Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org (Adam Selene) (11/10/89)
For those whose sysops keep AIDS/ARC on a "short fuse" here's the background
material:
+
+ To date there have been about 1,000 PWAs living in
+ Nassau and Suffolk Counties, (Long Island, NY) and
+ until THIS year only ONE had been able to gain admission
+ to a nursing home. The other PWAs whose health or
+ financial circumstances kept them from returning to their
+ own dwellings have been cared for in acute-care hospitals.
+
+
+The largest nursing home facility of the two counties is the Holly Patterson
Geriatric Center ... which has NEVER admitted a PWA ... and whose
administration RESISTS admitting PWAs on three grounds:
+ 1> They are not geriatic patients
+ 2> They constitute a health and morale problem for the geriatric
+ residents of the home.
+ 3> They constitute a public relations problem with the families
+ of the geriatric residents.
+
+_The State Health and Hospitals Commisioner has ordered an
investigation with an eye toward prosecution and sanctions ... having
ruled that the above reasons are neither valid nor sufficient.
+
+THE SAGA CONTINUES:
+
On October 3,
+ The (County) Patterson Home's admissions department reported they
+ "have never seen any referal applications"
+ (on behalf of PWAs.)
+ An inspection team was sent to the Patterson home to "check the
paperwork" against the records of admissions requests on file with
the County Department of Health and Human Services.
+
+
+
+On November 1st
+
State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod reported
that Nassau County Executive Thomas Gullotta had assured him that PWAs
would be admitted to the A Holly Patterson Geriatric Center.
+
+ On November 2nd, Executive Gullotta denied that any
+ such agreement had been reached.
+
+In a prepared statement Mr Gullotta said he
+
+ " REMAINED OPPOSED TO ADMITTING PWAs to the Patterson Home
+ EVEN THOUGH THE STATE SAYS THE COUNTY WOULD BE VIOLATING
+ THE LAW IF IT FAILED TO ACCEEPT AIDS PATIENTS ... "
+
+ "Based on that fact," Gullotta said, "I have asked Social Services
Commissioner Josheph D'Elia to talk to state health offials to
determine how the county can comply with the state directive WITHOUT
JEOPARDIZING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OUR FRAIL ELDERLY or displacing
those seniors who desparately need skilled nursing care. NO
AGREEMENT AS BEEN REACHED TO ADMIT AIDS PATIENTS".
+
+The statement concludes by saying that
+
+ " The county recognizes the need to provide nursing care for
+ AIDS victims (sic) and fully intends to meet that need by
+ exploring alternatives including a bi-county facility.
+
+State health department sources said that Axelrod has ruled out a
proposed 70-bed factility exclusively for PWAs because no site for the
facility has yet been chosen or approved and construction is expected
to take at least two years from the date of site approval.
+
+ County sources said that Executive Gulotta "will try to find
+ some other existing facility, if the (public) reaction to
+ AIDS patients at Patterson is too strong."
+
+According to LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY a "highly placed source" in the
county administration said:
+
+ The county executive reacted negatively to Axelrod's disclosure
+ because it comes less than a week before the Nov 7 county
+ elections.
+
+The source said:
+
+ "Nassau has 200,000 senior citizens and we do not want
+ to alienate a populaton that large."
+
00 250/450 265/3 7 371/1 382/1
--
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