Baker and Haywood announce guardianship legislation

Oct. 16—WILKES-BARRE — State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, Sen. Art Haywood, D-Montgomery/Philadelphia, have jointly sponsored legislation that will strengthen guardianship laws in Pennsylvania.

Senators Baker and Haywood introduced the bi-partisan legislation, Senate Bill 1333, which has been unanimously advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 1333, legislation that I have been pleased to work on with Sen. Haywood," said Sen. Baker, who serves as chair of the committee. "We hear all too often of guardianships resulting in unintended exploitation of individuals. This measure takes a positive step forward to better protect this vulnerable population from abuse."

When a court determines that an adult is incapacitated, it appoints a professional or family guardian, who is responsible for making certain decisions on the adult's behalf, either fully, or in a limited capacity. After the court transfers legal responsibilities, the guardian can make financial, medical, and personal decisions that the adult is unable to make for themselves.

In October 2019, three court-appointed guardians embezzled more than $1 million from 108 victims in six Pennsylvania counties. With over 19,000 active guardianships in the state, this bill will prevent fraud, abuse, and exploitation, and increase representation for Pennsylvanians.

The new legislation proposes the following:

—Appoints counsel for incapacitated persons without representation.

—Requires certification for professional guardians.

—Advises courts to first explore alternatives to guardianship.

—Requires that petitions for guardianship demonstrate that less restrictive alternatives were considered, but they were insufficient.

Sen. Haywood said, "This legislation remedies the practices that lead to theft."

While guardianship can be an appropriate tool to support individuals who cannot make decisions themselves, the senators said it should be limited and used only as a last resort.

Alternatives to guardianship include habilitation programs, representative payees managing public benefits, and family or friends serving as health care representatives. These pathways can be equally effective, less expensive, and more emotionally safe, they said.

Senate Bill 1333 has advanced to the full Senate for consideration.

Baker urges emergency

crews to seek funding

Local volunteer fire and ambulance services can now apply online for state grants to help fund their operations, according to Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township.

Sen. Baker explained that the Volunteer Fire Company and Volunteer Ambulance Service Grant Program is one of the most important that the General Assembly funds each year.

The online application for the grants is available through Oct. 21, at — www.osfc.pa.gov. The program is in place to help Fire and EMS cover the rising costs of training, equipment, recruitment, retention and more.

"As the costs for equipment and training continues to rise, it is imperative that we provide support to those who help serve our communities," Baker said. "Our local volunteer fire and ambulance staff deserve our greatest respect and gratitude, and it is my hope that many will benefit from this state funding."

Grants range from a minimum of $2,500 to a maximum of $15,000 for volunteer fire companies and rescue companies, or $10,000 for volunteer ambulance companies.

Cartwright announces nearly $1M

for nursing education in region

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, has announced $972,980 in federal funding is heading back to the region from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine to develop its nursing education program.

"These federal dollars will go a long way in addressing the national and regional nursing shortage," Cartwright said. "This significant investment in nursing education and workforce development will increase the number of nurses, elevate the quality of their education and ultimately improve the care they provide to patients."

Rebecca Stoudt, DNP, PhD, CRNA, Geisinger College of Health Sciences associate dean, nursing student education, said the grant will be used to develop self-directed learning modules that can be used by nurses interested in taking on an additional educational role as a preceptor or clinical instructor.

"Our goal is to make it easy for nurses to adopt teaching roles in addition to their roles at the bedside and to incentivize them to do so," Stoudt said. "More nurses trained as clinical educators will provide additional educational experiences for nursing students to strengthen and bolster the nursing workforce. This program will be beneficial for students and patients, and good for the improved health and well-being of our communities."

VFW Service Officer available to help

veterans Baker's Dallas Office on Oct. 14

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, invites veterans to schedule an appointment to meet with a VFW Service Officer at her Dallas office location on Friday, Oct. 14.

The VFW Service Officer will be available for scheduled appointments at Sen. Baker's office, 22 Dallas Shopping Center, Memorial Highway, Dallas. All veterans, not just VFW members, can request appointments between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. To schedule an appointment at this location, call 570-675-3931.

Appointments with a Service Officer are available at no charge.

Sen. Baker encourages veterans of all ages and from all service eras to utilize the Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars Service Officer Network, to receive free information and assistance for government benefits. This assistance may include VA healthcare, compensation, pension, education and dependent benefits. Surviving spouses can also use these Service Officers at no charge to learn about their eligibility for VA benefits.

"We thank all veterans for providing us with the everyday freedoms Americans enjoy and making sure our country remains a source of hope across the world," Sen. Baker said. "Many veterans continue to need our assistance during challenging economic times, now more than ever. I encourage any veteran or spouse with questions regarding benefits, to schedule a time to meet with a Service Officer."

Kaufer's community e-recycling

event set for Oct. 27 in Forty Fort

Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston, will co-host a Community e-Recycling Event on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 3 p.m.-6 p.m., at the soccer fields in the Luzerne County Sports Complex on Camryn Way in Forty Fort.

This event is being hosted by Rep. Kaufer and Luzerne County.

To participate, residents must pre-register and purchase a $35 tag at their local municipality listed below. Tags are for cars, trucks, SUVs or commercial vehicles under 3/4 ton.

One TV or computer monitor is included in the tag price. Multiple TVs or computer monitors require additional tags at a cost of $30 for each additional TV or computer monitor.

The following municipalities are participating:

Edwardsville: 470 Main St., Edwardsville, 570-288-6484.

Exeter: 1101 Wyoming Ave., Exeter, 570-654-3001.

Forty Fort: 1271 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort, 570-287-8586.

Kingston: 500 Wyoming Ave., Kingston, 570-288-4576.

Swoyersville: 675 Main St., Swoyersville, 570-288-6581

Wyoming: 277 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, 570-693-0291

West Wyoming: 464 West 8th St., West Wyoming, 570-693-1311

All eligible electronics authorized by Luzerne County Recycling are listed below. Damaged TV or monitors with cracked screens will not be accepted.

Appropriate recycled materials are: Answering machines, CD players, camcorders, cameras, cellphones, cordless phones, copiers, DVD players, duplicators, fax machines, Gameboys, hard drives, laptops, mainframe computer equipment, microwaves, MP3 players, modems, Nintendo consoles, notebooks, pagers, personal computers, Playstations, printers, printed circuit boards, radios, remote controls, tape players, satellite receivers, scanners, servers, shredders, speakers, stereos, televisions, telephones, testing equipment, transparency makers, typewriters, uninterrupted power supply systems, VCRs, video games, Wiis, word processors and Xboxes.

For more information about this event, or any other state-related issue, contact Kaufer's district office in Luzerne, 161 Main St., 570-283-1001. Information can also be found online at RepKaufer.com or Facebook.com/RepKaufer.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.