Iowa

‘Where’s the outrage?’: Iowa nursing homes in a state of crisis, Democrats say

Published

1 year ago

December 14, 2023

‘Where’s the outrage?’: Iowa nursing homes in a state of crisis, Democrats say

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Iowa Senate Democrats are demanding an oversight investigation into the state of Iowa’s nursing homes. After hearing stories for months in the press about abuse and neglect in the state’s senior care facilities, Senate Democrats say enough is enough.

Senior care advocate John Hale questions why lawmakers aren’t more concerned with the condition of the state’s elder care.

“Current stories about resident deaths, about resident sexual assault, about head shaking abuse and neglect. Our question – where’s the outrage? Where is the outrage?,” Hale said.

At Thursday’s press conference, senior care advocates shared stories of mismanagement in the state’s nursing homes. Mary Weaver is a former nursing home inspector for the state. Her friend, who didn’t want her name used, is paying $10,000 a month to a senior care facility. Weaver says her friend hasn’t been given a bath in over a week because there isn’t enough staff.

“She recently turned her call light on and waited for 90 minutes because she needed to go to the restroom. She is of sound mind but she’s very frail. Well, 90 minutes is too old for an elderly person to hold their urine and so she was incontinent and then she laid in her urine for about half an hour until she received assistance,” Weaver said.

At night, Weaver says there’s only one nursing aide for a facility that has 35 residents. “One night, she got up and went to the bathroom. She made it safely, but on her way back to bed, she fell. This is not the kind of treatment that we want for our older Iowans. This is inhumane. This is neglect,” Weaver said.

Democratic State Senator Claire Celsi of West Des Moines says conditions in Iowa’s nursing homes have reached a state of crisis.

“There’s so many other issues, hundreds of them, that come before us every day, but I can’t think of one that is more important than this one because it’s a matter of life and death for our Iowa citizens who are in these facilities right now,” Celsi said.

The State of Iowa has 414 nursing homes, but only 46 inspectors according to federal data. That places the state’s rank as 49th in the nation for the number of inspectors per facility. Now, Celsi and other Iowa Democrats are asking for a public oversight committee meeting where industry leaders and affected Iowans can share their stories.

To get that meeting, they need to convince Senate Majority Leader Amy Sinclair, who chairs the oversight committee to schedule the meeting.

“Democrats can only do so much. We need the help of our Republican colleagues to make these changes and to make any new laws that we decide need to be put forth after that,” Celsi said.

Democrats aren’t asking for specific changes yet but want the oversight hearing to begin the process of figuring out a better way to care for residents and workers in the facilities. Celsi says the odds of getting the hearing are 50-50.

Governor Reynolds says she believes solving the healthcare workforce shortage and addressing funding is the path to improving long-term care for Iowa’s seniors, and that her record proves it.

Reynolds’ office said in a statement:

“Gov. Reynolds has invested more than $20 million to create Registered Apprenticeship Programs which will generate over 2,000 apprentices for much needed health care positions. Gov. Reynolds has also invested over $4 million into the Rural Health Care Loan Repayment & Recruitment Program which recruits doctors and other health care professionals to rural communities. This is why Governor Reynolds, and 14 other governors, opposed new staffing requirements from CMS. The additional government regulation could unravel the workforce progress in Iowa and lead to facilities being closed. Gov. Reynolds has increased Medicaid funding every rebase year as Governor, leading to $163 million of new funding going to nursing facilities to increase quality of care for residents.”

Senate Majority Leader Amy Sinclair says she’s not going to hold a public hearing.

“In the past 12 months over 2,800 citations were issued by regulators. That number of citations demonstrates how serious the state takes the issue of elder care. To address workforce shortages in the industry, since 2017 the Senate has increased funding for nursing home care by nearly $75 million, increased incentives for high-quality of care to over $111 million, and passed critical tort reforms to ensure nursing homes can continue to provide services in rural Iowa. I will not be scheduling a Government Oversight meeting on this topic because it would distract department staff from performing their important work monitoring these facilities.”

Source link

Click to comment

Iowa

Eastern Iowa’s most popular baby names for 2024

Published

9 minutes ago

December 16, 2024

Press Room

Eastern Iowa’s most popular baby names for 2024

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – UnityPoint Health hospitals across eastern Iowa have released the list of the most popular baby names for 2024.

The hospitals create the list using data from UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s, Finley, and Allen Hospitals in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, and Waterloo.

Here are the top five most popular baby names:

Top five girl’s names:

Charlotte
Evelyn
Harper
Amelia
Olivia

Top five boy’s names:

Henry
Oliver
Theodore
Jack
Jackson

Here’s a list broken down by hospital and city:

Cedar Rapids:

Girl’s names:

Evelyn
Charlotte
Harper
Amelia
Nova

Boys names:

Oliver
Henry
Silas
Owen
Asher

Dubuque:

Girl’s names:

Lainey
Eden
Amelia
Layla
Nora

Boy’s names:

Cooper
Henry
Beau
Oliver
Brooks

Waterloo:

Girl’s names:

Lainey
Nora
Adeline
Ava
Emerson

Boy’s names:

Ezra
Theodore
Emmett
Henry
Bennett

Source link

Iowa

Iowa 104-57 New Orleans (Dec 15, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

Published

8 hours ago

December 16, 2024

Press Room

Iowa 104-57 New Orleans (Dec 15, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

IOWA CITY, Iowa — — Owen Freeman matched his career-best with 22 points and Iowa cruised to a 104-57 win over New Orleans on Sunday.

The Hawkeyes rebounded from their first home-court loss, falling 89-80 to No. 3 Iowa State on Thursday in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.

Brock Harding opened the game with a 3-pointer, but the Privateers answered with back-to-back layups from MJ Thomas and James White to take their only lead of the game, 4-3. Freeman answered with a layup and Payton Sandfort and Drew Thelwell each hit from deep to put Iowa in front for good and a 10-0 run made it 29-11 midway through the half.

Iowa (8-3) shot 62.7% from the field for the game (42 of 67), including 14 of 29 from beyond the arc. The Hawkeyes amassed 28 assists on 42 made baskets. Sandfort hit 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Josh Dix and Brock Harding each added 13 points, with Harding collecting six assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Pryce Sandfort added 10 points off the bench.

New Orleans, playing its first game in more than a week, was 25 of 67 from the field (37.3%) and was just 4 of 24 from long range. White paced the Privateers (2-7) with 24 points, six rebounds and two assists. Thomas added 14 points.

——

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Source link

Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling crowns three champions at North Central College Open

Published

16 hours ago

December 15, 2024

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling crowns three champions at North Central College Open

Iowa women’s wrestling took a good portion of its squad to the North Central Open on Sunday, securing three individual titles from Nanea Estrella, Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker.

Bringing 13 wrestlers to the top division of the tournament, with Danni Swihart competing in the B-Division, 11 Hawkeyes finished on the podium in the top division. Even without several starters, the Hawkeyes took second behind only North Central’s mostly full squad.

Iowa’s stars who made the trip to Naperville, Illinois shined, as Estrella, Kilty and Welker combined to go 14-0. They outscored their opponents 131-1 combined.

Alivia White was a surprise, racing to take second at 203 pounds. She defeated teammate Katja Osteen by fall on her way to the finals. Even without Jaycee Foeller, the Hawkeyes had White, Osteen and Samantha Calkins all place at the tournament at 203 pounds.

Accounting for only the results from the A-Division, which housed top wrestlers from each team, North Central had 166.5 team points to Iowa’s 136.5.

It’s hard to compare Iowa and North Central, given the Hawkeyes and CArdinals had limited lineups. The Hawkeyes were without Sterling Dias, Brianna and Emilie Gonzalez, Skye Realin, Reese Larramendy, Kennedy Blades and Foeller to name a few. North Central did not have former Hawkeye Bella Mir or 203-pound No. 2 Traeh Haynes for example as well.

Regardless, having two champions and five finalists suggests the Cardinals will be a challenger once again come the postseason to the Hawkeyes.

Here are the individual results for each wrestler for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa women’s wrestling results from North Central Open

Rianne Murphy – 2nd at 103 pounds (3-1)
Val Solorio – 3rd at 110 pounds (5-1)
Cali Leng – 6th at 124 pounds (3-3)
Ava Rose – DNP at 124 pounds (1-2)
Allie Baudhuin – DNP at 131 pounds (1-2)
Emmily Patneaud – 6th at 131 pounds (2-3)
Nanea Estrella – 1st at 138 pounds (4-0)
Cadence Diduch – 3rd at 138 pounds (5-1)
Danni Swihart (B-Division) – 5th at 138 pounds (3-2)
Macey Kilty – 1st at 145 pounds (4-0)
Kylie Welker – 1st at 180 pounds (6-0)
Samantha Calkins – 4th at 207 pounds (4-2)
Alivia White – 2nd at 207 pounds (3-1)
Katja Osteen – 5th at 207 pounds (3-2, 3-1 vs. non-Hawkeyes)

Match-by-match results can be found on trackwrestling.com

This story was updated to add new information.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

Source link