Yesterday, NorCo Council conducted the first of four scheduled budget hearings to review Executive Tara Zrinski's proposed 43.5% tax hike next year. No amendments will be offered until next month, but it's pretty clear that Council is unhappy with Zrinski's spending plan. Several members of the public spoke in opposition as Jeff Ward reports in Lehigh Valley News Briefs. I was particularly struck by comments from Alexa Krabbe, a student journalist at The Lafayette.
Lafayette's Landis Center provides Gracedale with student volunteers, but she reports that some have become wary as a result of patient safety and staffing issues that were never communicated to them.
We've heard numerous times from Executive Tara Zrinski and Council member Kelly Keegan that Gracedale must be great because they did such a good job of caring for their family members. But just as there is positive anecdotal evidence, there is also the negative. Krabbe stated, "One of the first things that I heard about Gracedale, when I got here, was never sent anybody that you care about to that home, because they will be subject to horrible treatment."
"One in 10 Americans over 60 years old is subject to abuse and mistreatment, and a nursing home that adds to that abuse is not useful in this county," she added. She argued that county tax dollars should be spent on things that actually benefit people.
As she spoke and Council listened, the state Department of Health was wrapping up yet another visit to the home. Hopefully, County Council will be told what's going on this time. From what I'm told, it's more bad news.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.