[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL NURSING HOME WEEK

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, during National Nursing Home Week, May 12-
18, we celebrate the more than 100,000 people in Massachusetts who live 
and work in our State's 590 nursing facilities.
  Nursing facilities have become an integral part of our health care 
delivery system, providing rehabilitative care for individuals who 
expect to return home as well as long-term care for the chronically 
ill. Currently, about a quarter of all Massachusetts residents 85 years 
of age and older need nursing facility care. Approximately half of 
these individuals suffer from Alzheimer's disease. In addition, nursing 
facilities also care for many younger people, including severely 
disabled children, individuals who have suffered traumatic head 
injuries, and those who depend on ventilators to live.
  Nursing facilities also make an important contribution to the 
Massachusetts economy by providing jobs for more than 55,000 people and 
adding more than $2 billion to the local economy through wages and the 
purchase of goods and services.
  As our population ages and nursing facilities assume an even more 
important role, it is critical that we maintain the quality of care 
provided by these facilities. Recent proposals to dramatically reduce 
Federal Medicare and Medicaid spending would have a devastating impact 
on elderly and disabled people in nursing facilities, 80 percent of 
whom rely on these two programs to pay for their care. In addition, we 
must maintain the protections contained in the 1987 nursing home reform 
law, which have helped nursing facilities to improve the quality of 
services they provide to the Nation's 1.5 million nursing facility 
residents.
  National Nursing Home Week should mark a renewal of our commitment 
not only to the 55,000 elders and disabled people who live in our 
State's nursing facilities, but also to the 55,000 nursing facility 
employees who have dedicated their lives to caring for our most 
vulnerable citizens. In honor of this week, I salute all these 
employees whose contributions are so important to the well-being of so 
many in Massachusetts.

                          ____________________