|
Illinois
Council on Long Term Care
Illinois Health Care Association
Life Services Network of Illinois
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2006
95%
of Illinois Legislative Candidates Support Funding
to Modernize Nursing Home Environments
CHICAGO – Ninety-five
percent of 57 state candidates responding to a recent
survey feel that Illinois should create a $100 million
bonding program to convert existing nursing homes into
more comfortable and home-like settings for care, based
on innovative practices in the field.
“Unlike hospitals, nursing homes
are truly the `homes’ for the residents we serve,”
said Dave Voepel, executive director for the Illinois
Health Care Association. “Environmental factors play
an extremely important role in optimizing these
residents’ physical and emotional health. We are very
pleased that our state candidates are committed to
creating more `person-centered’ settings for our
state’s elderly and disabled populations.”
The Illinois Council on Long Term
Care, the Illinois Health Care Association and Life
Services Network of Illinois recently distributed a
questionnaire about the key issues affecting the future
of long term care to all state candidates running for
representative and senator.
The majority of today’s nursing
homes were built in the 1970’s and 1980’s. At that
time, the federal and state regulations for nursing
homes emphasized that these facilities should resemble
“mini-hospitals” – sterile, clinical and
institutional. Architectural design initiatives of the
past ten years have revolutionized nursing home
construction and renovation projects to encourage
individualization, privacy and social involvement.
“Our profession has made some
exciting progress,” said Dennis Bozzi, executive
director with Life Services Network of Illinois. “Some
facilities are using pets, animals, and children to
create nurturing, home-like environments. A number of
facilities have divided their buildings into smaller
resident communities, each with its own décor, staff,
activity programs, and living areas. Others are starting
over from scratch, creating smaller, freestanding homes
for the elderly."
Many of these needed infrastructure
and environmental changes are beyond the financial
capability of facilities that rely on Medicaid
reimbursement. The state legislative candidates support
establishing a $100 million bonding program in Illinois
to enable nursing home owners to make their environments
more comfortable and home-like.
“An Illinois bonding program
would provide a line of credit for low interest
loans,” said Terrence Sullivan, executive director of
the Illinois Council on Long Term Care. “Another
approach is to amortize any modernization projects in
the nursing home Medicaid capital reimbursement rate
over five years rather than the current thirty. The
advantage to the state is that the funding is federally
matched. Similar programs have been successful in
Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio and
Wisconsin.”
"Nursing
home residents are part of the greatest
generation," said Representative Elaine Nekritz
(D-57, Northbrook). "They deserve a comfortable,
stimulating and home-like environment. As a state
legislator, I am excited about the prospect of
partnering with the long term care community to
modernize facilities around the state and improve the
quality of life for these important Illinois
citizens."
#
# #
The state’s three long term care
associations – the Illinois Council on Long Term Care,
the Illinois Health Care Association, and Life Services
Network of Illinois – have joined together as the
Illinois Long Term Care Coalition to educate
policymakers about their commitment to care. This
coalition represents more than 60,000 healthcare
professionals, therapists and caregivers serving 80,000
residents in more than 800 specialized nursing and
rehabilitation facilities in Illinois.
|
