DFTA Plans Training Sessions For Alzheimer’s Caregivers
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Assemblymember Catherine Nolan (c.), shown with Janet Thomas, Beatrice Slutsky, Marion Fernandes, Lydia Velazquez, Frances Fitzpatrick, Marilyn Bean, Bessie Williams and Director Edwin G. Cadiz, swore in HANAC Ravenswood Senior Center officers.

Anyone taking care of a loved one who is an Alzheimer’s patient or is suffering from some other long-term affliction can benefit by attending a meeting to be held by the Department for the Aging (DFTA) in the spring.

The sessions, to be held by the DFTA Alzheimer and Long Term Services Division, are free. They can help to make things easier for patient and caregiver. As a DFTA brochure points out, "Caring isn’t enough. Caregivers need training in Alzheimer’s disease—its symptoms and its progression. They need instruction in techniques for better interaction with the one they are caring for."

Financial assistance for caregivers will be one of the topics discussed. Federal funds are available to help cover situations when someone must replace a caregiver who needs a day off for one reason or another, or when overnight aid is required. There are also stipends available to pay for needed equipment to make the patient’s home safe and secure and more manageable.

The two-day caregiver training sessions will be held in Queens on Mar. 21st and Apr. 4th at locations still to be determined.

Among the objectives are to familiarize caregivers with caregiving options and community resources available, with the need for long-range planning emotionally, medically and financially and to help caregivers to understand the effect on them of their loved one’s malady.

What is and is not covered under Medicare and Medicaid will be discussed along with nursing home care options. The second day of the session will be devoted to discussion of one-on-one techniques in caring for the patient, methods of communication, how to deal with disturbing behaviors and nutrition concerns.

The dates again are Mar. 21st and Apr. 4th and the place is still to be decided. The sessions are free; call DFTA at (212) 442-3171 if you have any questions.

NEED MORE GOV’T AID FOR VETS: In a recent talk before the Jewish War Veterans/Kew Forest-Woodside-Irwin Loitz Post 250, Assemblymember Michael Cohen (D-Forest Hills) called for increased government funding for veterans health problems.

"Government must do more to ensure the health of all veterans," Cohen declared. "No veteran should be denied necessary medical treatment or be asked to go through onerous and time-consuming bureaucratic red tape to prove his or her disability."

Cohen then discussed some possible legislative initiatives he might pursue in this year’s session, such as an increase in the Blind Veterans Annuity. He urged the vets to visit his office to learn about government programs and benefits available for veterans. To receive a brochure, call Cohen’s office at (718) 263-5595.

NURSING HOMES UNDER FIRE: Hoping to improve nursing home care, Governor George Pataki is expected to call for doubling fines when substandard care is demonstrated, improve a hotline that handles patient care complaints and make it easier for the state to take over problem homes.

The governor will make the proposal in this year’s budget which he will unveil this week, according to published reports. Previously, Pataki called for criminal background checks on nursing home workers.

STATE MED INSURANCE STALLS: A highly touted plan to provide medical insurance for low-income families, including many seniors, is caught in a tug of war between New York state and the lame duck administration of President Bill Clinton, denying very necessary coverage to possibly millions.

The legislation creating the plan, called Family Health Plans, was enacted in December 1999 and was supposed to start enrolling people earlier this month. Under the program, the state and federal governments will split the $1 billion cost.

Federal officials have not signed off on the program despite Clinton’s urging that they do.

The officials in the United States Health Care Financing Administration have complained they have not received enough information from the state to determine if the new program would increase federal Medicaid costs. State officials say that’s untrue.

The president has assigned an emissary to try to negotiate a settlement of the differences in the final days of his administration, but the clock is running out fast and advocates of the program want the approval to come before the administration of President-elect George W. Bush takes over, fearing that if they have to start the application procedure from scratch, precious time will be wasted.