Health and safety of seniors needs to be protected
By David Leyton
As a prosecutor who’s fought on the front lines against crime, abuse and neglect, I see firsthand the tragic consequences of what happens when seniors and persons with disabilities are put at risk because common-sense safeguards and accountability measures are not in place.
That’s why Proposal 4 is so important to the health, safety and independence of our most vulnerable citizens.
Across Michigan, county sheriffs, local police chiefs, prosecutors and many others are voicing their support for Proposal 4 because they understand how it can improve the safety and well-being of many Michigan seniors and people with disabilities. As members of the law enforcement community, we are proud to join senior and disability rights groups, consumer organizations, faith leaders, medical professionals and veterans groups in urging a yes vote on Proposal 4.
Proposal 4 will establish a registry that links seniors and people with disabilities with home care providers who must undergo strict background checks to be on the registry. This
is an important safeguard for our loved ones.
Seniors and persons with disabilities are all too often the victims of abuse. The National Center on Elder Abuse defines six different types of common abuse perpetrated on seniors and people with disabilities:
There’s physical abuse, when someone inflicts or threatens to inflict physical pain or injury to a senior or person with a disability, or deprives them of a basic need. There’s emotional abuse, such as causing mental pain, anguish, or distress. There’s sexual abuse. There’s exploitation, when criminals illegally take or misuse seniors and people with disabilities’ funds and property. There’s neglect, when abusers refuse to provide food, shelter, health care or protection for seniors and people with disabilities. And there’s
abandonment, when a senior or person with a disability is simply deserted.
These crimes happen regularly in Michigan. According to estimates by the Department of Human Services, about 14,000 elder abuse cases are reported on average each year.
The Michigan Adult Protective Services estimates this problem will only worsen, with numbers rising 30 percent in the past five years alone as more Michiganders get older.
Abuse of people with disabilities often goes unreported, raising serious concerns about the safety of the 2 million Michiganders with disabilities.
Far too frequently, abuse of seniors and people with disabilities comes from caregivers—the same people entrusted to take care of our loved ones. This is what makes the background checks component of Proposal 4 so critical.
Under Proposal 4, home care providers will also receive access to training on issues like adult first aid, CPR, nutrition, and working with elders with Alzheimer’s and dementia—critical training and skills that can save lives. The registry will then match home care recipients with up to three pre-screened and trained providers in their area that fit the criteria they provide.
Michigan seniors and persons with disabilities, as well as their loved ones, deserve peace of mind knowing that home care providers in their area have been fully screened and trained.
As a two-term prosecutor who has spent years fighting for the safety and security of seniors and people with disabilities, I will vote “Yes” on Proposal 4 and urge others to join me on Election Day.
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David Leyton has been Genesee County Prosecutor since 2005. He was recently elected president of the Board of Directors of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM).
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Proposal a scheme to funnel dues and fees from caregivers
By Derk A. Wilcox
One of the biggest misconceptions about Proposal 4 is that it creates new programs that will assist the elderly and the disabled with independent living. It is on this basis that the proposed amendment to the Michigan Constitution is being sold to voters. An analysis of the proposal, however, reveals that this claim is untrue and so we have to look deeper to see the true motivation behind the promotion of Proposal 4.
The real reason Proposal 4 was put on the ballot was to protect a scheme to funnel dues and fees from the pay of home-based caregivers to the Service Employees International Union. The amendment seeks to enshrine in the constitution a dues collection scheme that has already diverted $32 million away from the caregivers, 75 percent of whom are family members caring for loved ones. Under the Home Help Program, which began in 1981, in-home caregivers had always been considered employees of the care recipients—up until 2005, that is. The care recipient chose the employee, directed the care, and had the ability to replace the caregiver if desired.
In 2005, under the administration of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a local government entity called the Michigan Quality Community Care Council was created and colluded with the SEIU to force tens of thousands of residents into a government union. These two entities claimed that the caregivers were public employees because all or part of their pay comes from public funds. (Given this line of reasoning, doctors who accept Medicaid or Medicare payments, or grocers who accept food stamps, could also be forced into such a union.) Michigan law, as well as federal law, had always excluded in-home caregivers from the definition of who is a public employee for the reason that the true employer was the one to whom the care was given, not the state. Nevertheless, the scheme moved forward with little to no public scrutiny.
When the full extent of what had happened, and the amount of dues and fees that had been skimmed became widely known, the public was outraged and the Legislature acted to put an end to the dues skim and prevent anything like it from happening in the future. Proposal 4 is an attempt to validate the dues skim and enshrine in the constitution the definition of a public employee that has already been rejected by the courts and the Legislature. The SEIU has already admitted that it is using the skimmed dues “during the upcoming election” to advocate for its position. Given the millions of dollars involved, the SEIU has a strong incentive to try and keep the skim going.
Proposal 4 would only consider home-based caregivers to be public employees for the limited purpose of being represented by the SEIU or a subsequent union. It would not extend to caregivers the status of public employees in any other regard, including pensions, benefits or civil service protections. Proposal 4 would not grant the union the power to negotiate higher wages or improved work conditions, either. The actual language of the proposed amendment that does not appear on the ballot specifically states that the Legislature, through the appropriations process, determines the caregivers’ compensation, and since the work occurs in the care recipients’ homes, it cannot affect the working conditions either.
The programs promised by Proposal 4, including a registry and background checks, have already been implemented and require no constitutional amendment to continue. The only facet of Proposal 4 that actually requires altering the constitution is the continuation of the dues skim that the Legislature has tried to stop.
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Derk A. Wilcox is senior attorney at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland. You can access his policy brief on Proposal 4 at www.mackinac.org/17637.
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