Trends in Long-Term Care - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

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No impropriety of any k<strong>in</strong>d was <strong>in</strong>volved. I sought no special favors.
I paid no consideration of any k<strong>in</strong>d. These public officials correspond
so long as we have an elected representative form of a government and
so long as it is a part of our constitutional right to petition to government,:for
redress of grievances.
And for respond<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this manner and seek<strong>in</strong>g to secure decisions
based on merit of our applications, these public servants have been
maligned and their effort. characterized as an attempt to exert <strong>in</strong>fluence,
which is not correct.
Recently when a department of health file was publicly disclosed, I
discovered the basis for this bureaucratic paralysis. This department
of health file was based on such mis<strong>in</strong>formation, vicious rumor, false
charge that it staggers the imag<strong>in</strong>ation.
I hope that I will have the opportunity <strong>in</strong> the course of this hear<strong>in</strong>g
to demonstrate to you the <strong>in</strong>credible depth of this bureaucratic bungl<strong>in</strong>g
because then- you,]ike I, will f<strong>in</strong>ally beg<strong>in</strong> to understand what lies
beh<strong>in</strong>d this extraord<strong>in</strong>ary torrent of accusations.
The long-term concern of this committee is, of course, the nature
and quality of long-term care.
What is happen<strong>in</strong>g to Bergman-whether he was treated factually,
fairly, whether wild charges aga<strong>in</strong>st him will receive the k<strong>in</strong>d of balanced
evaluation that decency requires-is not really part of your
mandate.
But to keep the record straight, to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> my dignity and selfrespect
and to correct any misconceptions the public may have, I must
tell you today under oath that I am proud of what I have accomplished
<strong>in</strong> the nurs<strong>in</strong>g home <strong>in</strong>dustry dur<strong>in</strong>g the 30 years that I have been <strong>in</strong>
it.
The accusations of neglect, the horror stories pa<strong>in</strong>ted sensationally
<strong>in</strong> the press regard<strong>in</strong>g the mistreatment of elderly residents of nurs<strong>in</strong>g
homes which I have been affiliated with, are false, utterly false, totally
and unequivocally false.
I <strong>in</strong>vite you to talk to people who worked <strong>in</strong> the nurs<strong>in</strong>g homes,
speak to the former employees of the Towers, which closed because we
were unable to secure permission to transfer its residents to new facilities
we were prepar<strong>in</strong>g.
You will now learn that it was an old facility, yes, and that it suffered,
as every build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> upper Manhattan suffered, structurally.
But if you will speak to the employees or consider impartially the
service provided by its staff, you will f<strong>in</strong>d that it was, <strong>in</strong> the New York
nurs<strong>in</strong>g-home field, among the most considerate to its patients, and
among those which provide a wide range of therapy and service.
You are free to <strong>in</strong>terview anv former employee from Towers, gentlemen,
whether they are here today or not.
We will submit a list, and they are no longer <strong>in</strong> our employ. In fact,
speak with former Towers residents who have been transferred to more
modern facilities, I have been told that many have volunteered the
<strong>in</strong>formation that they wish they were back <strong>in</strong> the Towers Nurs<strong>in</strong>g
Home.
Organized society owes a duty to those who have been consigned to
health facilities to offer them the best of care and the most comfortable
surround<strong>in</strong>gs possible, just as it owes an obligation to the physically