Pro Seniors Gathers Task Force to Address Inappropriate Discharges

Pro Seniors Gathers Task Force to Address Inappropriate Discharges

On Tuesday, October 17th, Pro Seniors and representatives from Adult Protective Services, the State Ombudsman Office, Strategies to End Homelessness, Center for Independent Living Options, Easter Seals, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, and CareStar gathered to discuss the region’s growing problem of discharging seniors from nursing homes into shelters.  Each organization has seen an increase and the data appears to be unable to correctly track the instances because the anecdotal observations are higher than the statistical data.

Nursing homes are supposed to discharge a resident in a safe and orderly fashion, and shelters do require that guests be able to self-care.  However, organizations who serve seniors are handing cases that involve seniors who were involuntarily discharged and aren’t able to self-care.

The task force has plans to meet again and has formed a work group to determine actual steps to take next to prevent these unsafe and inappropriate discharges.