To the editor:
Iowa’s senior care remains on the front pages — for all the wrong reasons.
Every day we come across stories depicting instances of elder neglect or abuse in Iowa: cases where gangrene leads to amputations, narratives of individuals choking on their saliva and accounts of people left freezing in the winter of 2023.
A federal report shows Iowa ranked 49th in the ratio of nursing home inspectors to care facilities. This new year should start with Iowa public officials taking necessary, strong action on elder care.
Iowans value and respect our elders. Our governor needs to dramatically improve oversight and invest in recruitment and retention of quality staff in our nursing homes.
The governor and the legislature have the means to address elder care by immediately creating a nonpartisan task force and setting aside surplus dollars for elder care.
Ask them to do this before any debate on tax cuts.
Senate Democrats asked Sen. Amy Sinclair, who chairs the oversight committee, to hold hearings on the crisis of care in our nursing homes. Her press-release response stated these hearings were “unnecessary.”
As the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported, “money from state-regulated care facilities” flows “through a political action committee and into the campaign coffers of state lawmakers who have advanced bills to protect nursing homes while scuttling legislation intended to help elderly Iowans.”
It is time to remind your elected officials that Iowans believe high-quality care of our seniors is necessary and carries more importance than any amount of PAC contributions.
Mary Weaver
Rippey
Mary Weaver is a member of Progressive Rural Optimists (PRO) Iowa 24, a group concerned with promoting rural values and drawing members from Greene, Guthrie, Boone, Story and Dallas counties.
