‘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.”

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