Categories
Advocacy News Study Session

Study Session: Using Class Actions to Promote System Change

Steven Schwartz, Legal Director, Center for Public Representation, was the featured guest for a DignityMA Study Session on September 22, 2023. His topic is Using Class Actions to Promote System Change. Additional Information: Steven J. Schwartz currently is the Center’s Legal Director, after founding the Center in 1976 and then serving as its Executive Director […]

Categories
News Study Session

Study Session: ReFraming Aging

November 8, 2023 This interactive webinar covered how ageism harms us all, how to counter ageism, and how to be an agent for change. Additional Resources Presenter Melissa Donegan, LSW,  Director, Healthy Living Center of Excellence, AgeSpan

Categories
Home and Community Based News Study Session

Study Session: PACE Program and More

The Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is an evidence-based care model for older adults who meet a nursing-home level of care but live in community settings. These organizations blend funding from Medicare and Medicaid to integrate preventive, acute, and long-term care as well as services to address social needs. While many […]

Categories
Facilities Housing News Study Session

Study Session: The Future of Nursing Homes: Navigator Homes

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Embracing the core values in the disruptive concept for nursing home design, the “Green House” model, Navigator Homes of Martha’s Vineyard, opening this fall, will house 70 people in 5 homes with 14 residents each. Each resident has a private room with bathroom. Residents will share a living room, kitchen, dining […]

Categories
Facilities News Overview Study Session Worker Support

Nursing Home Staffing

Nursing Home Staffing has been an issue for some time. Insufficient staffing results in a poor quality of life for residents, resident safety and staff retention issues. DignityMA has compiled current information on the topic. There are a number of reasons for inadequate staffing. DignityMA is focusing on what the standard should be, problems achieving […]

Categories
Facilities News Spotlight

2023-09-11 Spotlight: HHS Proposes Minimum Staffing Standards to Enhance Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid ServicesSeptember 1, 2023 Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), issued a proposed rule that seeks to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homes—including, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standards—to ensure access to safe, high-quality […]

Categories
Housing News Study Session

Study Session: Secy. Edward Augustus

Secretary Edward Augustus, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities September 13, 2023 Secretary Augustus has served as Chief of Staff for Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern, City Manager for Worcester, and Chancellor for Dean College. In May 2023, he was appointed the inaugural Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities by Governor […]

Categories
News

2023-08-21 Spotlight: Graying of Massachusetts prisons cries out for a dose of compassion

*The Boston Globe, By The Editorial Board, August 27, 2023 (updated) That starts with increased use of medical parole for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s. D.B., as his lawyers refer to him, was 87, suffering from dementia and other age-related illnesses. Doctors had already confirmed he was both terminally ill and permanently incapacitated. But he […]

Categories
Covid-19 Facilities News Spotlight

2023-08-21 Spotlight: How Nursing Homes Failed to Protect Residents from Covid

By Paula Span, New York Times (free access), August 19, 2023 The first terrifying wave of Covid-19 caused 60,000 deaths among residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities within five months. As the pandemic wore on, medical guidelines called for promptly administering newly approved antiviral treatments to infected patients at high risk of […]

Categories
Facilities News Spotlight

2023-08-07 Spotlight: My Friend is Trapped in a Nursing Home. What Can I Do?

By Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times Ethicist columnistNew York Times (free access), July 28, 2023 Five years ago, I began volunteering as a bill payer for a legally blind, 95-year-old woman on public assistance. The job involved handling paperwork that clients could no longer handle themselves, thus helping enable them to remain at home. […]