Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you today about Long Term Care. My name is Gina Germany, and I am co-owner of Touching Hearts Senior Care in Mobile, AL. This position allows me to work with the elderly population and their families every day.
What I have learned… Our society is in denial when it comes to aging. We spend millions trying to avoid looking like we have grown older. Sooner or later, however, we have to deal with aging, particularly when it affects our parents. This raises the issue of elder care and long term care. Most people view life as a simple time line. You are born, your parents raise you, you become an adult and then you raise your own family. Most people do not factor in the subject of caring for their parents, nor plan for their retirement. When it becomes a necessity, it can be a huge wake up call from a financial, emotional and practical point of view.
I want to tell you a short story about an 80 year old man who was placed in a nursing home with a number of aliments. He had been in the hospital for 3 days and then transferred to a nursing home for rehab (which would last 21 days). Because of his terminal illnesses, he should have been put on hospice services. When I met his wife she was overwhelmed with all the information about Medicare, Medicaid, long-term insurance, and VA benefits, but the one thing that upset her the most was the quality of care her husband was receiving. She told me he was repeatedly left in his own feces for hours, even after he pulled the call switch. He should have been receiving physical therapy, but not once did a therapist see him and the facility charged his Medicare insurance for PT visits. This was a man who was not a millionaire, but had planned for a respectable retirement and had good insurance and plenty of money to pay for quality care. His wife told me that she was working with an elder law attorney who advised her to spend down their money to less than $2,000 to qualify for Medicaid – which would make them destitute. After listening and doing a complete assessment of the situation, I asked them both what they wanted to do. Their answer was to go home. I told them we could help them do that and within 24 hours the man was home with hospice services and caregivers in place, saving them almost $2,000 per month and receiving one on one care with his very own caregiver. This is just one example of the kind of situation our elderly population is faced with and how our Medicaid is being tasked. I see it over and over. I could tell you more stories, but I think you get the idea.
Due to funding cuts in public programs, the lack of consistent information, and the demands of our aging population, we have to focus on: 1) Educating our elderly and their adult children by providing consistent information about resources available at the community level. 2) To also educate our elderly and their adult children on disease prevention and health promotion. 3) Developing, identifying and supporting services that assist an elderly person to “Age in Place”.
The strategy, which has evolved out of the Project 2020 builds on the promise of home and community based services and will also generate significant savings for federal and state governments.
The three components of the project are:
EDUCATION
By making information readily available, our seniors and their caregivers will be empowered to make informed decisions about services that will affect their lives. Caregivers need to be educated on taking care of themselves to avoid burnout. Educating our seniors to plan early in their lives for retirement and their health care, as well as educating our young people while they have the time to make a future plan.
DISEASE PREVENTION AND HEALTH PROMOTION
Through this component, individuals will receive services by the Aging Services Network at the community level in areas such as fall prevention, physical activities, nutrition, chronic disease management and medication management.
NURSING HOME DIVERSION SERVICES
Eligible individuals will receive intense case management through the single point of entry system (Aging & Disability Resource Centers). This program component will provide prescreened individuals who will receive case management that will coordinate personalized services and support to allow them to “Age In Place”. Some of the services provided will be: Home-delivered meals, homemaker services, personal care, medical transportation, home modification, assistive technology and adult day care and more. Analysis has shown that by implementing these three components across the country, and utilizing the existing activities of the State Units on Aging (SUAs) and Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) while targeting the population in need, it will cost less in the aggregate than if the aging services community maintains the current patchwork approach to services. I am confident the strategy of Project 2020 is a good start to help our aging population and their family members understand what is necessary to retire with dignity and “Age In Place”. The estimated gross federal savings for the program over five years totals $2.7 billion!!!, with over 40 million served.
I ask that the state advocate for the passage of federal legislation, policies and funding to support Project 2020. And while we await a federal response, I ask that the state use its resources to support this model, including providing resources to the Area Agency on Aging serving the large metro areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties. Additional funds are needed to strengthen Information and Referral services, and become a fully operational Aging and Disability Resource Center.
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