WILLIAMSON
FOR
U.S. CONGRESS
DEMOCRAT
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 6
“The Future Can Be Ours.”
480-607-9726
Dear Friend:
Are you getting to an age when it might not be impossible that you could
be living in an assisted living facility? Or do you have a parent or
grandparent who is living in such a facility now? In either case, I ask
you to consider the concept of caregiver to resident ratio. That is, the
number of residents per caregiver in a given facility or section of a
facility.
My mom, who is now 89, had a fall in July just a few days before her
birthday and she broke her hip. It happened around 10:30 PM. She had been
in bed but got up for some reason, then lost her balance. The bed alarm
went off, but the caregivers did not get there in time. They arrived just
in time to see my mother lose her balance and fall.
At that time on the nightshift, there were two caregivers for, as I
understand, 20 residents. I don’t think that’s enough. I think that in the
elder care industry in memory care units, there should be at night, if
some of the residents are at high risk of falling, one caregiver for every
six residents. That way, if a bed alarm goes off, there is a greater
chance someone will get to the resident before a fall occurs.
When I am in Congress, I’m going to sponsor a bill to bring this concept
into federal elder law. How this concept can influence elder care in our
society is that it will state that, unless an elder care facility has at
least one caregiver for every six residents, then that care facility
cannot receive a five-star rating from the federal
government. It’s important, in my view, for there to be a federal rating
system to create a uniform code throughout the 50 states. This code will
specify that for every six residents in, say, a memory care unit in an
assisted living facility, there must be at least one caregiver. The bill I
would bring to the House floor to create this law would be called: The
Fall-Risk Resident Protection Act. This means that in a unit where
residents live who are at high risk for falling, there must be at least
one caregiver for every six residents. Unless this law is followed, the
facility would not be able to qualify for a five-star rating on the
federal scale.
My mom has gotten back to walking with her walker, but it hasn’t been an
easy road. In a hospital like Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, when a bed
alarm goes off, the nurses and aids rush to make sure the patient doesn’t
fall. The same attitude should prevail in assisted living facilities as
well. In today’s world, I think it is safe to say that the elder care
industry is booming; we need to make sure, however, that safety standards
are high enough to prevent unnecessary falls.
Because of the profit-making nature of the elder care industry today, we
must have laws that protect residents who have a high risk of falling. In
an article in AARP The Magazine, Tom Slear, the author, includes this
sobering quote: “Of the 300,000 Americans 65 or older who fracture a hip
each year, 20 to 30 percent will die within 12 months, and ‘many more will
experience significant functional loss,’ according to a 2009 study
published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). (“How
to Survive a Hip Fracture,” Tom Slear, AARP The Magazine, November 2011,
www.aarp.org).
If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please check out my
website at williamsonforuscongress.com. Click on “Make a Donation,”
and, by means of safe and secure PayPal, make a contribution on behalf of
your dedicated Democratic candidate. If you wish to send in a check, mail
it to:
WILLIAMSON FOR U.S. CONGRESS
7349 N. Via Paseo Del Sur, Suite 515-233
Scottsdale, AZ 85258.
When sending in a check, please include, to comply with Federal Election
Commission requirements, your name, address, employer, and occupation. You
may contribute even if you do not live in CD6. Do not lose heart because I
am running in a predominantly Republican district. There are a lot of
Independents in this district who will support my candidacy, as I am a
responsible, articulate, and thinking person with a social
conscience. Further, the YARD SIGNS ARE IN! So if you would like a yard
sign, please let me know, so I can get one to you or you can pick it up.
The Future Can Be Ours if we focus on ensuring that our elderly,
especially those who are at high risk for falling, in assisted living
facilities are protected from unnecessary falls. I speak particularly
about those in memory care units, because they are often forgotten,
ironically, as if they don’t even exist. They are put in areas separated
from the rest of the building by magnetically locked doors that can only
be opened if we know the combination. WE are the ones with the true memory
problem if we forget them; the ones we said we loved, the ones who raised
us and helped us in our struggles as we grew up. Or who befriended us as
colleagues or neighbors, but whom it is now, strangely, inconvenient for
us to visit just to say hello or I love you.
We can take responsibility as
a society for the safety of these folks if we make sure that enough
caregivers are assigned for the number of residents in question, with a
ratio of at least one caregiver for every six residents, if the facility
wants to get a five-star rating. My bill, The Fall-Risk Resident
Protection Act, would require the ratio of 1 to 6. This would create, in a
situation where they are vulnerable, a fall-free zone for our nation’s
elderly to give them a chance to live another day in joy and peace without
unnecessary fear and pain.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
John
W. John Williamson
Scottsdale, Arizona