Rep. Salloway: We must put caring for our families in Strafford County first
In 1997 our New Hampshire Commissioner of Health and Human Services was Terry Morton. He was an appointee of Gov. Judd Gregg. Also serving under Gov. Gregg and Morton was the Director of Medicaid, Lee Bezanson. Medicaid was our program funded equally by state and federal dollars to provide health care to our low income families. Our state leadership operated under a consensus of values: New Hampshire is not a poor state, but New Hampshire is frugal, provident — and still compassionate.
The challenge which was then looming was what we have come to call “The Silver Tsunami." Our citizens are aging. We need to care what happens to these families. We have a rapidly increasing rate of Alzheimer’s disease. We need to care what happens to these families. Our families will have to deal with increasing burdens of aging relatives. In 1997, we had to be frugal, provident — and still compassionate.
In 1997, Commissioner Morton and his director of Medicaid came to the team at UNH in search of creative answers. They thought about long-term-care insurance as one solution. Our team at UNH was able to generate a computer model which forecast for New Hampshire the cost of long-term-care insurance and the likely benefits that our families would receive. It didn’t work! Too expensive. Not enough services. Too little control by families. We scrapped it.
The state went to another model of care: Home and community-based care. The idea was to keep elders in their own homes out of nursing homes. It offered in-home support. This would reduce costs and give families control of their own lives. It did work. It saved a few dollars. But it didn’t unburden families who still provided the bulk of care. There were still far too many who needed nursing home care.
Here in Strafford County, a remarkably creative leadership team continued to innovate. Their care center, Riverside Rest Home in Dover, developed a committed top-quality staff. They were able to create a state-of-the-art hospice at no cost to our county. They built a nursing home facility which was not just the best in the state, but was one of the finest county nursing homes in the country.
It’s not enough! Our nursing home no longer meets code. Worse, the need for services for the Silver Tsunami is accelerating at an alarming rate. Renovating Riverside Rest Home would be an expensive solution and only a short-term stop-gap. We need a comprehensive solution for our families. And it has to be frugal, provident — and still compassionate.
Our Strafford County commissioners and our county executive, Ray Bower, have done their homework. Over the last four months they have presented to the county delegation a comprehensive plan to build a new center for needed services; to rebuild our current nursing home as a transitional center for those who have housing needs; to create home-based services to relieve the burdens on families; to engage the private sector in building attainable and affordable housing for elders, for young families being driven out by high rents; to create markets for businesses close by this affordable housing. It’s dazzling; it’s exciting; and it’s do-able. It’s frugal, provident and compassionate.
More: $170M Strafford County nursing home falls short, for now. Here's what is next.
I was the UNH consultant to Terry Morton and Lee Bezanson. I’ve waited 25 years for a plan like this one to emerge and be implemented. I wish I had thought of it.
There is one barrier. At the Strafford County delegation meeting, a group led by free-staters have chosen frugal and provident over compassion. They defeated a vote which was essential to generating funds from the state and the federal government which would permit us to create a new nursing home and everything else that comes with it at virtually no cost to our taxpayers. They have come from other places to impose their values on our Strafford County families. If they win in office, it is we who will lose. Don’t forget to vote.
Jeffrey Salloway is a state representative from Lee, New Hampshire and a member of the Strafford County delegation. He is professor emeritus in health management and policy at UNH.
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Rep. Salloway: Caring for our families in Strafford County
