McClure Knows What's Wrong at Gracedale

Lamont McClure

I told you last month that Gracedale's rating has dropped to "below average," or just two stars, in the latest rating done by Medicare. I also told you that its rating for quality measures, which assesses how well it cares for its residents, is down to just one star, or much below average, mostly because it is jacking them up with psychotropic drugs, in what is sometimes called a chemical restraint. NorCo Council's Human Services Committee has been much more concerned about overtime and shipping off residents who cost too much than actually taking care of them.

The Express Times, which has abdicated its responsibility to cover county government despite being provided with free office space, has finally published a story.

Executive John Brown actually gave a statement to The Express Times instead of ignoring the press. It must have finally dawned on him that he is up for re-election.

This is what Brown's opponent for NorCo Executive, Lamont McClure, has to say:

What's wrong at Gracedale ? Two words: John Brown. John Brown's obsession with government by consultant is what lead us to this point. Mr. Brown is putting bean counters ahead of people, and when you do that our most vulnerable residents suffer. Gracedale was never meant to be permanently run by expensive consultants. I should know. I was there when the last Administration hired this particular consultant. The contract was made to temporarily stabilize the finances of the nursing home and provide a relative period of calm while the next steps for the future of Gracedale were planned. When Mr. Brown was elected, having a consultant in place at Gracedale was right up his alley. (We can all recall that he wanted to hire a consultant for $750,000.00 to do the job he was elected to do.) So, Mr. Brown was happy to ignore Gracedale and let the consultants be concerned solely with the bottom line. And, for awhile, thanks to our tremendous care-givers at Gracedale, things were going remarkably well. Unfortunately, John Brown's neglect had caught up with us.

We need a County Executive who will balance the interests of caring for residents and the bottom line. We don't need an absentee landlord like John Brown. That's why if elected I promise we will bring in professional managers accountable only to the County Executive and make certain we provide the proper care to our residents while keeping our county contribution to a minimum.