Think Tank: Board of Visitors

A Proposal for Discussion: the Board of Visitors

In order to assure that something as disruptive as this strike does not happen again, we are proposing a way to monitor what is going on inside the walls of the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitative and Care Center; we are proposing new Legislation. We found that the New York State Department of Mental Health has something called the Board of Visitors, and copied MHL §7.33 (h) but changed the words for our situation. We propose a Board of Visitors for each nursing home in the State, under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Health, who would train, investigate and certify board members. Board members would not be compensated for their time, but allowable expenses for travel and copies, as well as refreshments at the meetings would be reimbursed by DOH. Board meetings would be required once a year and as often as once a month, as needed. The Administrator would be required to attend the meetings, as would a representative of the DOH.

Any member of the Board of Visitors of an NH facility may visit and inspect such facility at any time ….the board shall have the power to investigate all charges against the director and all cases of alleged patient abuse or mistreatment…..in conducting such an investigation, the board shall have the power, in accordance with the civil practice law and rules, to subpoena witnesses, compel their testimony,….and require the production of any books or records deemed relevant to the investigation.

The composition of the Board of Visitors would be neighborhood people (as modeled after the early OMRDD group home Advisory Boards), union workers and some family representatives.

Next topic: Standards for Nursing Home Management. After listening to the interview on Bronx Talk, it is scary to think about what was said. Can you imagine that there are no required staff ratio’s and that some NY homes operate with minimal staff, others require families to provide aides to care for the patient? We need to talk about what kind of standards we need and how we can monitor this soon to be another “Nursing Home Scandal.”