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Showell-Lee
More programs are being offered to give seniors more choices but who really knows best?
Hello again and thanks for joining us. I’m Carla Showell-Lee. You’re watching Comcast Newsmakers.
In the studio with me this hour is Heather Howard. She’s the Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and today we’re talking about Long Term Care. Thanks for joining us Commissioner.
Commissioner Howard
Thank you.
Showell-Lee
Nice to see you.
Are we doing better in giving seniors more choices when it comes to long term care?
Commissioner Howard
Yes we are but there’s always more we can do. I think, one thing I’ve learned, I’ve been on this job for 6 months, is that seniors prefer to live at home and in the community. So the more we can do to give them options to help them stay at home and in the community the better off we can be.
What’s interesting is that not only do seniors prefer to be home it is actually cheaper and more cost effective for them to stay at home. If you compare the cost of a year in a nursing home versus the year of some support services, it is a lot more effective.
Showell-Lee
Right.
Commissioner Howard
The kind of services we’re trying to encourage seniors to use are home health care. You can have an aide who can come visit you in the home for a couple hours in the day. Assisted living, adult medical day care - there are a variety of services that we’re hoping seniors will take advantage of. Actually over the last two years we’ve already transitioned over a thousand seniors out of nursing homes and back into the community.
Showell-Lee
So how would you define, Commissioner, long term care?
Commissioner Howard
Long term care can be many things and traditionally it meant nursing homes, but we’ve really changed how we talk about it. There are so many ways to treat the needs of seniors and we all want to do it so they can live with dignity with their family and stay in the community as much as possible. So there’s really a spectrum of services. So, originally, I think, it starts with services in the home that allows seniors to our family members and loved ones to stay at home and it of course runs the gamut to nursing homes. I think there will always be a need for nursing homes but there are many people who perhaps don’t need to go into nursing homes.
Showell-Lee
Yeh, I just read some literature the other day – 85% of nursing home residents are single or have outlived their spouses and 50% no living children. I found that to be pretty interesting.
Commissioner Howard
Wow, it really tells you that we need to find community support to help these people – if you don’t have a family member who can help you, you really need the community’s help. That is where the state is trying to help people find these supports.
Showell-Lee
How do you know what’s appropriate for seniors. I guess seniors have to tell you what’s appropriate for themselves.
Commissioner Howard
They do and we also have case workers who can analyze what services they need. And the goal is when a senior presents to the system is to figure out their needs and say what’s the least restrictive setting. What’s the best way to meet your needs and usually what we hear from seniors is that they want to stay at home. So how do we do that? How do we get you a visiting nurse, how do we get you into a social setting, how do we get somebody who can help you take your medication, how do we help meet your needs?
Showell-Lee
Right. Social settings really can make a difference
Commissioner Howard
Oh they do. They find that as you mentioned if people have lost a loved one it can be very hard living in the home you’ve been living in for so long if you’ve lost a loved one. Getting somebody in a setting where they’re able to socialize can make a big difference in their outlook.
Showell-Lee
Right. What’s next? I mean, we talk about these home and community based services. Where would you like to take it?
Commissioner Howard
We call it balancing, global balancing the budget. We want to spend as much on these home and community based services as we do on nursing homes. We currently spend about 70% of our dollars on nursing home care and only 30% on home and community based services and we’d love to get to a more 50/50 where we’re really keeping a lot more people in the community. That’s our goal and we’ve made a lot of progress so far, but we have more to go.
Showell-Lee
Right. Are we also hearing also from the caregivers? What about the children? Are they speaking up and saying what it is that their seniors need?
Commissioner Howard
They want to keep their family members at home but they need help. I think caregivers are taking on a lot, a lot, a lot of work and especially the sandwich generation – taking care of elderly parents and growing kids and what they need are supports. We’re hoping these supports will help them.
Showell-Lee
There are more events being held, I understand, around the area on helping caregivers.
Commissioner Howard
That’s right. Sometimes we can help them by training them on helping them help their family members manage their chronic illnesses. If you’ve got a family member whose a diabetic – you need help on monitoring their progress and through training we can help make that easier.
Showell-Lee
Also knowing that caregivers are going to need some “me” time as well – that’s important.
Commissioner Howard
That’s right. That’s why that visiting nurse can give someone a break.
Showell-Lee
Alright, well, good information and I thank you so much for joining us today Commissioner.
Commissioner Howard
Thank you, Carla, thanks
Showell-Lee
This hour’s newsmaker is Heather Howard, Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. I’m Carla Showell-Lee for Comcast Newsmakers an exclusive production of Comcast.
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