Letter: Caring response improves health care

In the context of Alzheimer’s Disease care-giving I became painfully aware of a regulation applying to local assisted living facilities where, incredibly, resident-assistant staff are not allowed to feed the residents no matter how obvious their need.

Patients not able to feed themselves must forthwith be transferred to skilled nursing facilities. Frustrated by the absence of a common-sense explanation for this, I sought help from state House District 123 Rep. Jeff Bradley of Hilton Head Island. Within a few days, and just before Christmas, he actually came to the facility at lunchtime to talk with stakeholder caregivers and staff and to observe the problem firsthand. He listened and pronounced, “I get it.”

By Jan. 3, he had set up a conference call among stakeholders, including five responsible section heads from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. At the bottom line, there was a recognition that a woeful misinterpretation of the regulations had somehow over the years crept into the enforcement coda.

They promised to rectify statewide training and directives for enforcement. So long as not permanently bedridden, residents can now be helped in feeding.

This is a major advance in dementia caring, all thanks to Jeff Bradley’s effective intervention. That, friends, is public service of excellence.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Letter: Caring response improves health care."