ProAging Information Network

Donna DePazzo has recently joined Right at Home of North Baltimore as the agency’s marketing director.  She previously worked as an eldercare advisor with A Place For Mom.  Donna is a Certified Senior Advisor with a background in social work.   Her new phone number is (410) 821-0020 and her email address is donna@rahnorthbaltimore.com.  

Right at Home provides home care and assistance for senior and disabled adults.  The North Baltimore office provides services in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and portions of Harford County.

County Board members on June 17 renamed the former Oak Springs Assisted Living Facility as the “Mary Marshall Assisted Living Residence.”

The change honors the memory of Marshall, who represented Arlington in the General Assembly for 12 terms.

Marshall “was a true champion for those who are vulnerable and under-served, and she effectively represented their interests and needs over the course of her distinguished legislative career,” County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said.

When it reopens in 2009, the facility will provide a home to 52 senior residents with low incomes and mental, cognitive or physical disabilities.

The county government purchased the property in 2003, and is working with Volunteers of America to renovate it. Funds to operate the facility will be covered by a combination of federal, state and local funding.

Marshall (1921-92) was elected to the House of Delegates in 1965. Defeated in 1969, she again won election in 1971 and served until her retirement in 1991. She was the author of the commonwealth’s first minimum-wage law and sponsored legislation on a host of health and family issues.

By Gregg MacDonald
Source: Fairfax County Times
THURSDAY, JUNE 19 2008
UPDATED THURSDAY, JUNE 19 2008
Charles and Harriet Todd, both 85 years old, moved to Reston from Connecticut in 1975, when they were 52. “I got a job with the World Bank in Washington and I knew that their mandatory retirement age was 62,” said Charles Todd. “So we wanted to move to a place where we could stay when I retired.”

When told on Monday that Reston had recently been named by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 10 ‘brainiest’ places to retire in the U.S., Harriet Todd jokingly exclaimed, “Oh no, does that mean we have to move?”

It turns out that the Todds actually fit very well into Reston’s demographic profile.

According to City-Data.com, 93 percent of Reston’s population over the age of 25 have achieved an educational level of high school or higher, with 63 percent achieving a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Although Reston is considerably smaller than — and technically not — a city, its 63 percent representation of college graduates far surpasses the 53 percent in Seattle, which tops the list of America’s most educated cities according to a recent survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Included in U.S. News’ picks for retirement destinations that attract highly educated people are Berkeley, Calif. and Chapel Hill, N.C., both renowned as being academic epicenters boasting world-famous universities.

While Reston does not have one of those, it does contain several satellite campuses, and seven universities with student populations over 2,000 – including George Washington and George Mason – are all within 20 miles.

“It is actually more complicated than that,” said Penny Pompei, president of the Reston Chamber of Commerce. “Some of the major multi-national firms in the world are also here, like Accenture, Oracle and Miscrosoft. They are able to hire the best and bring them to Reston. Reston is a perfect nucleus with access to Dulles Airport, proximity to the federal government and the fact that it is a live-work-play planned community.”

City-Data lists professional, scientific and technical services as the top Reston industry for both men and women.

“We like it,” Charles Todd said. “Reston has a lot of good restaurants and our neighbors are nice – and smart. What more do you need?”

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Saturday, June 14, 2008; Page B02

An 83-year-old Montgomery County woman lay on the floor of her room for more than four days with a broken leg before she was discovered by workers at a Gaithersburg assisted living center, she alleges in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed by Helen Friedman in Circuit Court last week accuses Sunrise at Montgomery Village of “negligence and abuse.” The Gaithersburg facility is owned by McLean-based Sunrise Senior Living.

“We have not received the lawsuit at this time, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further,'’ said Meghan Lublin, spokeswoman for Sunrise Senior Living. “Sunrise takes its commitment to quality senior care seriously. The health and safety of our residents is our number one priority. We will absolutely review these allegations.”

Wendy Kronmiller, director of Maryland’s Office of Health Care Quality, said the agency is looking into the incident. It is not yet clear whether the incident would result in sanctions, she said.
Friedman had been in the independent living section of the facility since May 2006. According to the lawsuit, she fell on the morning of April 3, fractured her right tibia and was unable to move. The suit says she was on the floor for 4 1/2 days before she was found by employees.

An April 7 report by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue personnel noted “suspected facility neglect/abuse.'’

Friedman “was found to be in extreme pain, severely dehydrated, debilitated and humiliated as she laid there in her blood and body wastes for four and one half days,” the lawsuit says. “It’s a deplorable situation of abuse and neglect on persons who put their trust in institutions whose duty it is to protect them,'’ said Hubert M. Schlosberg, Friedman’s attorney.

Friedman was taken to the intensive care unit of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. She was later transferred to a nearby rehabilitation center where she currently lives.

Kronmiller said her agency is reviewing the case. Different standards of care might apply, depending on whether Friedman lived in the independent or the assisted living section of the facility, she said.

“If [assisted living regulations] don’t apply, then it means it’s not a state health department matter, but there are certainly other avenues for the family or the patient,'’ she said.

Among other allegations, the suit charges that Sunrise did not perform daily status checks in accordance with its rules. According to the Sunrise Senior Living Web site, daily status checks are among the services “generally provided for residents in independent living communities.”

Lublin confirmed that the Montgomery Village facility does offer this service but said that residents in independent living must request it. Schlosberg acknowledges that Friedman was in independent living but said Friedman’s children had been told their mother would be checked on daily.

The suit, filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, asks for a judgment in excess of $30,000, plus interest and costs, and for “any other relief as this Honorable Court deems just and proper.”

Officials at Sunrise will have 20 days to respond to the allegations once they receive the suit, Schlosberg said.
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