior Housing News article. Despite recent nursing home earnings reports for publicly traded nursing homes showing them to be “highly profitable,” resident care remains “mediocre at best.”

“The industry’s analysts framed the Medicare adjustment as an eventual doomsday for the nation’s nursing home market. But the industry’s own reports show quite the opposite, revealing surging revenues, strong profits, and expansion through acquisitions,” said Lee in a statement. “The industry is wallowing in strong profits while failing to consistently provide quality care.”

 Back to top