They Said, He Said

A group of activists says the mayor promised to get Philly "out of the nursing home business." The mayor believes he was misunderstood.

by Andrew Thompson

CONFUSION

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By Aug. 22, the protestors had been camped outside of Philadelphia Nursing Home for five days. Most of them were paraplegic and confined to electric wheelchairs, and the only two tents were occupied by the able-bodied, so when the chanting and slogan-shouting ended at around 7 or 8 p.m. each night, they would simply recline in their chairs to sleep. A few feet away, a giant banner was spread on the barrier of PNH: "MAYOR NUTTER TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS." Behind those walls, the protestors said, was an institution that "warehoused" people, letting them languish in bedsores and human- and rodent-excrement. They wanted Philadelphia "out of the nursing home business."

Sometime late the afternoon of Aug. 22, according to organizer Nancy Salandra, she and co-organizer Zach Lewis headed down to City Hall to try and talk with Mayor Nutter, just as they had the day before when they approached him after a press conference concerning casinos. Salandra and Lewis tried to get in to see the mayor, were kicked out and then began chanting outside City Hall. Eventually they were let in to meet with him.

"He was mad," says Salandra. "He said, you know, 'I've only been in office for seven months. I don't know why you're targeting me.'"

Still, as Salandra tells it, he agreed to meet with them this month, saying that this time, the meeting wouldn't be like two prior meetings when he said he would consider their concerns. In September, he said, he would hand them a plan that would initiate the process of moving people out of PNH by December, and eventually closing it.

"I asked [Nutter] three times, 'Is Philadelphia getting out of the nursing home business?'" says Salandra, "and he said yes." (She says Nutter declined to pledge anything in writing.)

That night, the protesters held their last nightly candlelight vigil outside PNH and sang "We Shall Overcome." When the singing was over, German Parodi, one of the organizers, pulled out the megaphone that had been used for the past week to amplify declarations against nursing homes, and declared victory. They had won. It was time to pack up and party.

"Remember this: We will stay to make sure the mayor goes through with his promise," said Parodi.

Three days later, Philadelphia Health Commissioner and Deputy Mayor Donald F. Schwarz said in an interview, "I think the mayor believes he's been misquoted."

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Last month's stakeout was a month in the planning by the Philadelphia chapter of ADAPT, a national grassroots disability group that opposes nursing homes (preferring attending care in independent setups). Locally ADAPT is closely linked with Liberty Resources, Inc. (LRI), a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that assists people with moving into their own homes (sometimes from institutional settings, like nursing homes). While various ADAPT chapters are their own entities, the Philadelphia chapter files no tax returns, and the ADAPT organizers of last week's protest were employees of LRI.

City officials say ADAPT and LRI didn't exactly catch the message Nutter intended to send them: If Philadelphia ever gets out of the nursing home business, they say, the plan to do so won't be revealed in September. What was discussed in the Aug. 22 meeting, they say, was a promise to consider moving an unspecified number of people out of PNH — though not necessarily by December.

"We've wanted for a long time to move people out," says Schwarz. "We would prefer to have people in a less restrictive environment and have people in their own homes. We've told [LRI] that now since March." The particular challenge at PNH, says Schwarz, is that the facility has a disproportionate number of patients who differ from the typical nursing home resident: Many PNH patients are younger people with psychiatric problems that impede their chances for independent living.

But this isn't good enough for ADAPT and LRI. The organizations are against nursing homes completely: They see them as depressing layaways for human beings, where dignity is lost in a vacuum and independence is mythical. The group advocates attending care and assisted living. And to LRI, PNH has reached what the group considers criminal levels of neglect and overcrowding. According to Schwarz, PNH has about 450 patients — more than four times the national average, though still shy of its maximum capacity. Its rate of bedsores is more than twice the national average, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and 20 percent of patients are depressed or anxious, compared to 14 percent nationally.

The day after ADAPT began its demonstration, however, the Pennsylvania Department of Health conducted an impromptu inspection of PNH and found no issues worth citing. In the past five years, PNH has gone through 66 separate inspections after complaints. Most of the time, it has gotten off without an infraction. Occasionally, it has been cited for not keeping track of records, allowing food to become cold, and not keeping rodents out of the building. On five occasions, it was written up for failing to prevent injuries.

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LRI currently has a contract with the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) to place 100 nursing-home residents into private homes. Downsizing PNH could, a least in theory, lead to more city business for LRI, which is the pre-eminent independent-living organization for the disabled in Philly. In fact, PHA likes the idea.

"We happen to agree with Liberty," says Kirk Dorn, a spokesperson for PHA. "We wanted to help Liberty and take people out of the nursing home and put them into private units."

(Historically, the rapport between LRI and PHA has been more antagonistic. LRI has repeatedly sued PHA since 1998, alleging that the agency doesn't provide enough wheelchair-accessible housing. It was after a 2007 suit was dropped that LRI received the housing vouchers.)

But what of Schwarz's denial, and the different understandings that the city and the activists apparently have of their meeting with the mayor? Both Salandra and Lewis say that because neither Schwarz nor any spokesperson was in the meeting with Nutter, no one except they and the mayor can lay a legitimate claim to what happened behind closed doors. They both vehemently assert that they asked Nutter three times if he was committing to downsizing and closing PNH, and that he said he was.

"We're going to meet with him at end of September to see what his plan is," says Lewis, "and we're going to hold him accountable to what he said in that meeting."

(editorial@citypaper.net)