Connecticut’s long-term care “rebalancing” effort which aims to move elderly and disabled residents from institutional to home and community based care – a project that if successful could save taxpayers millions of dollars – is the focus of a forum scheduled for Friday.
Titled Meeting the Demand and Responding to the Needs of Connecticut Residents, the forum will run from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm in the Legislative Office Building.
Following opening remarks by Julie Evans Starr, executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Aging, and an explanation of the commission’s strategic plan for workforce development by Deb Migneault, Community Liaison for the commission, a panel discussion will examine the issue and where we are headed.
Ron Winter
The CoA will release the Direct Care Workforce Strategic Plan at the forum. Development of the direct care workforce is considered a critical component to rebalancing the state’s system of long-term services and support.
Panel members will include Gail Coppage – State Director of Workforce Development, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, Board of Regents for Higher Education; Julie Gelgauda – Director of Care Management Department, Agency on Aging of South Central CT; Dawn Lambert – Project Director, Money Follows the Person Demonstration, DSS; Deb Migneault; Sherry Ostrout – Director of Government Initiatives, Connecticut Community Care Inc.; Alice Pritchard, Ph.D – Executive Director, Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF); Susan Raimondo – Senior Director Advocacy and Programs, National MS Society, CT Chapter; and Kim Skehan – Director of Home Care and Hospice Services at Healthcare Management Solutions, Facilitator, Home Health Services Legislative Work Group.
According to the CoA, the system of paid and unpaid caregivers represents the backbone of Connecticut’s long-term services and supports system. Direct care workers include nurse’s aides, personal care assistants, and home health aides.
In Connecticut alone there are over 50,000 direct care workers providing daily services and support to older adults and persons with disabilities. The demand for paid direct care workers is expected to grow by 23% between 2008 and 2018. The majority of these workers will soon work in community-based settings as opposed to institutional settings, according to the CoA.
The CoA estimates that an additional 9,000 direct care workers will be needed in the next five years. Many paid caregivers are compensated from personal income or assets or long-term care insurance, but when those assets are exhausted, Medicaid pays the bills. Regardless of how they are paid the direct care workers come from the same employment pool.
In addition to the growth in demand, the CoA notes, the decline in the working-age population in Connecticut will challenge the system further. According to the 2006 Long-Term Care Needs Assessment, by 2030 the population over the age of 65 will increase by 64% over the 2006 level, while the working age population (those aged 18-64) will decline by 2%.
Until recently, workforce development professionals have primarily focused on recruitment, training and career ladder development in the traditional health care environments such as nursing facilities and hospitals. With the changing demographics, however, increased focus must be directed to training and developing the workforce for home and community-based environments.
The forum will be open to the public and a question and answer period will follow the forum. The forum also will be broadcast live on CT-N television.
Ben Hubby MD 815 E 66th Street Savannah GA
Dear friends,
My elder mother, Kingsley Hubby, residing in East Lyme CT, has suffered relentless exploitation, enabled by lawyers who didn’t see Mom was their client. In deference to the powerful, the courts refused to apply state law for Mom’s protection – a violation of the US Constitution. Freed from law, folks without moral codes fired loving caretakers, let Mom’s estate go to the dogs, displaced her doctor son as health agent, and forced meanness into a once peaceful life.
Elder exploitation is so common in CT, there’s a book about it — Granny Snatching by Ronald Winter. New Yorker, Dan Gross, became sick on a visit to see his daughter in CT. While in the hospital, a guardianship was appointed. Dan was imprisoned in a nursing home, as his estate was raided under authority of Probate Court.
The word is out that Connecticut doesn’t consistently apply the rule of law, which keeps new businesses from coming in. Yale Law School Professor John Langbein warns CT elders to lock down their estates and establish residency elsewhere to shield against CT’s probate system.
As no state that allows elders to be preyed upon can advance, I’m fighting for all the Kingsley Hubbys and Connecticut too, for my family ties there since the 1940s.
Because of her gifted, goodhearted people, high tech capacity and power house colleges and universities, Connecticut will move forward if she’s armed with a robust legal system,
Lend a hand, go to my page on Facebook, and click on Stop Connecticut Sanctioned Exploitation of Elders. Open the enclosed YouTube link and sign the petition to Governor Malloy to stand for all the Kingsley Hubbys and call the legislature to pass tough legal reform, advocated by Prof John Langbein. Please share my appeal with your contacts.
With hope for Connecticut’s future,
Ben Hubby
Dear Dr. Hubby,
I just saw your video today, and was moved by your story, and also your clarity and composure, along with your dedication to your mother and the Cause.
I am in the same Titanic with my own mother, please see her page too: Facebook.com/dorothypartch; and her blog: http://bringingdorothyhome.blogspot.com.
So many of the sites about this phenomenon are so strident that they undermine their own credibility ~ it is gratifying to see your calm demeanor in the face of the outrageous pillage of not only our families’ assets, but our Constitutional Rights. I totally understand the people who become hysterical in the face of this abuse ~ I go there sometimes myself ~ but the more we can keep our compusure and stick to the facts ~ including the Statutes not being followed in these case ~ the more persuasive we can be.
We must also work together, and keep after our elected and appointed officials. The laws have alreay been reformed, in 2007, but they are not enforced, and that is the problem. Please do get in touch with me. I would like to join forces in whatever ways we can.
Thank you for your efforts ~ for your mother, Kingsley, and my mother, Dorothy ~ and for all the helpless victims of this horrendous legal mafia that is protected by the very individuals and institutions that are supposed to be protecting our Citizens, our Laws, and our Democratic Principles of Freedom and Justice.
Sincerely,
~ Marjorie Partch.
What more can I do to help? I have already signed the petition.
Carolyn Cooper