Cambridge and Somerville Elder Services Unlawfully Discriminates Against Elders With Disabilities, Misleads Public

Mr. Lamb the PR flack for CSESPS may be misleading the public. State law provides jurisdiction to his employer only for abuse by caregivers, relatives, spouses, intimate partners,  and housemates. Stranger abuse will not be stopped or investigated. The attorney, now director of CSESPS has a misguided notion of what constitutes unlawful discrimination based on disability. His employees refuse to provide services to elder persons unless they can prove they are not mentally ill. That suggests this taxpayer funded agency unlawfully denies service to persons with disabilities. It is not the only taxpayer funded agency with negligently trained employees who deny services unlawfully. This essay indicates the image varies greatly from the reality. Funds for a PR flack would be better spent training employees to include elders with disabilities as clients.



[From article]
it’s a problem that far too often goes unreported
[. . .]
10 percent of older adults experience some form of abuse each year — with less than 5 percent of those incidents reported to authorities.
[. . .]
Studies indicate that most abusers are family members or trusted care providers,
[. . .]
public often isn’t aware of how common elder abuse is.
[. . .]
Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES)
[. . .]
For us, the imperative is that people know what constitutes elder abuse, and that Protective Services is here to help, when it’s reported.
[. . .]
Nathan Lamb is director of outreach and community relations

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20160612/guest-column-preventing-elder-abuse/?Start=1

Guest column: Preventing elder abuse
By By Nathan Lamb
Posted Jun. 12, 2016 at 8:14 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Brooklyn, New York Landlord Liable for $3.3 million For Harassing Elder Tenants

Prospect Park Residence

Photo: AP

[From article]
The owner of a Brooklyn assisted living facility who came under fire for attempting to evict his elderly patrons — and allegedly trying to force them out through nefarious means — will have to shell out $3.35 million to the remaining tenants as part of a settlement agreement, a Brooklyn judge has ordered.
Prospect Park Residence owner Haysha Deitsch must now pay the remaining five nonagenarians still living in the once-lavish facility the bulk of the settlement in a series of installments.
If he doesn’t stick to the court’s payment schedule, the seniors get more time to move, and more money, said attorney Fred Millett.
The two-year legal saga began in March 2014 when Deitsch abruptly gave his patrons just three months to scram — allegedly so he could sell the lucrative real estate to a development company.
A number, fearing eviction, did move out — but seven tenants stood their ground and fought the order.
Originally dubbed “the Prospect Park 7” the remaining five will have to relocate by August 31st of this year. Two of the original plaintiffs have died over the course of the legal battle.
The tenants originally filed suit claiming the eviction went against their tenant agreements, and didn’t offer enough support for relocation.
Brooklyn Judge Wayne Saitta ordered that Deitsch keep the residence open during the case, but residents soon claimed he was feeding them rotten food, hiking rent, and depriving them of central air-conditioning during the hot summer months.
Deitsch even filed a $50 million countersuit in March of this year, claiming the residents were taking part in a “scheme” to obstruct his sale of the property.
The heft of the settlement will go the five still residing in the dilapidated 134-unit living facility, while a small portion will be given to 4 former residents who moved out under Deitsch’s threat of eviction but were still involved in the suit.
“It is definitely a win for our clients,” said attorney Fred Millet, who represented the plaintiffs. “With the settlement they were able to make plans to move elsewhere, and the money to make that happen.”
But the elderly and soon-to-be-homeless tenants will face some obstacles, the attorney said.
“The problem is there aren’t a lot of adult care facilities in Brooklyn,” he explained. “And while this settlement gives them the time and money to make the transition happen, a lot of these facilities are very expensive. Prospect Park residence was comparatively affordable, so that might make it more difficult.”
Millet says his firm and the plaintiffs will continue with their suit against the Department of Health, who green-lighted Deitsch’s original eviction plan.
Meanwhile, the whole payout will go to the seniors, as Millet and his firm represented them pro bono.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/01/forcing-elderly-out-will-cost-brooklyn-building-owner-millions/

Forcing elderly out will cost Brooklyn building owner millions
By Emily Saul
New York Post
June 1, 2016 | 4:01pm

Special Interest Group Leaders Represent Themselves

Taxpayer money is showered on illegal immigrants. Diverting that to elders would be remarkable. Excess of money, bureaucrats take from working men and women is appropriated based on effectiveness of lobbyists. Harvard University, e.g., has three full time lobbyists in Washington, D.C. Leadership of older American organizations e.g., AARP are run by elitists who work for themselves, as teachers union leaders and politicians do. Plenty of older Americans. But they are disorganized. Three wealthy and powerful victim groups focus on the interests of their leadership too, i.e., black racism lobby, homosexual lobby, and women. This column mentions the BLGTP faction of elders, and the ADA. Unlike the BLGTP lobby, persons with disabilities remain forgotten except during campaigns and budget deliberations. Politicians know they can fool enough people to get elected employing useful idiot journalists. Elder persons and disabled persons refuse to recognize the role of misguided journalists, who act more and more like politicians every day. Instead of whining get out there and embarrass those with taxpayer money and access to media. You can't change the world. But you can embarrass the guilty.



http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150725/NEWS/150728319

Growing Older column: Conference on Aging missed valuable opportunities
By Richard Griffin
Posted Jul. 25, 2015 at 9:00 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Nursing Homes Take Legal Control of Residents To Collect Fees

Photographs of the Palermos from the late 1960s. Mrs. Palermo, now 90, has been living at the nursing home since 2010. 

Credit Nina Bernstein/The New York Times
[From article]
Lillian Palermo tried to prepare for the worst possibilities of aging. An insurance executive with a Ph.D. in psychology and a love of ballroom dancing, she arranged for her power of attorney and health care proxy to go to her husband, Dino, eight years her junior, if she became incapacitated. And in her 80s, she did.
[. . .]
But one day last summer, after he disputed nursing home bills that had suddenly doubled Mrs. Palermo’s copays, and complained about inexperienced employees who dropped his wife on the floor, Mr. Palermo was shocked to find a six-page legal document waiting on her bed.
[. . .]
Hunter College researchers found more than 12 percent were brought by nursing homes. Some of these may have been prompted by family feuds, suspected embezzlement or just the absence of relatives to help secure Medicaid coverage. But lawyers and others versed in the guardianship process agree that nursing homes primarily use such petitions as a means of bill collection — a purpose never intended by the Legislature when it enacted the guardianship statute in 1993.
At least one judge has ruled that the tactic by nursing homes is an abuse of the law, but the petitions, even if they are ultimately unsuccessful, force families into costly legal ordeals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/nyregion/to-collect-debts-nursing-home-seizing-control-over-patients.html?_r=0

To Collect Debts, Nursing Homes Are Seizing Control Over Patients
By NINA BERNSTEIN

JAN. 25, 2015

Denying Care to Sick Elders

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_gawande

Letting Go

What should medicine do when it can’t save your life?

by Atul Gawande

New Yorker

Elders Abandoned by Relatives and Taxpayer Funded Corps.

Media hype drives legislation. Compared to deaths from medical negligence (90,000 annually), deaths caused by elder drivers are a minor problem. Don't tell journalists. Why are elder drivers with diminished motor skills driving alone? Where are their relatives if they have any? If not where are the taxpayer funded elder services corporations? What are these allegedly well-intentioned caring professionals doing with their taxpayer provided salaries? Why don't the caring professions help elders with their errands and transportation needs? Eagan focuses on a symptom of the illness which pervades American society--sending elders to the trash pile. Why do Americans abandon their parents? Why do taxpayer funded ($2 billion each year in MA) human services corporations ignore the simple needs of these citizens? The irrational response promoted by Eagan brings the police power of the state on these vulnerable people. Was common sense banished from MA?

http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1264262

Road-age crisis rages

Elder-driver law fails to tackle safety issue

By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Sunday, June 27, 2010

Emotions Rule Journalism?


Misguided priorities again. 90,000 Americans die each year due to medical negligence some as simple as doctors not washing their hands between patients. Why the focus on a negligible number of deaths by older drivers? Gelzinis never lets facts get in the way of his emotions. He tells us his father was a very careful driver. Then he says that older drivers need to have their licenses pulled. Huh? Why not test the bad drivers and and encourage the good drivers like his father? Poor or no logic in this column.

http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1179810

or

http://tinyurl.com/mjygft

Time for talking is over for old drivers
By Peter Gelzinis
Boston Herald
Friday, June 19, 2009 -

Attack the Weak Not the Powerful?


This is a misguided priority. (Margery Eagan, "Pols might finally be driven to act,"
Boston Herald, June 16, 2009) 90,000 people die each year from medical negligence, some as simple as not washing hands between patients. Why do journalists attack elders over 65? Why do they fear attacking medical professionals who kill 90,000 each year? Journalists attack the weak and protect the wealthy and powerful. Getting rid of self serving politicians alone will not suffice. New journalists are needed who will focus on keeping voter informed.

http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_06_16_Pols_might_finally_be_driven_to_act/

or

http://tinyurl.com/nlp832


Pols might finally be driven to act
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I'll Speak for Them

I'll Speak for Them

The Director of Cambridge and Somerville Elder Services (CSES), one of thousands of non profit corporations funded by taxpayers speaks for all elders. He thanks politicians for their largess with taxpayer funds. (John O'Neill, "Thanks to pols, elderly have a choice," Letter, Cambridge Chronicle, August 24, 2006) There is no questioning why relatives toss their parents and siblings into nursing homes. "I don't have time to care for the elderly."
The costs of caring for the elderly can be reduced by allowing them to live in their homes. It is cost effective to stop denying freedom and liberty to elderly persons. Institutionalized denial of freedom is acceptable in Cambridge where the best and the brightest live. "But it is cheaper to allow them their freedom!"
The best and the brightest say, "Groovy let's save money." There was never any concern by CSES employees that I ever spoke with about the basic rights of elder persons. Here, as with persons with disabilities, elder persons are considered a health care issue. Elder persons and persons with disabilities are thought of as clients, consumers, and subjects for human experiments.
Human services corporations are the largest contributors to the legislature's campaign funds. Professional care givers, drug companies, academic researchers, the human services corporations and all of their PR flacks, control the public discourse and how laws are written concerning how elders and persons with disabilities are to be treated. Who besides Mr. O'Neill denies to elders their voice to say what they want and to tell how they are treated? Are no elder persons capable of speaking in sentences?
Why are elders (and persons with disabilities) treated as if they were incompetent, ignorant and unable to speak? Is it because of the way that politicians think of them? "I don't want to be bothered speaking with elder persons. Is it campaign season? OK, then I'll go to their dinners. What are they serving?"


--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA

Thanks to pols, elderly have a choice As the executive director of Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services, I am intimately familiar with the problems facing older people and people living with disabilities. These groups face so many unnecessary hurdles in their attempts to get health care and other supportive services.
They must struggle with incomprehensible bureaucracies. They must shoulder exorbitant costs. To add insult to injury, they have to deal with outright discrimination that is written into law. I am happy to report, however, that because of the hard work of our local legislators, one of those hurdles has been removed.
For years, MassHealth has effectively forced people into nursing homes with a set of discriminatory rules which made it far more difficult to receive care at home. With the recent passage of Equal Choice legislation, this regrettable era is coming to an end. Older people and people with disabilities will now be able to choose the setting where they receive care. According to the Romney Administration, this will save the commonwealth $134 million in the first five years after implementation.
I am deeply thankful to the legislators who represent Cambridge. Without their unanimous support, Equal Choice would not be a reality: Senate President Robert Travaglini, Sens. Jarrett Barrios and Steven Tolman and Reps. Timothy Toomey, Byron Rushing, Martha Marty Walz, Alice Wolf, Rachel Kaprielian and Anne Paulsen.

JOHN O'NEILL Executive Director Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services