Advocacy

Founding Member. Elder Voice Family Advocates. Minnesota.

Board Member. Long-Term Care Community Coalition. NYC

Link to 2-minute video entitled Without the Voice of Elders:

Data-driven advocacy for improvements in the quality of care and safety of elders in general and those living with dementia in long-term care homes and the community has been a very important and rewarding experience for me over the years.

The following is one example of such recent advocacy work.

Since 2017, as one of the founding members, I’ve been involved in various ways with Elder Voice Family Advocates (Minnesota) on different research, educational, and advocacy initiatives aimed at improving the the safety of vulnerable and frail elders in assisted living residences and nursing homes across Minnesota.

Among other activities, we focus on using maltreatment data to educate the pubic and policy makers on the urgent need to develop policies and practices aimed at preventing elder neglect, abuse, financial exploitation, and thefts of opioid pain medications from elders in long-term care settings in Minnesota.

One such initiative was a study I led in 2019 with Elder Voice’s Board Member Anne Sterner (with the great help of Debbie Singer and a few other volunteers who are all Elder Voice members ).

In the study, we examined 125 Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Office of Health Facility Complaints’ (OHFC) investigation reports substantiated by the agency as Neglect leading to serious psychological and physical harm (including a large number of serious bodily injuries and deaths).

We obtained access to the maltreatment data through my Data Practices Request to MDH OHFC (the request was funded by Elder Voice Family Advocates).

The time-sensitive and intensive study which was funded by Stevens Square Foundation culminated in a report entitled Inhumane and Deadly Neglect Revealed in State Assisted Living Facilities (April 22, 2019).

You can access the Elder Voice’s report here: https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/a84837_dc81787616984b6ab83bacfb29339613.pdf

The alarming trends in allegations and substantiation rate of various forms of maltreatment and the dozens of detailed descriptions of the horrific and traumatic neglectful incidents examined in the study (a sample of which are included in the report) were instrumental in Elder Voice’s advocacy at the Capitol and passage of the first assisted living licensure in Minnesota during the 2019 legislative session.

The licensure has gone into effect on August 1st 2021!

Serres, C. (July 31, 2021). ‘Lives will be saved’: New protections for Minnesota seniors in assisted living go into effect. The Star Tribune. Link: https://tinyurl.com/tue8fdhn

A key component of our project was the innovative development of what we called Summary of Conclusion; which in one page provides a summary of the trajectory of the neglectful events leading to the harm to the resident. We believe that this brief summary of the (otherwise lengthy) MDH reports enables the public and policy makes to quickly become familiar with the varied heathcare-related safety problems and the urgent need to address them in policy, legislation, and care practice.

I continue to be inspired by this small group of mostly women who had their parents and spouses neglected, abused, and financially exploited in assisted living residences and nursing homes in Minnesota.

They and Suzy Scheller (Scheller Legal Solutions) realized that forming an advocacy group — Elder Voice Family Advocates — will enable their voice and through them their elder relative’s voice to be heard at the state Capitol.

I believe that through this advocacy work, under the thoughtful and skilled leadership of Kris Sundberg and Jean Peters, already changed the lives of thousands of vulnerable and frail long-term care residents across Minnesota. It kept many elders safer than they were before.

This group of smart, compassionate, and dedicated people gives me the strength to continue my applied research studies on various forms of elder mistreatment with the aim of informing this advocacy work and enabling elders to realize their human right to live in a safe long-term care environment.

You can read here a letter from Kris Sundberg & Jean Peters describing some of my contributions to the mission of Elder Voice Family Advocates:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

— Margaret Mead