Author

Thomas Wiest

CEO, Aspirience Home Care

I’m sure I am not the only one with this question.

As I have read the stories about awarding the 35W bridge contract to a company called Flatiron Constructors, out of Colorado, I get the feeling that there is, indeed, something going on that I don’t understand.

The Flatiron people came in $57 million more expensive than other, local bidders and tied for the longest construction time, 437 days, with another company called Walsh Construction and American Bridge.

What to do with $57 million? I have some ideas.

We could care for almost 900 Minnesotans for a year in a single room, private nursing home. This would be a 24/7 care facility with full room and board and on site nurses. Pretty comprehensive care.

We could care for about 1,000 Minnesotans for a year in a two-person shared nursing home. Same as above but shared by two residents often creating better companion care for both

We could care for almost 2,000 Minnesotans for a year in an assisted living facility. Often called adult day centers where the elderly can be taken to be with other elderly on a part time basis.

We could care for over 3,500 Minnesotans for a year part time with a Personal Care Assistant. Provide companion, bathing, housekeeping, cooking and other routine assistance consistent with activities of daily living.

Better yet, why don’t we take the extra $57 million and put it to use to rebuild the Veterans nursing home dilema. The entire yearly budget for the state funded Vets homes is only $36 million and we would have plenty of change left over. Just a thought.

It’s good to know, Aspirience Home Care can help you with qualified home care.

Author

Thomas Wiest

CEO, Aspirience Home Care

Elder abuse once again slips into the news as I was watching a news story of a home worker repeatedly striking a bed bound 90 year old gentleman for whom she was providing care.

Will we let our outrage fade into the background until it happens to our loved one? Will we learn from this event and be prepared when it is our father needing care?

A daughter, needing help for her father while she worked, hired the worker directly, not using the services of a home care company.

This is an all too familiar story: adult children trying to do the best they can to take care of their parents and, at the same time, deal with their own growing family and becoming the victims of unqualified caregivers.

Minnesota is aging rapidly, and soon 25 percent of our state’s population will be elderly. By the year 2030, the number of Minnesotans over the age of 65 will double from where it is at today.

Spouses, daughters and sons, grandchildren and others who have the responsibility to make decisions about who will be caring for a loved one have a better choice about whom to invite into their home, the right home care company.

Minnesota is fortunate to have a large number of qualified home care companies across the state that provide a variety of programs and services employing workers who have had training, had their backgrounds checked and who are given ongoing oversight and supervision.

Home care companies provide services funded by Medicare, Medicaid, insurance policies and private funds. Most home-care companies operate under state and federal regulations and have oversight of their programs and operations by the Department of Human Services.

Many of the companies that do not provide federal- and state-funded services adhere to national standards for the employment of workers and the operations of the home-care business.

But calling a home-care company is not enough. The consumer or purchaser of home care services must make informed decisions, asking questions and demanding answers, requiring documentation and reading the “fine print.”

With an aging population and a workforce shortage, the problem of elder abuse is bound to get worse. Using the services of professional home care companies, being informed about service options and taking advantage of the resources to minimize risk are a few of the ways to prevent elder abuse of any kind.

It’s good to know, Aspirience Home Care can help you with qualified home care.

Author

Thomas Wiest

CEO, Aspirience Home Care

The board that runs the Minneapolis Veterans Home agreed last Thursday to spend an extra $671,000 over the next year as it seeks to resolve rule violations and complaints of inadequate health care.

Can you believe that, $671,000!

This spending includes $546,000 for another year of consulting work, on top of the work from last year, and up to $125,000 that will go to the Minnesota Department of Health for an outside monitor who the department will select to keep close tabs on the troubled home.

In return, the 402-bed facility can continue to operate.

In July, I wrote about the Veterans Home coming under fire and almost losing its license. Over the past two years, the state has cited the home for 67 rule violations and fined it $42,300 when nine of them weren’t corrected on time. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs found 33 violations last year.

Now they plan to spend $546,000 to a consulting company to tell them and us what we already know and $125,000 to someone to oversee that?

Jeff Johnson, Chairman of the Minnesota Veterans Homes Board was recently quoted as saying “We don’t really have a choice. We have to do this, spend the money.” Does everyone realize that almost 2% of the total $36 million budget for the Minneapolis home is being spent on consultants above?

“But we are not sacrificing care to pay for these services,” he said. “We’re improving care, and making sure the improvements will stick this time.”

What if it doesn’t stick? That question didn’t get anwered.

Governor Tim Pawlenty ordered the board in 2005 to hire a consultant to assess care at the five veterans homes. The consultant, Health Dimensions Group of Minneapolis, found care and leadership problems in Minneapolis but, no major problems at homes in Luverne, Silver Bay, Fergus Falls and Hastings.

Last February, after inspectors found that three veterans at the Minneapolis home died after neglect or medical errors, Pawlenty ordered the Health Department to begin monitoring its day-to-day operations until a consultant could take over. Health Dimensions became that consultant.

The governor also set up a commission to investigate how to resolve decades of regulatory problems at the Minneapolis home and whether the system is governed properly. That commission expects to complete its work next month.

Under the board’s agreement with the Health Department on Thursday, the home will be given a two-year conditional license, which can be revoked if serious problems re-emerge.

It’s good to know, Aspirience Home Care can help you when others may not be able to.

Author

Thomas Wiest

CEO, Aspirience Home Care

I was talking with someone associated with the Muscular Dystrophy Association the other day and she was telling me about little Levi and how he is doing so well with his neuromuscular disease. I just had to share her story and what half-day home care has done for this little patient and his family.

Levi wasn’t suppose to walk, or eat without his feeding tube or live past his first birthday. All of which have happened, and with grace.

Levi turned 4 years old this past Saturday and is outliving and outpacing most expectations from doctors, nurses and even his own family.

He started out life in the Neuro-Intensive Care unit after he was born in Minot, ND. They were not aware that he was going to be born this way.

No one is supposed to be born this way.

No one really knew why he was not normal either. Doctors and specialists conducted tests for a year and a half. Something wasn’t right with him and all the family knew was that their little boy was fighting against an invisible illness.

They brought him home and had half-day, personal care assistant, home care, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s been like that for the past 4 years now.

After being sent to Rochester, Minnesota little Levi was diagnosed with a mitochrondial defect. But under that heading comes 50 other diseases that doctors were not able to pin-point.

Then after a second muscle biopsy another diagnosis of congenetal myopathy. Another condition with 50 or so diseases underneath its umbrella. It was not looking good as both diseases have no cure.

So that’s where he is. We have congenetal myopathy and a mitochrondial defect and they are both unclassified and the family has no idea which ones they are. But little Levi just keeps on improving and improving.

Now at age four with so much he wasn’t supposed to do, he’s doing so much. He has learned sign language to communicate, wheels himself around the house in his custom sized wheelchair and he plays baseball.

Levi may only be about the size of a one year old, he may only have the cognitive abilities of a two year old but he is not about to slow down.

His progress has been aided by the Muscular Dystrophy Association and a solid PCA home care provider, helping the family with resources and special needs.

It’s good to know, Aspirience Home Care can help you with home care like little Levi.