By: M. Scott Carter//The Journal Record//January 8, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY
A patient advocacy group that has called for more oversight of Oklahoma nursing homes is calling on Republican Gov. Mary Fallin to fire several top health and human service officials.
Wes Bledsoe, founder and chairman emeritus of the group A Perfect Cause, said he met with Fallin’s staff on Wednesday and asked that Fallin fire Dr. Terry Cline, her cabinet secretary for health and human services, and EstherHouser, long-term care ombudsman for the state Department of Human Services aging services division.
“The meeting went better than I expected,” Bledsoe said. “But the end result was the governor’s office told us she had no power to force those people out. Her staff said we would have to go to each agency’s board.”
In a media statement distributed before the meeting, Bledsoe said his organization was demanding the resignation of Cline, Houser and five other DHS officials. They include Hank Hartsell, deputy vice commissioner of the protective health services; Dorya Huser, chief of long-term care service; DHS Director Edward Lake; Barbara Kidder, director of the adult protective services division; and Jeannie McCullough, program manager for long-term care investigations at the adult protective services division.
“The DHS ombudsman program, working with trained staff at Area Agencies on Aging and with citizen advocates, has a long history of providing substantial advocacy to residents in nursing homes, assisted-living centers and residential care facilities,” she said.
Powell said the ombudsman role was not enforcement, but designed to resolve issues to the satisfaction of the residents. She said the ombudsman program addressed more than 5,000 complaints last year originating from residents, friends, family members and anonymous sources and that DHS adult protective services staff members investigated more than 15,000 allegations of abuse and neglect.
Houser said she and Bledsoe disagreed over policy issues that involved placing cameras and audio recorders in nursing home residents’ rooms. “We have a disagreement over the right of residents in nursing homes to make decisions about their privacy,” she said.
Houser declined to address other issues in Bledsoe’s complaint.
For several years, state officials have struggled to improve the DHS. In 2011, the Legislature passed measures to reorganize the agency and to strengthen its child welfare and adult protective services divisions.
Bledsoe said his organization would continue to push for the firing of the officials and advocate for stricter oversight policies of nursing homes. In his letter to Fallin, Bledsoe said his organization would provide the governor’s office additional information to justify their request.
“We are prepared to present information to you and your staff to support our demand,” he wrote. “If this demand is not met within 45 days, we will move forward with legal action against the state of Oklahoma to force it to provide safe and appropriate care for our loved ones who are residing in nursing homes.