Washington (H24N). Citing a combination of poor training and depleted staffing at the nation’s nursing homes, President Clinton Saturday, during his weekly radio address, announced new legislation that would infuse $1 billion in funding to improve nursing care.

The president: made his remarks, live at the Washington Home, a 100-year-old senior care center in Washington, D.C.

Clinton held a captive audience, with the seniors living at the facility, attentively watching as he cited a recent survey by the Department of Health and Human Services, which that found that understaffing is a plight nursing homes and patients must deal with on a daily basis.

"Patients in these homes are more likely to lose too much weight, develop bed sores, fall into depression," Clinton said. "More than 30 percent are dehydrated, malnourished, at much higher risk for illness and infection."

The proposal would invest $1 billion over a five-year period in a new grant program. The plan also would impose stiff penalties on facilities that are caught placing residents at risk. Clinton promised to take the funds collect in penalties and reinvest them into the program.

The president’s proposal would also direct the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to establish minimum staffing requirements.

The president said the initiative is necessary because of the influx of seniors about to hit the nursing home system as America’s baby boom generation ages.

"Older Americans who have worked hard all their lives deserve respect, not neglect," Clinton said. "The steps we’re taking today will help bring new life to our nation’s seniors by bringing a new level of quality to America’s nursing homes."

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, promised in a news release Friday to take a careful look at the president’s proposals and hinted there might be hope for a reversal of fortune in the nursing home business."I’m interested in the substance of the president’s remarks," Grassley said. "If he presents a staffing proposal and later approaches me with it, I’ll take a careful look at it. We might share goals and priorities for improving the number of trained staff who care for nursing home residents."

The president promised he would send the legislation to Congress this week.

NEWS AND TRENDS | CAREER CENTER | EDUCATION
Home | Resources
Site Index | Contact Us | FAQs | Subscribe | Advertise