Senior Strife: Vigil for healing and accountability in Johnstown

Danelle and Family

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Danelle Morrow (814) 254-6647

Senior Strife: Family and supporters to hold vigil Saturday to honor Marie Funk, call for accountability from local senior care provider

 

What: Vigil for community healing and accountability

Who: Family of late local resident Marie Funk and members of Put People First! PA

When: Saturday June 18th, 6:30 pm

Where: Senior LIFE, 401 Broad St., Johnstown

        On Saturday, community members and supporters from Put People First! PA (PPF-PA) will hold a vigil in Johnstown to honor the late Marie Funk and to call to account Senior LIFE (a local healthcare provider for low-income seniors) for repeatedly denying or delaying her care, despite being paid by both Medicaid and Medicare to treat her. Marie Funk’s daughter, Danelle Morrow, will lead the vigil and speak out about the mistreatment Marie and her family received at the hands of Senior LIFE. Members of PPF-PA, a statewide organization working to make healthcare a human right in Pennsylvania, will come to Johnstown from Pittsburgh, York, and Philadelphia, to join Marie’s family and other local residents.

 

“Over 200 families in Cambria County have loved ones under Senior Life’s care. They need to know that they are not alone if they are going through the same thing my family went through. I want to help people speak out if they feel they are being mistreated, before it’s too late,” remarked Marie’s daughter Danelle.

 

At the vigil, paper lanterns will be released into the sky, Danelle and others will speak, and everyone will hold candles.

 

        In the 8 months in which Marie Funk was in Senior LIFE’s program, her medical team provided wholly inadequate care, leading to unnecessary suffering for her and her family. Though she was in severe pain, Senior LIFE’s doctor insisted she did not need medication. After pain medication was prescribed by other doctors when Marie was hospitalized, Senior LIFE reduced her dosage upon returning home. Senior LIFE also delayed diagnostic testing for months before Marie was finally diagnosed with cancer. It was not until weeks after her initial diagnosis that a doctor at another facility informed her that she had stage-four terminal lung cancer.

        In addition to the lack of care, Senior LIFE’s doctor and staff treated Marie disrespectfully, telling her that the pain she was experiencing was only in her head. As Marie’s health deteriorated, her family repeatedly requested that Senior LIFE provide more in-home personal care but they refused to give Marie the daily assistance that she needed, insisting that she was healthy enough to live independently at home. In the end, Marie’s daughter had her admitted into hospice care, where she died after only three days.

        Danelle explains, “At first, I wanted to trust the doctors. But as time passed and more things were overlooked and avoided, despite several requests for tests and other treatments, it became clear that the issue was that Senior LIFE did not want to pay for these additional services. They wanted to do everything in house to make more profit.”

        Sadly, Marie’s family could not afford a funeral for her. Saturday’s vigil will provide a chance for her family and friends to say goodbye. But more than that, it will serve as a protest of the mistreatment and suffering that Marie endured in the final months of her life. Marie’s family and supporters want to 1) raise awareness for other families enrolled in Senior LIFE, and 2) get Senior LIFE to apologize for the way they treated her. They also want to see Senior Life change the way it provides care. Danelle Morrow says, “We want Senior Life to know that we are watching. We want to make sure that no other family has to go through what we went through. Services and quality of care should never be reduced to save money. Profit over healthcare is an abomination!”

 

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Organizing and helping out at the Mission of Mercy 2016 Free Dental Clinic

Written by Anna Cibils, PPF Base Building and Fundraising Teams

Last weekend (June 3rd-5th), eight Put People First! PA members from Pittsburgh, Johnstown, York, and Philadelphia volunteered at the Mission of Mercy (MOM-n-PA) Dental Clinic in Pittsburgh. MOM is a free dental clinic that happens once a year in different parts of Pennsylvania and provides comprehensive dental care to folks who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Hundreds of people from the area who either have no dental insurance or who can’t afford to pay extremely high deductibles on their existing insurance came out to the Pittsburgh Convention Center to get the care they needed. PPF members volunteered in many capacities including as patient ambassadors and interpreters.

When we weren’t volunteering, we listened to patients tell stories of their experiences with the health system and engaged in conversations about the possibilities that would exist if universal healthcare was a reality in Pennsylvania. We also used the Healthcare Survey that PPF developed in 2015 to collect stories from about 50 people about how rising healthcare costs are affecting their ability to meet their basic needs. Several conversations stand out in my memory, including one with a woman who had been at the clinic since 4 A.M. who expressed her frustration at the power of insurance companies to set arbitrary deductible rates that had made it impossible for her to get the treatment she needs. Another patient I spoke with was adamant about the fact that it is unjust for wealthier people to have access to better care and we talked for a long time about why we are in favor of universal healthcare.

Bahjah and Kim help with check-in at Mission of Mercy 2016 in Pittsburgh.

I volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at MOM and in this role I was reminded of the lack of knowledge that exists in the healthcare field regarding barriers that lower income and undocumented immigrants face in accessing health care. I spent all of Saturday interpreting for an immigrant family who was able to get care that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to receive, but who also needed more care than the clinic was able to provide that day. I was especially grateful in that moment to be volunteering as a member of PPF, because we were able to connect the family to an immigrant rights and advocacy group in Pittsburgh who agreed to assist the family in finding resources for continued care.

I’m thankful for the partnership that PPF and MOM have developed over the years, so that we can reach Pennsylvanians most affected by the current healthcare crisis.

For me, this trip reaffirmed the importance of Put People First! PA’s work, because it’s not enough for dental care to be treated as a human right in Pennsylvania only once a year. I’m excited to see how the connections we made this weekend lead to emerging PPF leaders in Western PA, which will allow us to continue building power across Pennsylvania to transform our health system and break isolation for people who face a daily battle to meet their basic needs.

A special thank you to PPF members and friends who hosted us in Pittsburgh, including Dawn Plummer and Diana Polson, Eve Wider, and friends of our newest field organizer Ben Fiorillo!

Petition Delivery A Huge Success

Today, PPF members delivered 500 signatures from Pennsylvanians in 26 counties who are requesting a public hearing before any new rate increases on Affordable Care Act/Marketplace (Obamacare) plans are approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.

Also today, insurance companies’ initial requests for rate increases were made public here. As you can see, increases of up to 48% are requested. We want a lot more people to know this information so please spread the word about this site.IMG_20160525_120629095_TOP

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Sean and Nijmie on the road to Harrisburg. “500 + say YES to a Public Hearing”

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Rich of the York Organizing Committee shows David Buono, the Insurance Department’s Consumer Liaison a map with stickers on the 26 counties where residents are calling for a public hearing.

Below, Zack displays the heap of petition signatures as we talk to David. David asked us to pass along huge thanks to all the work that went into creating this effort and the many conversations and stories shared along the way.

Our conversation was friendly but we know that the increasing cost of care is a life and death issue in our communities. We are serious about real participation in and accountability for the decisions that impact our lives.

We let him know that we’re not finished until the PID joins the 500 in saying YES to a #PIDratehearing. Look out for next steps in your e-news and sign up for PPF e-mails to stay in the loop!

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500 join PPF’s request to the PA Insurance Department for public hearings

PA Residents Request Hearing Before Healthcare Premium Increases

Over 500 PA residents from 26 counties sign petition requesting the PA Insurance Department hold public hearings on the impact of premium increases

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Contact:

Nijmie Dzurinko (484) 619-2306

 

Who: Put People First! PA, a statewide membership organization of individuals and families united for health and dignity.

When: Wednesday, May 25

Where: PA Department of Insurance, Strawberry Square, Harrisburg

 

What: On Wednesday, May 25, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, headed by Commissioner Teresa Miller, will release preliminary information about 2017 rate increases requested by health insurance companies. This is the first step in a process that will continue through the summer ending in the final approval of new rates for 2017.

 

In 2016, approved increases of up to 26.7% impacted over 150,000 residents. For example, Geisinger Health Plan and Geisinger Quality Options requested hikes of 40.6% and 58.4%, respectively. Each was approved for a 20% increase. Amanda, a Philadelphia resident with a Keystone Health Plan policy has seen her premium more than double from $80/mo. to $212/mo. over the past two years.

 

Put People First! PA (PPF-PA), a membership organization of everyday people throughout the state, has talked to hundreds of individuals and families like her for whom rising costs are increasingly making affordable healthcare out of reach.

 

“We’re going to the PA Insurance Department today to share with Commissioner Miller and her staff the names and hometowns of 500 people who want the opportunity to speak publicly about how healthcare costs are impacting them before any new increases are approved,” Rich Burrill of York, PA, said.

 

“More people need to be aware of what’s going on. It’s not fair to receive a notice in the mail or your next bill stating that your premiums have gone up when you never got the chance to weigh in,” PPF-PA member Danelle Morrow of Johnstown, PA, remarked. “People are having to choose between paying for healthcare and paying for rent or buying food.”

 

“We’ve been speaking with the department since September 2015 about the need for a public hearing. We’ve held our own town hall, met with them in Harrisburg, shared dozens of stories and they’ve been very receptive. Now they have the opportunity to step up and increase participation, accountability and transparency with public hearings,” Nijmie Dzurinko, co-founder and member of PPF-PA, said.

 

Today, summaries of the increases requested by insurance corporations in PA are going up on this website: http://www.insurance.pa.gov/Consumers/HealthInsuranceFilings. The week of June 13, the full filings will be posted, which will launch a period where comments from the public can be submitted by email through July 29. Currently, a public hearing is not part of the process.

 

Over the past few months, the PA Insurance Department has held public hearings on balance billing — also known as “surprise” billing — and long-term care insurance.

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