TRENDS IN LONG-TERM CARE U.S. Compress Sem to. Spiel Tommittee 3. PUBLIC HEALTHmmittee on RA Long- BEFORE THE are COMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM CARE OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Public Healt Part 1. Trends in Long-Term Care, Washington, D.C., July 30, 1969 Part 3. Trends in Long-Term Care, Hartford, Conn., January 15, 1970 Part 4. Trends in Long-Term Care, Washington, D.C., February 9, 1970 (Marietta Fire) Part 9. Trends in Long-Term Care, Washington, D.C., August 19, 1970 (Salmonella) التور 12-29-71 Statement by Senator Frank E. Moss, chairman, presiding.. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Steinfeld, Jesse L., M.D., Surgeon General, Public Health Service. Sencer, David J., M.D., Director, Federal Communicable Disease Center, Rosenberg, Mark, member, board of directors, Health Facilities Associa- 709 TRENDS IN LONG-TERM CARE (Salmonella) WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1970 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM CARE, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:40 a.m., in room 3110, New Senate Office Building, Senator Frank E. Moss chairman, presiding. Present: Senators Moss, Williams, Yarborough, Young, Hansen, Fannin, and Saxbe. Also present: Senator Mathias, and Representative Pryor. Staff members present: William E. Oriol, staff director; John Guy Miller, minority staff director; Val Halamandaris, professional staff member; Dorothy McCamman, special consultant; Patricia G. Slinkard, chief clerk; and Peggy Fecik, assistant clerk. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR FRANK E. MOSS, CHAIRMAN Senator Moss. The subcommittee will come to order. This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Long-Term Care of the Special Senate Committee on Aging. We are pleased to have with us this morning Senator Williams who is the chairman of the full committee who will sit with us this morning. Also, Congressman Pryor has been invited to join us who has done some very excellent work in this field and we value his counsel. On August 1, the press carried reports of a salmonella outbreak and a substantial loss of life in a Baltimore nursing home. By August 7, the Washington Post had labeled the outbreak an "epidemic" reporting that 107 patients in the Gould Convalesarium had suffered salmonella poisoning with 21 deaths. With the rising death toll standing at 27, we are here to look for answers. We seek to document for the public record the events of a tragedy. The record we compile will be studied with the hope of preventing similar occurrences. But our scope of inquiry will be wider than establishing responsibility for the Baltimore epidemic. Nursing home residents are consumers our most unprotected group of consumers. Nor is our scope of inquiry completed by stating our concern for proper food services within an institutional setting. The suggestion is made that the events of the Baltimore epidemic perhaps echo the warnings made by Rachel Carson and other students of the environment. |