DignityMA editor’s note: This is a provocative article about aging and longevity. The Post has received over 800 comments online. We welcome comments from Dignity Digest readers which can be submitted via info@DignityAllianceMA.org. Comments may be posted in future issues of The Digest. ‘Aging is a disease’: Inside the drive to postpone death indefinitely, The […]
Category: Spotlight
*The Boston Globe, By The Editorial Board, October 27, 2023 (updated) Unnecessary segregation in nursing homes ‘has been linked to accelerated mental, emotional, and physical decline’ when residents have little autonomy and little ability to engage in outside activities, a lawsuit says. For many people with disabilities, living in a nursing home is a last […]
Elderly and Imprisoned: ‘I Don’t Count It as Living, Only Existing.’ New York Times (free access), October 21, 2023, Text by Carmilla Floyd, Photographs by Joseph Rodriguez On a clear day in March 2023, the snowy peaks surrounding the California Institution for Men in Chino were visible. Cleveland Lindley stood on a green patch in […]
AARP’s Long-Term Services and Supports State Scorecard 2023 EditionSeptember 2023By Susan Reinhard, Ari Houser, Carrie Amero, Paul Lingamfelter The 2023 LTSS State Scorecard (the Scorecard) is a compilation of state data and analysis based on a new vision of a high-performing state long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. Released every three years, the Scorecard uses […]
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 […]
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 […]
Editor’s note: This is a provocative essay. It includes a reference to the Worcester (MA) Recovery Center, a facility for 320 long-term patients with private rooms and “a recovery-inspired residential design” which opened in 2012. If you have observations or comments regarding the essay which you would like to share, please send them to Digest@DignityAllianceMA.org. […]
Opinion by Richard T. Moore, former Massachusetts State Senator and Chair Dignity Alliance Massachusetts Legislative Workgroup, July 17, 2023FYI: Dignity Digest 145 contains the footnotes for this article. In the Pacific Northwest, “As records toppled, lives were lost. Early investigations suggest that nearly one thousand people died as a direct result of the Pacific Northwest […]
A Woman of Valor: Arlene Germain Disability Issues, Spring 2023 Vol.43 No. 2 By Sandy Alissa Novack I recently had the privilege of interviewing Arlene Germain, co-founder of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts. The following interview has been edited to fit in Disability Issues. Sandy Novack: Arlene, please tell us your first introduction to concerns about disability […]
Senate Special Committee on Aging Report: Nursing Home Survey Agencies are Severely Understaffed As reported by The Consumer Voice, May 19, 2023 Today, the Senate Special Committee on Aging, led by Chairman Bob Casey, released a new report, “Uninspected and Neglected: Nursing Home Agencies are Severely Understaffed, Putting Residents at Risk.” The report details a […]