homes
Lawmaker proposed $300m handout to nursing homes; then raised $52,000 from their liaisons
An Ohio lawmaker last year proposed allocating $300 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds, divvied up among Ohio’s nursing homes with no strings attached. Ten days later, Rep. Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, received a $13,200 campaign contribution from the CEO of a chain of 59 nursing homes, $13,200 from his business partner, and another $13,200 from […]
Senate votes for $300 million in COVID relief for nursing homes; more for schools, police
The Ohio Senate passed legislation Wednesday giving nursing homes $300 million earmarked to pay their workers. The payment is part of a $4.18 billion appropriation of federal pandemic relief money. The bulk of the funds go toward schools ($2.49 billion); workforce incentives for health care providers like rural or “distressed” hospitals, plus assisted living and […]
About 40% of Ohio’s nursing home staff are unvaccinated; mandates blocked for now in court
At Auglaize Acres, more than 81% of the nursing home’s patients are vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to less than 30% of the caregivers, federal data shows. The facility, located in Auglaize County off of Infirmary Road, asked its staff why they haven’t yet received the vaccine. Administrator Rick Hartline chalked it up to fear of […]
Nursing homes spent at least $6 million on Ohio politics in five years
Ohio’s nursing home industry poured at least $6.1 million into state politics and an array of dark money political groups between 2016 and 2020, an Ohio Capital Journal investigation has found. The surge in spending comes as the state has steadily increased its payments to nursing homes through Medicaid, a state and federally funded insurance […]
‘Trust issues’ prompt nursing home workers to decline COVID-19 vaccine, union says
Nursing home workers are passing on their chance at early access to the COVID-19 vaccine, officials say, blowing a crosswind against a scarce supply of doses and a pandemic in a tailspin. Gov. Mike DeWine first drew attention to the issue Wednesday, claiming during a televised press briefing that roughly 60% of staffers who were […]
PPE, staffing shortages linger as COVID-19 kills 2500 nursing home residents in Ohio
One in 10 Ohio nursing homes told regulators they didn’t have any N95 respirators on hand, which medical staff use to shield themselves from the coronavirus while treating infected patients. Even among those that do, the supply chain is tenuous: 1 in 4 said they don’t have a week’s worth of the masks in store. […]
At least 35 nursing homes failed COVID-19 infection control audits
On April 28, a resident at Oregon Healthcare, a Dayton area nursing home, started burning up with a fever. By May 1, the feverish resident — a schizophrenic man with a history of hypertension and congestive heart failure who required use of a wheelchair — was tested for COVID-19. “There was no evidence [the resident] […]