October 30, 2023 (premiere)[90-minute documentary aired on PBS] Wearing snapback caps and Air Jordans, the Reality Poets aren’t typical nursing home residents. In Fire Through Dry Grass, these young, Black and brown disabled artists document their lives on lockdown during Covid, their rhymes underscoring the danger and imprisonment they feel. In the face of institutional […]
Category: Covid-19
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 […]
(Scroll down to read DignityMA testimony for this proposal.) The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued proposed amendments to regulations for long term care facilities and other providers aligning the flu and COVID-19 vaccine requirements for personnel, eliminating the mandate that all personnel be vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine. Under the proposed amendments, personnel will […]
The following two letters were sent to Health System Leaders in Massachusetts, on the occasion of suspending masking requirements and covid protections in health care settings. Download the two letters, or read below from May 10, 2023 Open Letter on Masking, Patient Safety and Trust A call to suspend any end to universal masking and […]
SJC reinstates criminal charges against managers of Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, where 76 died early in pandemicBoston Globe, April 27, 2023By Ivy Scott and John R. Ellement Families of the veterans say the decision offers ‘a glimmer of hope’ as they prepare for the upcoming trial.The state’s highest court reinstated criminal charges on Thursday against Bennett […]
The government should require that owners give residents private space — or it should take over the facilities and replace them with small homes. [Editor’s note: Margaret Morganroth Gullette, resident scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, is the author of “Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People.” Her forthcoming […]
Letter to the Boston Globe, February 14, 2023, by Dr. Lara Jirmanus, Carlene Pavlos and Paul Lanzikos Regarding “The White House wants to end the public health emergency. Is the country prepared?” (Editorial, Feb. 9), we should ask, “Is the Commonwealth prepared?” How our elected leaders answer that question will tell us whether they are […]
Bostonia, October 31, 2022 Paul Lanzikos (Questrom’80), cofounder of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts, says the occasion could have public health benefits.It’s estimated that more than one million Americans have died of COVID since 2020, according to Our World in Data, and across the nation, grieving families of COVID-19 victims are demanding the designation of an annual […]
Read the entire Soldiers’ Home Brief (pdf). Dignity Alliance MA has signed onto this brief. IMPOUNDED CASECOMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTSSUPREME JUDICIAL COURTHAMPDEN, SS. SJC NO. 13335APPEALS COURT NOS. 2022-P-0309, 2022-P-0321 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,Appellant,v.DAVID CLINTON AND BENNETT WALSH,Defendants-Appellees ON APPEAL FROM A JUDGMENT OF THE SUPERIOR COURT BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE LONG TERM CARE COMMUNITY COALITION, DIGNITY […]
Plans to create day of remembrance for COVID-19 victims are languishing State and federal proposals for commemorations remain bottled up amid partisan divide. By Robert Weisman Globe Staff,Updated September 27, 2022, 8:47 p.m. (FYI: Dignity Alliance MA members, Senator Dick Moore and Paul Lanzikos and Arlene Germain are all quoted below.) Should we have a […]