PROTECTING PATIENT CARE — PEF Region 11 Coordinator Alan Schulkin
testifies at a recent state Assembly hearing in Manhattan
about the condemnable conditions found in adult homes for
the mentally ill. PEF President Roger Benson also
testified and offered lawmakers recommendations to
improve quality of care. — Photo by Bill Sachs
DOH and OMH under fire
for inadequate care
Deplorable conditions in adult homes prompt PEF to take
action
By DEBORAH A. MILES
PEF leaders are speaking out about the appalling
conditions at adult homes for the mentally ill.
Testifying in May before a state Assembly committee in
Manhattan, President Roger Benson and Region 11
Coordinator Alan Schulkin blasted the state for failing
to ensure quality care of the clients.
“It is reprehensible that the state has allowed such
conditions of squalor, negligence, abuse, fraud,
prostitution, drug dealing and even death to continue
over so many years,” Benson told lawmakers.
“The state Department of Health (DOH) and the Office
of Mental Health (OMH) have a legal and ethical
obligation to care for these people. Instead, they have
abandoned them.”
Benson also offered several recommendations for improving
the abysmal conditions in adult homes — which came
under fire in a recent series of articles in The New York
Times. The abuses have also been documented by state
Comptroller H. Carl McCall and the Commission on the
Quality of Care.
For example, Benson recommended removing the profit
motive for adult-home operators, increasing the use of
shared staff and hiring additional DOH inspectors.
A PEF member who coordinates the DOH facilities said
understaffing is a major problem.
“We have five DOH inspectors and five contract
staff,” said Kathleen Osburn, a DOH Adult Homes
Program Manager. “We are responsible for 120
facilities in our region and at least 10 additional
facilities of the Long Island Regional Office.”
Roadblocks to records
Since Benson’s testimony in May, Osburn said DOH has
hired three more inspectors, all untrained. But another
roadblock she faces is gaining access to records compiled
by on-site mental health teams.
“This limits our ability to do inspections, because
we can’t gain access to those records to ensure that
people are receiving adequate care and services,”
Osburn said.
“There has to be joint responsibility and sharing of
information.”
The responsibility lies with DOH, according to Osburn,
because “we’re the certifying agency that does
the inspections and it’s our legal department that
proceeds with enforcement when necessary.
“Reports of a serious nature are issued quickly. But
the way the working system is set-up creates an extremely
unhealthy environment and is a prelude to failure,”
she said.
“We need to have a supervisory management structure.
The position of a program director, someone I could
report to, has remained vacant. It’s a totally
nonsensical arrangement.”
Double duty
doesn’t help
“The management structure weakens the system and is
unfair,” said Osburn. Her civil service title is
specialist in adult services 2 at grade 23, yet for
nearly three years, she’s performed the work of a
program manager, a grade 27 position.
Out-of-title work opens the door to the poor conditions
in adult homes. Many DOH inspectors, all PEF members, are
working out-of-title because of understaffing.
For example, a nutrition/medication inspector doubles as
a fire safety inspector, without being qualified or
trained in that area, according to Osburn.
Schulkin, a DOH management specialist 2, brought up that
issue in his testimony at the May hearing.
“Program and nutrition inspectors are doing their
job, plus that of a sanitarian,” he said. “The
NYC office does not have a single sanitarian on staff,
and there has been no explanation given for this deficit.
“We desperately need more staff to do the job we are
supposed to do — to protect the residents living in
adult homes,” Schulkin said. “And, at least
half of the inspections in the past three years have not
been done in the required time frame.”
Benson emphasized the adult home problems need immediate
attention.
“Let’s not wait until there is another crisis,
and quick-fix responses are made with a crisis mentality
rather than taking a long-term approach,” he said.
“We need a plan in which the needs of the mentally
ill take precedence over the desire to exploit federal
funding.”
|
The Communicator
July/August 2002
The Official Online Edition of
The New York State Public Employees
Federation
Inside This
Issue:
Features
ERI, 25/55 retirement
options
FAQs about ERI and 25/55
Contract Success: Schools
for the Deaf & Blind
PEF testifies on adult homes
Funding restored for youth
program
Workload hurting
nursing-home surveyors
Member works to empower
newcomers to USA
Departments
President's Message:
Mobilization forms results
You Said It:
Member Mobilization: Get
your Division mobilized
Members mailbag
Legislative Action: privacy
& parking
Health Notes: Empire Plan
enrollees counter costs
Retirees In Action:
Legislative issues homework
PEF Membership Benefits
Program &
Travel Corp: We've Moved to HQ
Union Matters
PEF PS&T members:
Contract Survey
Union honors parole officers
Four E. Board seats filled,
one at T&F vacant
PEF Scholarships Galore
NYS Museum, Archives,
Library to stay at SED
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PEF committee targets civil
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