Laguna Honda Hospital Call to Action: update April 15, 2023:

For more details: SF Gray Panther Main Laguna Honda Page (new URL):

https://panther-gray.web.app/child/laguna-honda-hospital:-call-to-action-

CLOSURE AND EVICTIONS ARE SCHEDULED FOR MAY 19 2023. A CUT OF 120 BEDS REMAINS A CONDITION (per CMS) FOR ANY PLAN TO STAY OPEN.

What to do:

Sign This Petition: https://www.change.org/p/help-save-120-beds-at-laguna-honda-hospital-in-san-francisco

Save these dates to appear, testify and or (now)write in:

April 18 Tues.-4 pm: Meeting of the SF Health Commission which will include an update on April 11 LHH Joint Conference Committee Meeting. Agenda and supporting documents are here.

See instructions on how to testify in person, by phone and in writing here.

See examples of 150 word statements you can write or say here

It was announced on April 11, 2023 that on April 13, Laguna Honda chiefs will meet with state and federal regulators to discuss the LHH “revised closure plan,” which has not been accepted by these higher ups. We need an update on this!

We are getting uncomfortably close to the May 19 deadline for evictions and closure; this 3rd monthly meeting of the Health Commission will summarize progress so far at Laguna Honda.

Save the date and write your supervisor:

To San Francisco Health Commission                                                   April 6, 2023

Dear Health Commissioners,

     The Older Women’s League is particularly concerned about the continued out of county transfers of San Francisco citizens after acute care hospitalizations.  Placing patients far away from their family and friends delays their adjustment to their new surroundings and to their continued health and quality of life.  Further, family and friends who rely on public transportation to visit loved ones spend hours trying to reach out of county facilities.  Citizens of San Francisco who have lived here, worked hard, paid taxes, and consider this their home deserve better. 

If Laguna Honda does not achieve recertification or if there are bed cuts, the problem of sending citizens out of county  will become even more acute.  Our members are currently experiencing the many difficulties with out of county transfers, and the issue is very real to them. 

The lack of Skilled Nursing Facilities and Subacute Skilled Nursing beds within San Francisco County needs to be addressed.  We have been hearing about the possibility of beds at Chinese Hospital and other places since before the Covid 19 Pandemic.  Please give us an update on where these beds stand now, since it is difficult to see that any progress has been made on that front.  Finally, the data of transfers at the April 4 Commission Meeting was very welcome, but to get an accurate count of SF citizens transferred, we need to know how many of those transfers were not SF residents.  To begin addressing this problem, it is important that the data is complete.

Note:  Mr Morewitz/Health Commission Secretary:

Please forward this to the Health Commission in regards to the April 4 Health Commission Meeting, Item #5.

Respectfully submitted,

Melanie Grossman, PhD, MSW

President, Older Women’s League- SF

A letter from OWLSF President, Melanie Grossman, to the Secretary of the San Francisco Health Commission.

mark.morewitz@sfdph.org

From: Melanie Grossman, PhD, MSW

Email: melaniedgrossman@gmail.com

Date: April 4, 2023

Dear Mr. Morewitz/Health Commission Secretary:

Please forward this to the Health Commission and also use the statement below for the minutes of the April 4 Health Commission in the general comments section.

Dear Health Commissioners:

Please schedule a hearing on Sutter/CPMC’s plans for use of the warm pool at Davies Hospital so that the public has an opportunity to express their concerns. There has been a trend toward hospitals all over San Francisco who are registered as not for profit institutions to eliminate community programs that do not garner profits for these supposedly nonprofit hospitals.

Sutter’s warm water pool  provides services to community members who are physically disabled, often in pain and trying to regain mobility and independence. Please do not let this service be the latest in a long line of cuts by Sutter on services that are not profitable for their bottom line. A hearing is absolutely necessary to review this latest rollback in services for the community.

Respectfully submitted,

Melanie Grossman, PhD, LSW

President of OWL-SF

September 7, 2022

Health Commission, San Francisco Department of Public Health,

Dear Members of the Health Commission:

As President of the Older Women League of San Francisco, and as a social worker, I am writing to you to urge you to reconsider the “Flow Project” at SF General Hospital.  During my years in hospital discharge planning and nursing home admission, the hospital social workers proposed patients for admittance to a facility.  The facility then evaluated the appropriateness of an admission in terms of safety and ability to care for the patient.  Only then was a patient admitted.  The “Flow Project” made it possible for patients be admitted to Laguna Honda Hospital without evaluation, despite their lack of facilities to properly treat drug addiction and severe mental illness.

I ask the Commission to reverse the “Flow Project” as it serves the interest of SF General, and not Laguna Honda staff and patients. Adequate community programming for drug rehabilitation and mental illness in SF is lacking and should be one of our main focuses.  This includes clinics, well-trained staff and housing, follow-up programs with physicians, nurses, social workers, and mental health workers to care for these patients.  Asking Laguna Honda to take on these problems is an easy fix that has not worked, causing harm to many.

The Commission needs to focus on the root causes of current problems in the City, as well as long term solutions that would help San Francisco citizens struggling with the serious and often deadly issues of drug addiction and untreated mental illness.

Respectfully submitted,

Melanie Grossman, PhD, MSW

President of OWL-SF

May 5, 2022

Health Committee
California State Assembly

Dear Assembly Member Chris R. Holden,

     As President of the Older Women League of San Francisco and Chair of its Political Advocacy Committee, I am writing to urge you to support Assembly Bill 2583 for the training of police officers to deal with our citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. 

     As a geriatric social worker, I know that individuals suffering from these conditions are often frightened and confused.  Professional training will go a long way to ensure that those with such conditions are treated with dignity, care, and compassion.  It will further prevent the suffering of patients and families and reduce the escalation of a harmless situations into a crisis.

     Please support Assembly Bill 2583 so that police officers can receive this training.  As more older people are choosing to stay in their communities and age in place, this legislation is timely and important.  People with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia have been productive citizens all their lives.  They have paid their taxes and we owe it to them to treat them humanely, with respect and with honor.

Sincerely,

Melanie Grossman, PhD, MSW

Vice President of OWL-SF and Chair of Political Advocacy Committee

AN OWL OCCASIONAL PIECE – May 2021

Informative and inspirational programs are planned for OWL for May 22^nd and June 26^th.  Sadly, these still must be via Zoom even as we all begin to hope that soon we can gather again in person.

For May 22^nd at 11 AM, we feature a short video of “1000 Grandmothers” acting to protect our planet followed by Dr. Jan Kirsch, oncologist and environmental medicine expert speaking about climate change and health including things we can do to protect our planet for our grandchildren.

The June 26^th program is Collecting the Wisdom of Your Years and Passing it Along. Our own Melanie Grossman will lead us through the process of writing our memoirs.  She has just completed and published her memoir Crossing Bayou Teche and even sold some copies.  We have been a part of creating some amazing history and societal change and it needs to be documented.  This is fun!

OWL SF has a Job Opening!

The person who has managed many of the details of keeping OWL organized is no longer available to do this.  This position requires a pretty good level of comfort and skill with a computer as it can mostly be accomplished at home.  Responsibilities range from maintaining an accurate membership list to monitoring emails coming to OWL (not many of those) to formatting and emailing the weekly ALERTS (but not choosing topics or writing the content), and a few other items necessary for such an active organization.  The compensation is $30/hour for a position which is 7- 8 hours per week.

Are you interested in taking on this vital work?  If not, do you know anyone who might be?  Please contact Glenda Hope at 415-585-4636.

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“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow.  It only saps today of its joy.” Buscaglia

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.