Inside: Enter pet photo contest, page 18
Vol 41 • No. 8
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Award-winning Top 55+ News Source
July 2020
SPECIAL REPORT: Nursing homes get legal cover as COVID-19 deaths mount
Longtime activists Sheila Kinnard, Galyn Vesey and Lavonta Williams photographed at the Kansans African American Museum.
‘Still fighting the same thing’
Pioneering activists welcome new protests
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By Joe Stumpe The Active Age Charles McAfee understands the anger that’s driving young Wichita protesters to rally against racial disparity and police misconduct. He felt it 70 years ago as a talented young
athlete denied the opportunity to compete in certain sports because he was black. He felt it as a Korean War veteran demanding to be treated like other university architectural students. See Pioneers, page 10
Trailer trashed?
By Mary Clarkin The Active Age Some residents of a Clearwater nursing home where 11 deaths from COVID-19 were reported were not given baths for more than five weeks, its former director of nursing says. Christine Zeller, a registered nurse with a master’s degree in nursing, described the lack of bathing as part of a pattern of substandard care caused by employee turnover and a shortage of equipment and supplies at Clearwater Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. She made the allegations in written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Kansas Legislature last month. “Many of the residents had gone more than five weeks without being bathed, as the facility had a shortage of appropriate accommodations,” wrote Zeller, who started working Feb. 24 at Clearwater, about two months before
the first resident tested positive for COVID-19. Zeller’s testimony came as the Legislature last month considered – and ultimately approved – giving nursing homes additional protection from lawsuits. It was a move sought by the long-term care industry and opposed by residents’ advocates. “Nursing homes are no different than hospitals or any other health care facility,” Stephen Duerst, a lobbyist for the Kansas Health Care Association, which represents over 260 long-term care providers, told lawmakers. “They were not prepared for this, there was no way they could be prepared for this.” But Mitzi McFatrich, executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, which seeks quality elder care, said the COVID-19 crisis exposed the See Covid-19, page 8
Not anymore, it’s ‘Grandcamp’ fun
By Amee Bohrer The Active Age Emmie Barron, 12, crawls into the loft of her grandparents’ camper to admire glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Cousin Jett Haberly, 11, sits next to her and they dangle their feet over the ledge, laughing. “They spoil us,” Emmie said of her grandparents, Jan and Ken Haberly. “They did this for us.” The Haberlys bought a 1996 Ford Shasta camper that had been stolen from its owner and found abandoned several months later. By then, the camper reminded people of something out of two popular TV shows – See Grandcamp, page 7
Questions about services?
Jan and Ken Haberly, far right, got help from family refitting an abandoned camper for “Grandcamp.” From left are Matt and Beth Barron; Jake, Ann and Brian Haberly; Julia and Alice Barron, Jett Haberly and Emmie Barron (inside camper).
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655