Coomer Creek Neighborhood Association

Care for our Elders

More resources for elder care are available.

As our population ages, more resources are being made public to help evaluate and select from the care plans and places.
I receive regular calls on nursing home issues. One resource on patient rights and quality of care is Texas Advocates for Nursing Home Residents or www.etxweb.com TANHR also has links to the State of Texas yearly inspections by searching for facility quality on the TANHR site. Another is the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform in D.C at WWW.nccnhr.org.Both have inexpensive and excellent literature to order.The City of Garland has also added a good tool at the library .For Library card holders one can use the Eldercare data base which is very costly for an individual report.The city has made this available instead of paying for a subscription. There are other sites at the United States such as the us.gov medicare site but they tend to be at least one year behind in publishing surveys.
For a complaint , the State of Tx has a number to call 1 800 458 9858.The Senior Source has volunteer ombudsman at 214 823 5700 This is a voluntary compliance approach with no enforcement tool.

Housing options are not extensive.

Housing for some of our aging are 1.aging in place meaning your own home with in home supports that the person usually has to pay for themselves 2.assisted care which run over $2000 per month.In Tx , Medicare and Medicaid to not pay for assisted care.Generally assisted care means help with daily living activites such as taking medication correctly, meals prepared and limited transportation on a schedule but not for emergency visits. 3. independant retirement communities that are private and some are based on moderate to lower income. These do not offer any supportive services.
State oversight of assisted care is very limited .The consumer must do the research well as definitions of services provided vary greatly.
I hope this very simple paragraph can help with anyone in the research phase.It is by no means a complete guide nor advice but simply to help with resource links.