When tourists stay at bed and breakfasts and hotels in the Berkshires, they often note the high quality of the food. But for those who spend time in the county's nursing homes, where 75% of care centers spend less than an average of $10 a day per resident on food, they see a very different food scene. Berkshire Eagle reporter Heather Bellow spoke with one resident who has been been recovering from an infection at one of these nursing homes, and he's taking note of the food.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: You recently wrote about Sheffield resident KC Clow on Facebook. He had what he calls ‘a private food fight’ with a kitchen at a nursing home. Tell me about him.
Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle: Well, I started seeing his posts on Facebook. They were coming into my feed. He had a lung infection over the winter that hospitalized him for a few weeks, and then he needed some extra rehabilitation to get back on his feet. And so, he was sent to a nursing home in Pittsfield called Hillcrest Commons. And he is still there.
He has not had a bite of fresh fruit since February, and his meals are usually warm or cold and inedible. But recently, he started complaining and posting pictures of the food on Facebook and the nursing home started to try to work with him, although he still not too happy with the cuisine there.
Was this food he was being served special diet foods needed for his rehabilitation?
Uh, no. No, not at all. It was, you know, standard fare. Pancakes that were cold. Usually waffles, hot dogs, fish sticks. Any vegetables or fruit were canned. And about half the time he said he wasn't getting water or fruit juice or anything to drink at all. And sometimes he wasn't even getting a napkin or cutlery.
Oh! Is what he's seeing in line with what other residents in nursing homes around Berkshire County are seeing?
Well, yes. And what we found was that most of the nursing homes in Berkshire County are spending less than $10 a day per resident on actual food costs, actual ingredients. And that actually is a national problem.
And there was another investigation by Advanced Local Media, several outlets, plus, some help from academics at Rutgers University. They found the same thing. They found that about 25% of nursing homes across the country were spending under $10 a day per resident on food. I believe it was about half of all nursing home residents were being fed on about $12 per day per resident. So, this is a national problem.
So why are nursing homes putting that quality of food into their residents?
Yeah. Well, the experts, the people who study nursing homes and the nursing home owners, they have they have slightly different takes on this. The nursing home owners say that they are struggling to meet all the needs based on what the regulations are for staffing and everything else. And so, if they have to spend more in one area, they have to cut in another area.
One issue that the nursing home owner has, has raised with us is that the Medicaid reimbursements don't cover all of the costs.
So, what you're saying is that MassHealth, which currently funds more than 70% or so of the people who are in facilities across Massachusetts, underfunds each resident by $47 per day. That's got to cause some problems!
That's right. And that is what the nursing home owners are saying. And so, they are saying they're not making their ends meet. But the advocate for better care nursing homes are saying, ‘Well, that may be true,’ but a lot of the nursing homes who don't have a huge Medicaid population are also not spending more than $10 or $12 on food.
So, it's a sort of a universally skimped on area in those kind of facilities.
It appears to be the case.
So what's next? Is there a Legislative fix? What are readers saying about this reporting?
Oh, well, in of readers, people have offered to bring Mr. Clow food, you know, something much better than what he is getting there. So, that's been interesting. People have really responded to this story.
And in of legislation, I haven't heard of anything. But some of the people I spoke to, who are advocates for better care in nursing homes, say they would like to see something in of new regulations or legislation to fix this problem.
