BOOM IN DAY CARE FOR ADULTS SOARING NUMBERS STRESS STATE POWER TO REGULATE CENTERS.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer An alternative to staying home with the TV or being tucked away in a nursing home, adult day health care centers have seen their numbers explode (1) To break down an assembly into its component pieces. Contrast with implode. (2) To decompress data back to its original form. in recent years, from a dozen 20 years ago statewide to more than 200 today. But with the rapid growth and 100 more applications in the pipeline for centers mostly in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , state regulators are struggling to keep up with the workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of labor While a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. and ensure centers are run properly with quality care. ``It's overwhelming to us, in just the sheer numbers,'' said Janet Janet: see Clouet, Jean. JANET - Joint Academic NETwork Roberts, manager of the adult day health care division at the state Department of Aging. ``To us, it kind of reflects the need is there.'' Swamped "Swamped" is the seventeenth episode of The Batman's second season. It originally aired in North America on June 11, 2005. Plot Synopsis Killer Croc, a half-man, half reptile plans to submerge all of Gotham in water in order to facilitate his plundering of the city. with new applications - it's taken a year for the state to approve some centers - the Department of Aging last year bolstered bol·ster n. A long narrow pillow or cushion. tr.v. bol·stered, bol·ster·ing, bol·sters 1. To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion. 2. its staff of one person assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. to handle the centers. But another request to boost the department's staff in fiscal 2001 is caught up in the wrangling over this year's state budget, Roberts said. The Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
``The state's ability to respond - just by nature of its bureaucracy - is slow,'' said Lydia Missaelides, executive director of the California Association of Adult Day Services in Sacramento. ``The outcome has been just these tremendous delays in being able to review and process applications,'' she said. For 20 years, adult day health care centers have provided an alternative for adults, particularly seniors, needing medical attention. With more medical components than a senior center but without the live-in setting of a nursing home, day care centers provide activities and friendship for ill adults and a break for caregivers. Stroke victims, Alzheimer's patients and others can spend the day participating in social events, meals and physical therapy before returning home to families or hired nurses. A state law in 1995 dramatically changed the industry, allowing for- profit companies to set up centers that had previously been left to nonprofit organizations Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. , officials said. Business owners need not have health care backgrounds and a range of new providers have stepped into the marketplace where MediCal pays $66 per day for participants who qualify. Last spring, the state Attorney General's Office filed criminal charges against two owners of the Happy Days Adult Day Health Care Center in Glendale saying they filed false, fraudulent The description of a willful act commenced with the Specific Intent to deceive or cheat, in order to cause some financial detriment to another and to engender personal financial gain. claims for services and defrauded the state program $20,000, officials said. The case is pending. Families praise care centers in general, saying they say allow ill adults to remain active while those at home - elderly spouses or children with families of their own - have a break from round-the-clock care. In some communities, niche markets A niche market also known as a target market is a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector. By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. have developed with centers catering to specific cultural groups and neighborhoods, officials said. ``I feel so indebted in·debt·ed adj. Morally, socially, or legally obligated to another; beholden. [Middle English endetted, from Old French endette, past participle of endetter, to oblige to what they are adding to the lives of so many people,'' said Helen Knopoff, whose husband, Milton, goes a few days a week to the Valley Storefront in North Hollywood, one of the area's oldest centers. Helen, a retired teacher, said it was slightly more than a year ago when Milton, 66, was reading e-mail from their adult son and she realized something had gone terribly wrong. Her husband started asking what their son meant when he wrote that his family of four had gone on an outing - Milton had forgotten he was a grandfather. Reluctant at first to attend a center, the retired county administrator - who is going through tests to determine why his memory fails - recently had his artwork exhibited at a center show and makes sure not to schedule doctor's appointments on Wednesdays when the center hosts a piano player. Martin Klein, 69, has been coming to the center five days a week ever since a stroke 11 years ago left the former television composer unable to speak beyond the mostly single-word comments he musters up. ``I had to go back to work,'' explained his wife, Myrna, who runs a hand-knitting yarn yarn, fibers or filaments formed into a continuous strand for use in weaving textiles or for the manufacture of thread. A staple fiber, such as cotton, linen, or wool, is made into yarn by carding, combing (for fine, long staples only), drawing out into roving, then company with their son in Van Nuys. ``We needed a place where he could be comfortable in a safe environment. ... This is a friendship palace.'' And Robert Collet enrolled his 83-year-old mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. , Aleida, who is fit and mobile but is also unable to talk after having suffered a stroke in 1994. ``I got to the point where I didn't have much of a life,'' said Robert, a former financial manager who added a room onto his home for his mom and now works in real estate so his schedule is more flexible. Looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. options With an aging population that is expected to grow from 14 percent of the state's residents in 1990 to 23 percent in 2030, families are looking for options for senior care, officials said. ``What adult day health care offers people is the chance to still be active members in the community and contribute in the best way they can still,'' said Susie Forer-Dehrey, a former director of the Valley Storefront and now an associate executive director at Jewish Family Services, which operates the center. Many participants qualify for MediCal, officials said, but some pay out of pocket - and at costs as much as $75 a day, up to $1,000 a month, which leaves the centers out of reach for many families. Someone setting up a center goes through an application and review process by the Department of Aging, which is followed up with a site licensing visit by the Department of Health Services, another on-site visit within 90 days of opening and then annual visits by both agencies. But because the Department of Aging has been flooded with new applicants - receiving 20 a month during a high point last year - it has focused on checking existing centers to ensure compliance, a priority that has left 125 new applications waiting, said Roberts. ``The number of applications just avalanched, and when that happened, the state was not prepared at all,'' said Judy Canterbury, whose Cantebury Consulting helps new applicants navigate (1) "Surfing the Web." To move from page to page on the Web. (2) To move through the menu structure in a software application. the process. ``They should've seen it coming,'' she said. ``They're really kind of doing catch-up on things because they got so far behind.'' Canterbury said the result has been that new providers haven't always had the technical support from the state to ensure they are following regulations because the state staff is too busy. ``A lot of these people have been kind of floundering around to find their own way,'' she said. She sees common mistakes new centers make - staffers not realizing they can't take a break that would leave patients without care, missed deadlines for medications, forms incorrectly filled out. ``They don't always come from a health care background so they wouldn't know that,'' Canterbury said. Canterbury, who said her clients included the operators of the Glendale facility under investigation by the state, added that new applicants often spend large sums shelling out cash for building rents and payroll that need to be in place before the state approves licenses. ``There's been a real problem for the provider who's trying to get in there to provide a service,'' said Canterbury. The Department of Aging responded that delays have been a result of the explosion in centers, but with extra staff hired last fiscal year, improvements are being made. Growth brings challenges The state Attorney General's Office, which initiated a new elder abuse Elder Abuse Definition Elder abuse is a general term used to describe harmful acts toward an elderly adult, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect, including self-neglect. unit last year, said ensuring quality care at all senior facilities is tops on its agenda. ``The Attorney General's Office has made elder abuse and fighting medical fraud a priority,'' said spokeswoman Sandra Michioku. ``There is concern and attention being given.'' Still, Roberts said, the growth poses challenges - only now is the state drafting regulations to handle problem centers. In the past, with just a handful of centers, shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
Missaelides' group is helping to draft additional guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. for centers, and some centers in Los Angeles County recently formed a new coalition to tackle issues. ``Trying to get those kind of policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental in place has not been done yet,'' said Roberts. ``We've got a lot of shortfalls in our program.'' |
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