We are launching a new “Tell YOUR Story” tool that will enable residents, families, ombudsmen, and those who work with them tell their story about nursing home or assisted living care.
The form is available on our website at https://nursinghome411.org/tell-your-story/.
One can fill out the form on the website, download it to fill out on a computer or phone, or print out a hard copy to mail in. All personal identifying information is kept confidential unless the individual provides specific permission otherwise.
Stories about resident care can have an enormous impact on advocacy for better care and dignity. We would appreciate any help you can provide in getting the word out and passing this along!
Other news from LTCCC…All of these resources are free to use and share. If you would like to sign up for future updates and alerts, please email info@LTCCC.org.
- Dementia Care & Antipsychotic Drugging.
- We have just published the latest antipsychotic drugging rates for all U.S. nursing homes and citations for inappropriate drugging. Sadly, recent data indicate that drugging rates are no longer going down! https://nursinghome411.org/learning-center/dementia-care-antipsychotic-drugging/ [Please note that some facilities with a low resident population are not included in these data.]
- Safe Staffing.
- We recently published the staffing levels for all U.S. nursing homes in easy-to-use files. Staffing is critical to quality, yet too many nursing homes have insufficient staffing. For the first time, these files include city and county information, to make searching for your nursing home, or those in your community, even easier. https://nursinghome411.org/nursing-home-data-information/staffing/
- Resident & Family Councils.
- We have issued a new Issue Alert on family and resident council rights, https://nursinghome411.org/ltccc-issue-alert-resident-family-councils/ and have launched our new Family & Ombudsman Resource Center, https://nursinghome411.org/families-ombudsmen/.
- Webinars on Quality of Care & Resident-Centered Advocacy.
- Please join us for our next free “lunch-and-learn” program on November 20 at 1pm Eastern. Topic: Making Your Voice Heard in the Nursing Home… and Beyond. https://nursinghome411.org/upcoming-webinars-nursing-home-care-resident-centered-advocacy/
- New Report on Assisted Living: Promising Policies and Practices. https://nursinghome411.org/ltccc-report-assisted-living-promising-policies-and-practices/
Sincerely yours, Richard
Richard J. Mollot, Executive Director
The Long Term Care Community Coalition
One Penn Plaza, Suite 6252
New York, NY 10119
Phone: 212-385-0355
www.nursinghome411.org
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The short answer to "How do criminals steal from the elderly?" is "by phone, mostly." And new phone-based payment services that let you send money to others without even leaving your house make it crucial that you remember this key survival rule: MONEY NEVER CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE. And if you think you've found the exception to this rule, call an attorney or a trusted friend with good sense to discuss the offer before you do ANYTHING that the caller suggests. If you have truly found the exception to the rule, it'll wait for you to conduct a thorough investigation. If you feel ANY pressure to seize the opportunity at all, that's the clearest sign of all that it's a SCAM. Remember, the phone and internet means just one thing for sure: Every criminal in the entire world is just one click or phonecall away from you. In years past, you pretty much only did business with people nearby; now you can be ripped off by someone from a country you can't even pronounce just as easily as by someone who calls you from a boiler-room scam operation in your own hometown. How Criminal Steal $37 billion a year from the elderly 
Today marks John Gear Law Office's fourth birthday.
I am very grateful to all the clients who have trusted me with their problems and given me the opportunity to help them find solutions. Thanks to your trust and confidence, I have been able to meet my primary practice goal: Making a modest living with a "values-based Oregon law practice" -- where "values-based" means I don't represent the folks trying to take advantage of others, my clients are the ones wronged by those who do. It's not the easiest area of law and it's definitely not the most lucrative, but I think it's the most satisfying. As the Mrs. works towards her M. Div. and ordination as a minister, I am able to have a practice that reflects, rather than conflicts with, the values of a ministry. ADRC is a FREE service to help people learn about public and privately paid options to address aging or disability needs, or to help families and caregivers. Anyone in Oregon can use the service for themselves or their families.  Saw a great comment today by a lawyer who is struggling hard to solve a very difficult (and, now, expensive) estate administration problem involving title to real property.
The problem was created by the now-deceased parents of his clients; those parents probably saved all of a few hundred bucks on lawyer fees by doing their own estate planning. The lawyer's comment: "You don't always get what you pay for, but you seldom get what you don't pay for."  Oregon Adds Statewide Abuse Reporting Line:
(855) 503-SAFE Today we are happy to announce that Oregon has added another option for reporting suspected abuse of children and vulnerable adults. All our regular local hotline and reporting numbers will continue to take reports as usual, but we have added a single statewide number that provides another way to make these important reports. Oregon's abuse reporting hotline for children and adults, (855) 503-SAFE [855-503-7233], is up and running, and it provides callers with the ability to report suspected child abuse, elder abuse, abuse of people with physical or developmental disabilities, and abuse of people with mental illness or those experiencing a mental health crisis. Callers will be directed that if the report is an emergency requiring immediate attention, to hang up and dial 911. If it is not an emergency, then callers will work through a simple phone tree to ensure their report gets to the right place for response, based on zip code and characteristics of the person they are calling about. Calls can be answered in English or Spanish. Once the calls are routed through the phone tree, they will be directed to local DHS or county offices for Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services, County Developmental Disability Programs (CDDP) or County Mental Health Programs (CMHP) for response. Not all areas of the state will have a live person to take reports after hours, and some locations will provide voicemail reporting options. All local hotline and reporting numbers will continue to take reports as usual, and the new line adds a single call option for those who want to use it. Oregon's abuse reporting hotline for children and adults is the result of two legislative workgroups, one on child welfare and one on elder abuse, which recommended a single hotline option to simplify reporting for Oregonians who are not familiar with the abuse reporting process. Mandatory reporters are often well aware of local reporting and hotlines and are responsible for most of the reports we receive. Citizens who may only make one or two calls in their lifetimes can be overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of agencies and numbers from which to choose. (855) 503-SAFE [855-503-7233] will solve that problem by providing a single phone number anyone can call from any community in Oregon!  I just had a call from a very nice person who needs caregivers around-the-clock, 365 days a year. One of these caregivers recently stole money from from my friend. My friend said it happened about six weeks ago, and that the person was no longer serving as a caregiver, so she was just going to let it go.
I had to explain to her why it was so important that she call the police: Because other people looking to hire caregivers are going to look at the home-care workers' registry and look at the results of the criminal background checks, and if she doesn't file a police report about the theft, this caregiver will appear to have both a lot of experience and no problems in her background. My friend felt uncomfortable; the caregiver is young, and my friend doesn't see herself as vindictive. Basically, she does not want to get the other person in trouble. But of course, it's not my friend who is responsible for the trouble — the thief did that. My friend needs to report to protect others from this person and ultimately to protect herself by making sure that the system for background checks is reliable and complete. Someone who will steal from a disabled person getting 24 hour care is not someone who should be able to find work as a caregiver for other vulnerable people. So you're not being kind by overlooking abuse or thefts like this. Consider what you're doing to the person's next victim. My friend was also concerned that, because it would be her word against the caregiver's, she would not be able to prove that the theft occurred. I made two points about that:
The situation is the same with nonprofits. Many times when nonprofits are ripped off, the tendency among the members as to keep it quiet and not make a big fuss about it. It's also very appealing for the board to say that they were partially at fault for allowing the thief to rip them off, and therefore they don't want the bad publicity to their organization etc. etc. The big problem with this logic is the same as in my friend's case: when crime victims don't report crimes, the criminals are allowed to find new victims and victimize them, because they have no reason to know about the person's past. So, uncomfortable as it is, if someone rips you off, don't make it your job to help them cover it up. If someone abuses you or steals from you, whether you are an individual or as part of an organization, call the police. Let the police and the court system make the decisions on prosecution and any punishment that might occur if warranted. Bottom line: don't help criminals victimize other people by failing to report past crimes. UPDATE: A helpful assistant attorney general points out: "Great points, John. You might also tell your friend and others that they can call the Medicaid Fraud Unit at the Oregon Department of Justice if the care occurs at home and the provider is paid by the State, or if the theft or financial exploitation occurred in a Medicaid-funded facility [note that nearly all nursing homes and assisted living facilities accept Medicaid funding - JMG] whether or not the victim is a Medicaid recipient." Thanks, AAG! You can reach the Medicaid Fraud Unit (MFU) at 971-673-1971. Good story to remind you of something crucial. Perhaps even more important than your will are all the designations you make over time that pass intangible property (financial accounts most often) outside the will. You should have a day every year where you review these -- the first business day after New Years or your birthday or wedding ( or divorce) anniversary ... Just so that every year you actually eyeball the names of the people who are slated to get the assets in those accounts should you die. There are many horror stories of what happens to survivors of people who fail to do this.
Sep11  DHS has a new, free handbook you can download HERE (pdf). If you are an elder thinking about having a family member provide your care, or if you're a family member who is or may someday be asked to provide care for a family elder or other family member with a disability, this is a worthwhile resource.
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AuthorJohn Gear is a Salem attorney in solo practice Categories
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