At their July 2 meeting, Northampton County Council voted to establish a Gracedale Oversight Committee proposed by Council member Dave Holland. As of today, Council President Ken Kraft has yet to appoint any members. Kraft, who opposed this committee, appears to be dragging his feet.
Under the Home Rule Charter, a council president has the authority to preside at meetings. As a matter of tradition, not law, he makes the committee assignments. Should he persist in refusal to appoint committee members to provide oversight at a nursing home with a Provisional II license, County Council has the authority to do it themselves.
Gracedale certainly needs oversight. According to McKinght's Long-Term Care News, occupancy at freestanding nursing homes is 86.7%, a 10-year high. (The Northeast, which includes Pa. and Gracedale, is at 89.5%). But the occupancy rate at Gracedale is an anemic 75%, as reported to County Council's July 2 Human Services meeting.
12 comments:
No surprise here. Kraft has always been oppositional when it came to Gracedale’s welfare. Ignoring this committee is the next best thing to tabling it and waiting for it to die from inaction.
I hope Kelly Keegan is Chairwoman. She’s an R.N., and she worked as a nurse at Graceland.
Kraft has a PhD in obstruction. He, like Kelly K are both the north end of a south bound mule
I thought our elderly would go without care if Gracedale was no more. It looks like families are having no problem finding alternatives to Gracedale. What are we doing here. Those who supported the sale were called heartless. Now, those who support a "Weekend At Bernie's" Gracedale are the heartless ones for pushing a plan that will cost still more money to our elderly on fixed incomes. Gracedale is not a necessary county function.
How much is Gracedale cost the property taxpayers?
I remember when the Good Reverend Mario Martinez shellacked you, Ron and the bird house maker where is the good Rev?
She voted No to the committee, but I could see this happening. It is precisely the kind of vindictiveness that she attributes to other members of Council. I never heard her claim that she worked at Gracedale, but she did say that some of her colleagues at nursing school started their careers there.
Great choice so long as every employee and resident shared her political views, otherwise who knows what kind of care could take place there.
She never stated that she worked there. Kelly would only be an asset to this committee if she could drop her attitude about anything contrary to her beliefs about the status of Gracedale. We all remember how she fought with John Goffredo and John Brown over their concerns about Gracedale. It appears there was another DOH visit there in June. No citation but it was apparently a complaint that triggered that visit. Mr. Kraft appears to have no idea how to preside over this board of commissioners. I’m still wondering how an oversight committee or now a continuum of care director will help this situation at Gracedale. Fancy words (oversight and continuum) that mean nothing. Bring in a team to manage the facility. For some reason that logical solution is ignored. I wonder why.
Just eight months ago, Keegan said a widow would be better off without her murdered husband. She never recanted those words. It's not a stretch to think this is how she might feel about the families of the county's elderly. Who would trust her with any loved one's care? Is it possible to learn a given patient's party affiliation? That may place them in danger under Keegan.
Dave Holland should be nowhere near this committee. He only worked for 8 months at Gracedale. He stood by and watched as D. Millard Freeman implemented John Brown’s plan to slash 300 jobs through attrition at Gracedale. That’s according to the former AFSCME guy.
Holland should chair this committee. He is slammed here bc he was “only” at Gracedale for 8 months, but that’s 8 months longer than anyone on council. He has experience as an administrator of nursing homes, both here and elsewhere. He is a nurse practitioner. He teaches nursing. Did he slash 300 jobs? That is manure. No one has been laud off since Glenn reibman. Have vacant positions gone unfilled? Yes, but brown never needed to call in agency nurses. Also Gracedale went 2 years with no deficiencies under premier and broke even.
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