Families depend upon elder care facilities, nursing homes and hospitals to care for or treat elderly loved ones. Despite nearly 135,000 fatalities among residents and staff, new federal data states that only 55% of nursing home staff are vaccinated against COVID-19....
Recognizing the signs of elder abuse in care facilities
We are coming out of the pandemic here in 2021. One of the best parts of returning to normal activities is seeing and spending time with elderly loved ones. Many will likely note the changes that the parent or grandparent has gone through. Some may have been...
Brookdale nursing homes face lawsuit
The nursing home chain Brookdale Senior Living has more than 700 facilities nationwide, including five here in San Antonio. Unfortunately, there is now a lawsuit in the California Superior Court by the state’s Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, and other prosecutors...
Eldercare facilities providing less oversight for gov. support
The Quality Incentive Payment Program (QIPP) was designed to push elder care facilities to improve healthcare standards. The federal government-funded program did this by doling out more than $1 billion to the owners of 860 facilities, 540 owned by government...
What you need to do if you suspect nursing home abuse
Your father dutifully served in the military. A proud veteran who lived stateside and in Europe, he was among the role models in your life. During those years, he faced and dealt with many enemies. However, now, as a man who no longer can care for himself, he faces a...
Confusion in vaccine rollout making matters worse
There was a real sense of optimism in late-2020 as health and government officials talked about plans for the newly approved vaccines. Millions of people would get the shot and turn the tide on this deadly pandemic. One official from the Trump administration even...
Nearly 40% of COVID-related deaths occurring in eldercare facilities
The holidays were not a good time for the elderly. Even though some were able to see loved ones for the first time in months, there are widespread reports that morale in elder care facilities is low. Healthy staff members are exhausted by the ongoing crisis. Of...
Elderly not at the front of the line for vaccines
The world had some good news on December 8 when news organizations announced that a nurse administered the first COVID-19 vaccine to a patient who was not part of a clinical trial. In this case, it was a 90-year-old woman from Northern Ireland who received the...
Nursing home neglect can take many forms
One of the reasons that many people make the difficult decision to move an elderly loved one into a nursing home is that they are suffering from self-neglect. Self-neglect is especially prevalent among seniors who live alone. Why does self-neglect happen? Self-neglect...
Nursing home deaths surge
The COVID-19 virus continues to be a danger to the elderly. The total goes up every day, but more than 90,000 deaths took place in the country’s 15,000 long-care residencies. This pushes the staff, who also contract the disease at a higher rate, past their limits....
