October 2019
Volume 7 • Issue 9
In-home care employer shift now underway BY ROBIN WOJTANIK for Senior Times
Holiday bazaar calendar Page 9
Convention center expansion plans Page 15
Sponsors sought for weekend food kits for kids Page 19
MONTHLY QUIZ What unusual pack animal did John Mullan use while building Mullan Road, linking Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton, Montana, in 1859? Answer, Page 13
A Montana-based company soon will manage individual providers who offer in-home care to clients through the state’s Department of Social and Health Services. It’s a switch from the current system that had DSHS handling all administrative functions. Now, Consumer Direct Care Network out of Missoula will become responsible for 20,000 individual care providers across 22 counties in much of the southern part of Washington state, including Benton and Franklin counties. Consumers will continue to be able to select, schedule, supervise and dismiss their individual providers. CDCN recently was selected as one of two employers contracted with DSHS to oversee individual providers, with the other company handling the remaining 17 counties in the central and northern part of the state. “This is a big deal for us,” said Ben Bledsoe, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “It’s the biggest thing we’ll probably do as a company, so it’s very important for us to succeed.” The conversion is underway following a change in law that required a consumer-directed employer to manage these workers, removing the burden from DSHS. In promotional materials, the state said this “will make the system work more smoothly for everyone,” suggesting it will free up case managers to have more time with the clients actually receiving services. Prior to this, case managers and staff at offices across the state had taken on additional duties uHOME CARE, Page 12
Courtesy Linda Larsen-King Linda Larsen-King, center, sells purple asparagus to her Pasco High alumnae friends, Karen Masters-Akers, left, and Debbie Lancaster, right, at Fieldstone Memory Care in Kennewick, where her mother receives hospice care. “The generosity and support of friends of our mission was nothing short of miraculous,” Larsen-King said.
Alzheimer’s heartbreak takes toll, then inspires family to help others BY LINDA LARSEN-KING for Senior Times
During my most recent visit with my mom, she blurted out, “I lost my mind.” Her comment took me by surprise. What does that mean to her? Does she really know that she “lost” her thought functions to Alzheimer’s? I just don’t get it, and probably never will. What does she know? Am I just hoping she understood what I said when she called me sweet-
heart during the same visit? Was the endearment of “sweetheart” even for me, or was it just a word that randomly shuffled through her mind at that moment of time? I don’t know and will never know. One thing I do hope is that in the future we will know what causes Alzheimer’s, the prevention of Alzheimer’s and the treatment of Alzheimer’s. We need to know how to end Alzheimer’s.
uALZHEIMER’S, Page 10
Kennewick port commissioners face sanctions, appeal following complaint BY ROBIN WOJTANIK for Senior Times
The Port of Kennewick’s three commissioners have been outspoken as costs pile up for an independent investigation involving two of them that was prompted by the third. Commissioner Skip Novakovich filed an anonymous complaint as a citizen alleging unprofessional behavior during a testy closed-door meeting about the sale of land near Vista Field. It ultimately led to sanctions recommended for the commission’s president and vice president. “It’s a pretty ugly situation,” Novakovich said.
The publicly elected commission represents citizens in Kennewick, West Richland and portions of Richland, Benton City and Benton County. Commissioners Thomas Moak and Don Barnes maintain other channels could have been taken internally instead of the one that led to an investigation that’s cost the port at least $65,000 so far, not including staff time. “I believe there would have been more effective ways to deal with this, less costly to the Port of Kennewick, but that’s not the decision that was made,” Barnes said. Moak partly blamed the port’s lack
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