Finally, a voice for CCRC residents
I was thrilled that Gov. Corzine signed a bill last week that will provide long-overdue resident representation on the state’s Continuing Care Retirement Community boards. My father, who died two years ago, would have been thrilled as well.
My dad was president of the residents’ association at Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, one of 27 CCCRs in the state, in the late 1990s. CCRCs provide three levels of care – independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing and rehabilitation. He lobbied hard for formal resident representation on Fellowship Village's governing board and worked with association presidents statewide to find sponsors for legislation that would require CCRC boards to have at least one resident serving on them.
A bill to do that was introduced in the state Senate four years ago by Robert Singer, R-Ocean. Slowed by intense opposition from facility operators, it was finally approved in both houses of the Legislature in June.
My father well understood the difficulty of dealing with administrators resistant to change and boards that were disengaged, disinterested in residents’ concerns or snowed by administrators who insisted all was well.
At Fellowship Village, health services – in particular, the management of them and doubts about whether adequate resources were being invested in them – were primary concerns. Residents’ inability to impart those concerns directly to the board and to participate in discussions about budget priorities was a major source of frustration.
The new legislation will not only require CCRCs to have at least one resident sitting on their boards, but to hold quarterly meetings in which a member or members of the governing body – not an administrator - will sit down with residents to discuss their concerns and answer their questions in a reasonable period of time.
Corzine summed the matter up well at the bill-signing ceremony at Seabrook Village in Tinton Falls: "The idea that one ought to be consulted and have a vote in the world that you've made a commitment to, seems like a very small 'd' democratic process that ought to be followed through. This is just simple, common sense. People ought to have a voice."
Thanks to my dad, and good people like him, they finally have one.
My dad was president of the residents’ association at Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, one of 27 CCCRs in the state, in the late 1990s. CCRCs provide three levels of care – independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing and rehabilitation. He lobbied hard for formal resident representation on Fellowship Village's governing board and worked with association presidents statewide to find sponsors for legislation that would require CCRC boards to have at least one resident serving on them.
A bill to do that was introduced in the state Senate four years ago by Robert Singer, R-Ocean. Slowed by intense opposition from facility operators, it was finally approved in both houses of the Legislature in June.
My father well understood the difficulty of dealing with administrators resistant to change and boards that were disengaged, disinterested in residents’ concerns or snowed by administrators who insisted all was well.
At Fellowship Village, health services – in particular, the management of them and doubts about whether adequate resources were being invested in them – were primary concerns. Residents’ inability to impart those concerns directly to the board and to participate in discussions about budget priorities was a major source of frustration.
The new legislation will not only require CCRCs to have at least one resident sitting on their boards, but to hold quarterly meetings in which a member or members of the governing body – not an administrator - will sit down with residents to discuss their concerns and answer their questions in a reasonable period of time.
Corzine summed the matter up well at the bill-signing ceremony at Seabrook Village in Tinton Falls: "The idea that one ought to be consulted and have a vote in the world that you've made a commitment to, seems like a very small 'd' democratic process that ought to be followed through. This is just simple, common sense. People ought to have a voice."
Thanks to my dad, and good people like him, they finally have one.
posted by Randy Bergmann at 11:33 AM
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