Sitting in the French Provincial living room of the home, you couldn't imagine a nicer place for your mother. "It's rest time now. Everyone has to rest between one and three," Mrs. Urban says. You wonder if your mother necessarily would want to rest between those hours. But you go on through the house. "The rate is $416, including tax," Mrs. Urban says, and you begin to see why everything is so nice. You see the house, and another building with bedrooms in the back, equally as nice. The rooms are cheerful and clean. The bathtubs have handholds, and there are ramps instead of steps leading to the buildings. You tell Mrs. Urban you will call her. Pat Madrid's boarding home, Mi Casita, at 416 Arno SE, is a big, old place. You walk into the living room and there are maybe nine old ladies seated in chairs and on sofas against the wall. Two of them are looking at a magazine, but most just sit and stare, saying nothing. "They are over the hill," Mrs. Madrid explains, indicating their senility. The boarders have just finished lunch. The dining room table has a large fern as its centerpiece, and the table is clean. You visit another boarding house and it is the worst you have seen. Most of the boarders live in a rectangular building in back of the owner's home. And the building is filthy. The bathroom sink has standing water in it on two consecutive visits you pay the home, almost two weeks apart. The second time you call, it has what unmistakably appears to be human excrement smeared on the side. The front room is inhabited by a World War I veteran, the old man himself tells you. He gestures in the air with dirty, arthritic hands. His shirt and pants are caked with dirt, the neck of the shirt closed with a large safety pin. The old man's room is no longer than the bed he sleeps in. It, too, is dirty, and it smells of urine. In it, there is a small table and chair. In warm weather, like today, the old man sits outside in a chair. In winter, you guess, he must live in his little box. The second room in the line is inhabited by a "mean Indian," the owner tells you. But he lets you in to see. You can barely stand it, the odor is of urine is so strong, and you leave quickly. You go into the main house to see where the food is prepared. The old stove where the boarders' meals are kept warm is streaked with grease and dirt. "I have to do everything myself," the owner's wife says. "Sometimes my daughter comes to help." And you wonder if this woman who looks herself to be in her 60s should be running a home for nine aged and mentally ill people who need a little more than she can give. The next place you visit is Connie Padilla's boarding home. It looks like paradise. Clean, cheerful, with everyone out of bed and moving around, it is a most pleasant place. The beds are neatly made, the counters clear and tidy, the bathrooms scrubbed to a shine. "Go visit the other homes before you make your decision," Mrs. Padilla urges you. And you do. You visit many homes of all moods and appearances. But a week later, you know what you knew in the beginning: that there are many things you cannot tell on a brief visit to a boarding home. You read in the paper that the proprietor of a home in the South Valley has been arrested on a charge of beating an 82-year-old woman. It was a home you had visited. And you had thought it was nice. Appendix 2 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FROM WITNESSES ITEM 1. LETTER FROM ANNE BECKMAN, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS, ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX., TO SENATOR PETE V. DOMENICI, DATED MAY 31, 1974 HONORABLE SIR: Following my testimony at the hearing Saturday, May 25, you requested that I send you some facts on how cutting off the Social Security Income of the elderly, could be a "Barrier to Health Care for Older Americans". CASE NO. 1 She is 69 and he is 65. Their combined monthly income is slightly over $400.00 (Social Security). But due to protracted illness of the wife who has been hospitalized following a fall, they only have slightly over $5000.00 left in what was once a sizable savings. The cost of her care in a rest home, rent, telephone, her medication and doctors' fees leaves him with approximately $20.00 a month for insurance, transportation and food. Because his wife needs constant day time attention, he must stay at the rest home during the day. He could work part-time at his trade (bookkeeper). However, most bookkeeping jobs are full-time and he didn't see how he could lose part of his Social Security as it takes a long time to be reinstated to the full amount after it is once cut off. We were just informed that his wife is again in the hospital, so he had to leave his part-time job again to stay with her. If he could work and earn more money than $200.00 a month during his wife's stable stages and place more money in their savings without losing his "safety value" of Social Security, he would be able to manage better when he has to be with her during her comatose stages. (We have on our file many similar cases.) CASE NO. 2 She is 62. She has not applied for Social Security as she is able to work and earns, on the average, $500.00 a month. She has a 32 year old daughter who had been healthy all her life until she suffered a brain damage from an accident. Her three children were taken from her when her husband divorced her and this has been a very traumatic experience for the daughter. The mother supported the daughter and provided all her needs including a full-time "livein" until the daughter became ambulatory. This was very costly and the mother used up all her savings, and sold many of her possessions, and borrowed a sizeable sum of money. The mother could afford to give her daughter a good home and take care of her if she could get her Social Security and retain all of it while working. As it is, she is worrying herself sick, because her daughter must take welfare in order to live and receive Medicaid. The mother has to wait in the free clinic with her daughter from 8 a.m. to way in the afternoon to see a doctor and the doctors change quite often. The mother is paying off debts incurred by her daughter. CASE NO. 3 This older couple have a 42 year old retarded son whom they have loved and cherished all these years. Their income from Social Security is $62.10 each as they were always self-employed and failed to file their income for Social Security benefits. They managed very well on this amount and the part-time work they could get under $200.00 a month. Then the father suffered severe burns and lost the use of his hands--she is getting by on child care jobs but would like to go back to her secretarial work, thereby, losing her safety value in her Social Security check. She is frightened that she will be needed at home at times and would lose wages due to this. If she could get home care for her husband and son daily, she could hold down a good job. Somehow, she feels, she cannot give up her Social Security check. So they went on welfare. (With age differences this type of a case is frequent.) CASE NO. 4 The husband has been ill for many years. Both are 67. She keeps on working to support him. She could use the added income from her Social Security, but is earning too much to qualify. Her sister who married a very wealthy man, who is also, now an invalid, gets her Social Security every month, while they enjoy trips to Europe, etc. Makes one wonder!!! The sister is 65. (This case can be multiplied numerous times in many other instances.) ITEM 2. A SHORT RANGE PROGRAM FOR LONG RANGE BOARDING HOME SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT, SUBMITTED BY DR. ROBERT J. MCCARTHY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE BUDGET This grant proposal includes two alternate proposals-Project A and Project B. Understanding of the budget breakdown may necessitate reference to the Projects' timetables. To each yearly budget must be added 25.76% of salary and wages for overhead/ administrative costs as required by the University of New Mexico and as approved as budget items by federal grants. Part of the 25.76% may be negotiated for in-kind match. The budgets may have to be revised slightly to consider inflationary rises not accounted for in the initial preparation of the grant in March, 1974. (Draft proposal continued on p. 1130.) BUDGET-PROJECT A 1st year: 3 staff (mental health workers 111, IV and/or V and licensed practical nurse) at $6,400.. 1 clinical psychologist (planner-coordinator): 25 percent time... 15 percent fringe.. Total.. Consultant Fees: Occupational, physical, corrective and/or recreational therapist etc., at $10 per Local mileage... Miscellaneous: Part time space rental and phone; typewriter, stationery, printing, et cetera.. Total..... 2, 157 23,730 8,000 8,989 32.719 Income. Consideration, but no estimate, may be given to reimbursement for approved psychiatric/psychological treatment during part of the project period. It is also suggested that consideration be given to the possible realization of one of the objectives of the project, i.e., supplemental support to boarding home operators by the health and social services department or the department of hospitals and institutions. As such, reimbursement for operator training may be obtained, during the 3d project year. Food at $700 for 6 mo of operation.. Rent at $300 per month for 12 mo as used for office, staff training, and renovation. Utilities including phone at $100 per month. Equipment, household furnishings (see attached). Renovation: including rugs and drapes, safety equipment e.g. handrails, ramps, et cetera.. Audio-visual equipment (see attached).. Training, including travel, books, and journals. Total.. 10,000 5,800 5,400 5,000 2.479 35, 079 5, 262 40, 341 1,375 41, 716 41,716 4, 200 3,600 1,200 8,000 3,000 600 2,839 2,500 67,655 Possible income.-12 residents receiving SSI: $140-20 for personal use=$120 per month program timetable: 6th-8th month: progressive enrollment of residents; 8th-12th months full enrollment. 12 residents $120 per mo= $1,400 per mo. $1,400 per month X 5 mo = $7,200. Plus $1,400 from initial 2 mo= $8,640. Unknown amount generated through possible psychiatric services. Possible budget: $67.6558,640 = $59,015. Possible income.-12 residents receiving SSI of $120 per months X 12 month $17,280. Plus unknown SSI increase. Plus unknown reimbursement for psychiatric services. Possible budget: $67,596-17,280=$50,316. |