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Home My WebLink About2007-01-27 Board of Selectmen PacketPage 1 of 1 Schena, Paula From: Hechenbleikner, Peter Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:55 AM To: Schena, Paula Cc: LeLacheur, Bob Subject: FW: Nurse Advocacy Program Paula - List Board of Selectmen Copy for Sat budget meeting Bob. P From: GEO LONERGAN JR [mailto:gelonergan@verizon.net] Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:48 AM To: Reading - Selectmen Subject: Nurse Advocacy Program As a 46 year resident of Reading,former Town Meeting member,recovering cancer patient,I strongly support the final recomendations of the Task Force..As an observer at the Hospital Trust/Task Force meeting and a number of the Task Force meetings the proposal as presented is professional and financially equitable recognizing the real needs of the senior population and their families. George E.Lonergan,Jr. Q-1 1/24/2007 Page 1 of 2 Schena, Paula From: LeLacheur, Bob Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 4:06 PM To: Schena, Paula Subject: FW:. nurse adovacy position FYI From: Hechenbleikner, Peter Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:41 PM To: LeLacheur, Bob Subject: FW: nurse adovacy position For Saturday supplemental budget info. P From: pkoppelp@comcast.net [mailto:pkoppelp@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:53 AM To: Reading - Selectmen Cc: Bonazoli, James Subject: nurse adovacy position Camile, Steve, Ben and Rick- As the FY08 budget process is beginning, I wanted to personally make a strong appeal for funding the nurse advocate position in the Huinan/Elder Sei vices Department. I am aware that this year, as in previous years, the requests for funding out pace the town's revenue and that this makes for many difficult decisions. It is with this awareness that the Nurse Advocacy Task Force has made a very reasonable request for funding. This request is based on a quantified need within our conununity and will establish an important resource for our town's elders and allow us to pro-actively address the aging needs of our community. As I lazow you are aware, the dollars requested are significantly less then had been championed at a previous town meeting and appropriately reflect what is being funded in two neighboring communities (Winchester and Andover). I am pleased that a request for funding this position during FY07 has also been added to the Special February Town Meeting Warrant. It is critical that we move forward with this program as soon as possible. Although Community Parish Nursing (CPN) closed six months ago, I feel the community's responsiveness to the concept of "neighbor helping neighbor" is still quite vital. The sooner we establish the town's nurse advocacy program the better chance we have to leverage this remaining commitment among Reading's residents--both for volunteer support and possible funding. Most importantly, the more quickly we get the program started, the better chance we have of preventing premature nursing home placements and unriecessaiy disability among those residents previously supported by CPN or who would have received their support. While I sense that there is never a good time to increase town staffing and fully appreciate Reading's ability to remain "lean" in it's overhead and administrative expenses, I also believe in the town's responsibility to meet the needs of its residents especially those who are more vulnerable. The town has made major financial cominitments during the 15 years I have been a resident of Reading to our young 6..Z/ 1/26/2007 Page 2 of 2 families and my children have benefited. Now it is time to address well identified needs of another segment of our population--the frail elders. If there are any lingering questions in your mind, I am more then happy to address these via email or a phone call. I know the budget process is time consuming and for this reason decided to reach out to you initially by email rather than a phone call. I would greatly appreciate an indication of how you stand regarding funding for the nurse advocate both in FY07 and 08. To this end, if I have not yet spoken to you personally, I would really appreciate a quick response from you. Thanks so much for your ongoing commitment to the town of Reading. Paula Koppel 60 Lilah Lane 944-3262 tCL- 1/26/2007 READING HOUSING AUTHORITY 22 Frank D. Tanner Drive Reading, MA 01867 (781) 944-6755 FAX (781) 944-6875 January 4, 2007 Chairman Benjamin Tafoya Board of Selectmen Town of Reading Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867 Dear Mr. Tafoya, Having served on the Nurse Advocacy Task Force was a pleasure. My fellow members were truly interested in the best interests of their hometown and of the elders in their community. Each of them brought their own experiences, both personal and professional, to each meeting. Our presentation to the Board was our best effort to present the facts to you. There was no doubt in our minds that there is a need for a nurse advocate to come on board, to assist the many frail elders who reside in our Town and tend to fall between the bureaucratic cracks in the system. We did all that the Board of Selectmen asked us to do before making our final presentation to you in early December. I would be remiss in not pointing out that I was somewhat disappointed with-the outcome of that meeting. Although I was not present, I certainly read the newspaper article that appeared after and caught up with the meeting notes and comments. I was somewhat confused by the corrunents; especially those related to this years potential budget and whether a nurse was necessary since CPN indicated they had ended their medical advocacy within their program and was focusing on "a neighbor caring for neighbor" approach. Relative to a neighbor caring for neighbor philosophy, that should remain regardless of whether or not a wonderful organization like Community Parish Nursing existed or not. We should all hope, that in time of need, that "caring" saves or betters a person's life. I can attest to the fact that despite the disbanding of CPN and the change in the projected philosophy of that organization during its fight for survival, medical advocacy for those seniors who were being served at that time by CPN indeed continued. The nurses working with Community Parish Nursing stayed voluntarily with their clients through times of medical crisis, placement in a skilled facility or, unfortunately their subsequent death. As Director of our small community at Tannerville, I was extremely thankful to their continued dedication to provide a much-needed service. Without their expertise, direction and intervention, those seniors would have been left alone to deal with situations that were beyond their abilities. Unfortunately, no new clients are currently being helped in that way now that CPN has officially closed its doors, however, a great need still lingers. ' a L[ Having a large concentrated segment of seniors housed in buildings within shouting distance of my office window, I can most definitely say that the Housing Authority is once again experiencing a change amongst our residents who are in need of help. We had five residents (6%) transported to hospitals in one recent weekend. These residents do receive limited services but not enough to properly evaluate their true medical needs and thus avoid this type of crisis situation. The home care worker assigned to do an hour of laundry and the service provider who drops a meal off at the door is not trained to notice an increase in blood pressure of one client, or the difficulty another resident has to breathe or the fact that Mrs. Smith is not taking her medications properly. If they were nursing advocates, then maybe these five residents could have remained at home and a crisis situation could have been averted. Almost 37% of our residents at Tannerville receive some type of services in order to remain in place. Of late, I have personally made new referrals for another 10% of our residents to local agencies on their behalf with the hope that even limited services will be beneficial to them and possibly delay, but not prevent a crisis situation. I do support the premise that something is better than nothing is. However, be aware, that most of the services being done have little to do with addressing their true medical needs. As Director of an independent living community it is not my job to advise or evaluate a resident's needs or coax a senior into accepting help, but I do get involved because I sincerely care about their well being. I have already noticed a change in gaps of services for seniors; lack of funding statewide for all service agencies, lack of communication between existing agencies, overload on existing personnel delays initial assessments and screening. In addition, there is a higher level of need criteria that must be met by our seniors in order to be served. Where does that leave us? STALEMATE. Our seniors give up and go it alone and as best they can. What a sad state of affairs for those folks and I can assure you, they exist. All of these factors are resulting in a step backwards once again in our endeavors to care for our frail seniors. If ever there is a time and a need to address this issue, it is now. As it pertains to budget issues, I certainly cannot persuade the Town to add personnel, change job descriptions or suggest a sharing of this much needed position. However, one of the last things the task force did was meet with the Town's top financial staff to discuss the financial options and potential impact of adding a new position for the role of nurse advocate for our seniors. As a result of that long meeting, we were very hopeful and encouraged by the support expressed by Town staff members that now was a good time to propose adding a stiff member to the budget. Managing our budgets is a problem for all of us. Creative measures are often looked at or used as a limited tool in addressing the needs and wants of our town residents and the overall community during the budget process. It is a tool I use when approaching my budget needs for the Housing Authority. All I can ask is that our Town not be remiss when considering the needs of our frail citizens. It is time to support the addition of a nurse advocate position when addressing the overall concerns for our community during your upcoming fiscal budget process. Lyn E. Whyte, PHM Executive Director -ING Of S ,T ,E -FOR Iw DO ARD ~ G T'111~~ n cam, nA ._J {fee _ J; Joy sties f