JEWiSh NATIONAL FUNd

PRESENTS

BORMAN HALL page 1

Max Sosin

Detroit's Best Loved Raconteur and Comedian

On Stage

Thursday, September 2, 1993
7:30 p.m.

Congregation B'nai David
24350 Southfield Road
Southfield, Michigan

Seating Limited
Casual Attire

Admission: $15.00
(includes planting one Tree in Israel)
Coffee Hour

Video services provided by:
Jeff Schoenberg of Video Protection

For reservations contact:

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Jewish National Fund
17100 W. Ten Mile Road
Southfield, Ml 48075
(313)557-6644

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Goldie Sigman and daughter Shirley
Mazer.
term quality care at the Home?
Why did Borman Hall pass in-
spection in December, only to
fail this month? And, where will
its residents go if the Home
shuts its doors?
Denise Bortolani-Rabidoux
became executive director of the
Jewish Home for Aged in
February. She succeeded
Markey Butler, a consultant
hired last year to rescue the
Home. Ms. Butler's "fast-track"
approach enabled the Home to
pass inspection last December.
Ms. Rabidoux said the lat-
est inspection results come as
a surprise.
"We knew it wasn't going to
be good," she said. "But we
weren't prepared for the Level
A deficiencies."
Level A deficiencies include
breaches of state regulations in
such areas as resident care and
nursing services. For instance,
MDPH field workers who con-
ducted the inspection — four
nurses, a social worker and en-
vironmental specialist — not-
ed that some caregivers at the
Home were not adequately
tending to paralyzed, bed-rid-
den residents who need periodic
repositioning to prevent body
sores.
Residents were not being
shaved on schedule, and some
nurses were not helping during
mealtimes, according to the re-
port. Many citations were re-
peats from previous inspections.
"Basically, part of what
they're saying is that the staff
still lacks understanding and
knowledge about the (federal-
ly-mandated) way in which we
care for residents," Ms.
Rabidoux said.
"As far as nursing is con-
cerned, the results weren't any-
thing we didn't expect," said
John Steele, the Borman Hall
administrator who came on
board earlier this summer. 'The
question in my mind is that,
given the lack of clinical skills
in our nursing staff, can we

turn (the Home) around quick-
ly enough?"
Other people are asking the
same question.
David Page, president of the
Jewish Federation of Metro-
politan Detroit, responded op-
timistically:
"The Federation has every
confidence in the Home's man-
agement that any deficiencies
will be corrected to the satis-
faction of the state's licensing
office and, most important, for
the benefit of the residents of
Borman Hall. Federation will _/
continue to monitor the situa-
tion very closely."
Last week, the MDPH did j
not sound equally upbeat. Dr.
Richard Yerian, chief medical
consultant for the Bureau of
Health Systems in Lansing,
said, "It's quite possible that
they (Medicare and Medicaid)
will not continue because of the )
severity of the findings and the
fact that they're repeat find-
ings."
After meeting this week with
Ms. Rabidoux, JHA Board
Chairman Robert Naftaly and
Mark Davidoff from Federation,
the state official sounded more
hopeful.

)

"Now, all the
Band-Aids have
fallen off and
we're left with the
long haul."

Denise Bortolani-Rabidoux

"I am relieved that the facil-
ity is going to make a maximum
effort to stay in the program,"
he said Tuesday. "At any given
time, I have four, five, or six sit-
uations (at other nursing
homes) very similar to Borman
Hall's situation. Some strug-
gle more than others, but they
tend to make it."
Medicare and Medicaid offi-
cials affirmed the doctor's prog-
nosis.
_ Some in Detroit's Jewish
community thought Borman
Hall's struggle was supposed to
be over. Last year, Federation
allotted $4.5 million to the
Jewish Home for Aged, which
includes Borman Hall, Prentis
Manor in Southfield and
Fleischman Residence in West
Bloomfield.
About $2.95 million of that
total went toward covering costs
during and after Borman Hall's
fast-track clean-up. Mark
Davidoff, chief financial officer
for Federation, said the major-
ity of these dollars went toward
Butler and Associates (now
Comprehensive Health Ser-
vices Consulting), the firm hired
to trouble-shoot in time for the

BORMAN HALL page 8