SENNETT - Long-term care for the elderly and the disabled is a critical issue in this country.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Director of Broome County Community Alternative Systems Agency (CASA) Michelle Berry is the keynote speaker for the NY Connects: Cayuga County Long Term Care Office last week, at the Natural Resource Building in Sennett.
Director of Broome County Community Alternative Systems Agency (CASA) Michelle Berry is the keynote speaker for the NY Connects: Cayuga County Long Term Care Office last week, at the Natural Resource Building in Sennett.
“The disability movement is the next civil rights movement,” said Michelle Berry, director of the Broome County Community Alternative Systems Agency (CASA).
Berry was asked to deliver the keynote speech at last Tuesday afternoon's kick-off meeting of the NY Connects: Cayuga County Long Term Care Office, a division of the Cayuga County Community Health Network.
Inside the Cayuga Natural Resource Center, Berry began by establishing both her background in long-term care. For several years she worked as an admissions coordinator in a nursing home, and her 17-year-old son has started working in one as well. Berry was hardly surprised to hear that Auburn has five nursing homes, all of which are approaching their capacity.
She next acquainted her audience with her Binghamton-based CASA office, which has pioneered several services in long-term care since its inception in 1981.
“We stole from Michelle when we were developing our office,” said Beth Dishaw, director of the Cayuga County Human Services Long Term Care Access Office.
The Broome County CASA office assesses people's eligibility for what services it can provide them, such as in-home nursing or nursing home placement. CASA then manages their cases and collects statistics on the different disabled and elderly populations. Supplying that information to anyone who asks for it is a key CASA service.
“You see patterns,” she said. “And you can accept and address change in the environment.”
Berry addressed issues concerning Medicaid, the budget of which has increased tremendously since 1981. She countered the complaint that the program is limited in its scope.
“Everyone is pre-Medicaid; you don't know if they are until you screen,” she said. “And we'll see everyone and anyone.”
An audience member voiced his concerns about Medicaid - and long-term care services in general - being given to the rich or other individuals who may not need them. Berry responded with a story about a woman whose CASA services were cut off when it was discovered she was a drug dealer.
Berry addressed prescription drugs as another problem facing long-term care. With near exasperation she described how patients at nursing homes are commonly prescribed between 18 and 24 drugs. She attributed the problem to a drug culture spurred by advertisements and a lack of communication between doctors.
“They need to share information in order to stop that,” she said.
Berry also illustrated a U-shaped shift in long-term care services with three posterboard timelines of men born in different generations.
The first man, born in 1895, worked on a farm during the Great Depression and retired prior to the start of the Medicaid program. He grew old without much money to sustain him in his elderly years, so he entered a nursing home.
The second man, born in 1923, went on to fight in World War II, attend college with the G.I. Bill and retired from a long job with a pension and Medicaid.
“He's out on the golf course; he's not worrying about the nursing home,” Berry said.
But the third man, born in 1955, represents a return to the life arc of the man born in 1895. He can claim no pension due to job instability and cost-cutting, and he will likely live in a nursing home as well.
“I'm not saying this is good or bad, but it's different,” Berry said.
She also noted other issues not often discussed about long-term care, from health care providers not wanting people to “consume” it to the growth of the under-60 population that needs it. The audience listened closely as Berry discussed each talking point, and all left with renewed knowledge - and concerns - about long-term care.
Melissa Wheeler, with Stafkings Healthcare Systems, Inc., feels people should learn not to take the presence of caregivers for granted.
“People assume we get sick and someone will always be there,” she said.
Berry's words helped other members of the Cayuga County health community - like Joan Knight, director of Community Health Services - look forward to improving its own long-term care services with NY Connects.
“For me it was an education on the many long-term care programs currently available,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Long Term Care Insurance
Information Seminar
When: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 25
Where: Boyle Center, 149 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free
To reserve a seat: Call the Cayuga
County Office for the Aging at 253-1017
Berry was asked to deliver the keynote speech at last Tuesday afternoon's kick-off meeting of the NY Connects: Cayuga County Long Term Care Office, a division of the Cayuga County Community Health Network.
Inside the Cayuga Natural Resource Center, Berry began by establishing both her background in long-term care. For several years she worked as an admissions coordinator in a nursing home, and her 17-year-old son has started working in one as well. Berry was hardly surprised to hear that Auburn has five nursing homes, all of which are approaching their capacity.
She next acquainted her audience with her Binghamton-based CASA office, which has pioneered several services in long-term care since its inception in 1981.
“We stole from Michelle when we were developing our office,” said Beth Dishaw, director of the Cayuga County Human Services Long Term Care Access Office.
The Broome County CASA office assesses people's eligibility for what services it can provide them, such as in-home nursing or nursing home placement. CASA then manages their cases and collects statistics on the different disabled and elderly populations. Supplying that information to anyone who asks for it is a key CASA service.
“You see patterns,” she said. “And you can accept and address change in the environment.”
Berry addressed issues concerning Medicaid, the budget of which has increased tremendously since 1981. She countered the complaint that the program is limited in its scope.
“Everyone is pre-Medicaid; you don't know if they are until you screen,” she said. “And we'll see everyone and anyone.”
An audience member voiced his concerns about Medicaid - and long-term care services in general - being given to the rich or other individuals who may not need them. Berry responded with a story about a woman whose CASA services were cut off when it was discovered she was a drug dealer.
Berry addressed prescription drugs as another problem facing long-term care. With near exasperation she described how patients at nursing homes are commonly prescribed between 18 and 24 drugs. She attributed the problem to a drug culture spurred by advertisements and a lack of communication between doctors.
“They need to share information in order to stop that,” she said.
Berry also illustrated a U-shaped shift in long-term care services with three posterboard timelines of men born in different generations.
The first man, born in 1895, worked on a farm during the Great Depression and retired prior to the start of the Medicaid program. He grew old without much money to sustain him in his elderly years, so he entered a nursing home.
The second man, born in 1923, went on to fight in World War II, attend college with the G.I. Bill and retired from a long job with a pension and Medicaid.
“He's out on the golf course; he's not worrying about the nursing home,” Berry said.
But the third man, born in 1955, represents a return to the life arc of the man born in 1895. He can claim no pension due to job instability and cost-cutting, and he will likely live in a nursing home as well.
“I'm not saying this is good or bad, but it's different,” Berry said.
She also noted other issues not often discussed about long-term care, from health care providers not wanting people to “consume” it to the growth of the under-60 population that needs it. The audience listened closely as Berry discussed each talking point, and all left with renewed knowledge - and concerns - about long-term care.
Melissa Wheeler, with Stafkings Healthcare Systems, Inc., feels people should learn not to take the presence of caregivers for granted.
“People assume we get sick and someone will always be there,” she said.
Berry's words helped other members of the Cayuga County health community - like Joan Knight, director of Community Health Services - look forward to improving its own long-term care services with NY Connects.
“For me it was an education on the many long-term care programs currently available,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Long Term Care Insurance
Information Seminar
When: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 25
Where: Boyle Center, 149 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free
To reserve a seat: Call the Cayuga
County Office for the Aging at 253-1017
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