Dignity AllianceAlison Barkoff was sworn into office as the Principal Deputy Administrator on January 20, 2021, and currently is serving as Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging. In this capacity, she provides executive direction, leadership, guidance and coordination for ACL programs nationwide and advises the HHS Secretary on issues affecting individuals with disabilities and older […]
By Travis Andersen Globe Staff, January 13, 2021 Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday that Massachusetts will start administering the COVID-19 vaccine Monday to the more than 94,000 people who live and work in congregate care settings such as prisons, shelters, and certain private special education schools. Baker broke the news at his regular State House […]
Dignity Alliance Massachusetts has sent a letter to State Auditor Suzanne Bump, asking for a follow up audit of nursing facilities. The letter is copied below, or download the DAMAuditor Letter on Nursing Home Complaints.docx. “We appreciate the work you and your office reported in September 2019 regarding the unconscionable delays in complaint investigations of […]
Without this protection, people who become eligible for Social Security in 2022 will be the victims of potentially reduced benefits, due to the 2019 – 2020 economic downturn. For more details, read: Some retirees social security benefits could dip unless Congress acts from CNBC. Resolution Urging the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to Correct the Social Security […]
25 Investigates: Second wave of COVID-19 crashing into Mass. nursing homes November 16: Boston 25 News interviewed Dignity Alliance on the second surge of Covid-19 and the nursing home reform advocates call for more changes. “Dignity Alliance Massachusetts believes the pandemic exposed underlying issues in nursing homes that only contributed to the crisis. They advocate […]
Disability Advocates Oppose Waltham Light Show at Abandoned Institution We are calling on the City of Waltham and the Waltham Lions to move a proposed holiday light show that they plan to hold at a former state institution, Fernald Developmental Center, where thousands of disabled people lived and died. “In a letter to Waltham Mayor […]
New York Times Letter to the Editor Download the New York Times September 6 Response.docx To the Editor: Re: “The Shameful Toll of Nursing Homes”, (Editorial, September 6, 2020): The tragic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes, including over 68,000 deaths, is well documented in this editorial. What is not […]
Nice write-up in the Patriot Ledger! Working for widescale nursing home reform by Sue Scheibel on September 2, 2020.
WGBH, and lead journalist Chris Burrell published a two part investigative series on the devastating impact of the coronavirus on nursing home workers. Part 1 of the series, from August 18, can be listened to, or read, at wgbh.org. We will provide a link to part 2 as soon as we can. From an Alliance […]
Coalition of Disability and Senior Advocacy Organizations Forms in Response to Nursing Home Deaths Everyone deserves to live a full life with dignity. However, Covid-19 has robbed many of that right — in just over five months more than 5,600 people have died in 379 Massachusetts nursing homes, 88% of the 429 homes in the […]