According to House measure
Aged need ‘bill of rights’
By DANA TIMS
Of the Emerald
SALEM — For the first time in
recent memory, Rep. Wally
Priestly, D-Portland, wore a tie. It
had to be something big.
Priestly, who usually lives in a
turtleneck sweater, and other
members of the House aging
committee heard their first bill
Tuesday.
The aging committee has been
slow to start hearings on bills be
cause of the massive amount of
information compiled on nursing
homes during the legislative in
terim. Now, with preliminary re
view sessions completed, the
committee should get its share of
the attention and the controversy.
The first bill before the commit
tee would establish a bill of rights
for nursing home patients. HB
2368 is aimed primarily at guaran
teeing the privacy and dignity of
patients often unable to protect
themselves.
“The rights of nursing home pa
tients are severely hampered,”
testified Doug Rogers, a member
of the interim task force on nursing
homes. “There is a strong need to
make the elderly educated con
sumers of the sen/ices available
to them.''
Rogers also told the committee
that if people spent as much time
looking for an adequate nursing
home as they do searching for a
new car, “it would be a much bet
ter world out there.”
A bill of rights for nursing home
patients is needed because of the
“overwhelming impact” of being
institutionalized," Rogers said.
“A loss of health, economic
power, residence and all matters
of choice experienced by seniors
put in a nursing home is only sur
passed by being confined to the
state hospital in Salem and the
penitentiary.”
The bill, co-sponsored by 14
legislators on behalf of United
Seniors 79, is before the commit
tee because abuses have occur
red in the past, contended Ro
gers.
“ If there hadn’t been problems,”
he said, “we wouldn’t need this
bill.”
Rights are one thing, the initial
questions from committee mem
bers implied. “But how much will it
cost?” asked Max Rijken,
D-Newport.
Previous estimates, although
not presented at the hearing, have
forecast a budget of $40,000 to
$50,000 for the next biennium to
enforce patients’ rights under HB
2368. These funds would pay for a
hearings officer to travel to the
nursing home in question, meet
with both the patient and adminis
trator and make a decision. The
cost of each visit would be about
$300.
Rights contained in the bill,
drawn largely from federal regula
tions regarding nursing home
care, include: freedom from men
tal and physical abuse, the right to
associate with any person, the
right to file grievances and to par
ticipate in policy decisions, free
dom to manage personal financial
affairs and the right to privacy for
visits from spouse or friends.
“This simply gives patients the
leverage of a bargaining tool,”
Rogers explained. Presently, he
said, federal regulations desig
nate the administrator of a nursing
home as the referee in a dispute,
which might involve only the ad
ministrator and a complaining pa
tient.
Nursing homes are a relatively
new concept in American society,
Rogers stated. He compared
them with public utilities because
of the lack of choice facing pros
pective patients.
kevin harden
DOlitical rhetoric
Reforestation must not be as important to
Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., as he tries to make it
sound.
Packwood, whom the rumor mill says is politi
cally vulnerable, told fellow Republicans last week he
was concerned enough about poor reforestation ef
forts to introduce legislation into the Senate to correct
the problem.
His bill. S. 100, would eventually pay for 100
percent reforestation of all timber land around the
nation, Packwood said. However, that may not be the
case.
Rep. Jim Weaver D-Ore., chairer of the House
forestry subcommittee, said Friday Packwood
couldn’t be serious about the bill because he hasn’t
contacted him yet to push for the bill's passage in the
House of Representatives.
If the bill is to succeed, Weaver said, it must first
be approved by his committee. It will then go to the
House and, with Rep. Al Ullman’s, D-Ore., support, it
could become law.
But, Weaver complained, Packwood hasn’t
bothered to sav a word to him about the bill. That
could be easily explained, Packwood countered dur
ing his speech, because the measure doesn’t require
the forestry committee’s endorsement. It will be sent
straight to the House Ways and Means Committee
and bypass the whole tedious process.
If that’s a bit hard to swallow, try figuring how
Packwood is going to get approval to spend nearly
$120 million in a tax revolt Congress without some
sort of committee approval.
Speaking of the rumor mill and Bob Pack
wood, there seems to be trouble afoot in the Con
gressional race for Packwood’s Senate seat. Jim
Weaver may be looking into the possibility of trading
his prepresentative stripes for a Senate seat.
Weaver, however, denied that he wants to do
anything more than serve the Fourth Congressional
District, and then see what happens.
At a speech in Medford last week Weaver took a
jab at Packwood, saying he didn’t want to see the
GOP senator spend another six years in Congress.
Friday, however, Weaver apologized for that remark
and said he didn’t mean anything by it.
If that weren’t bad enough, the rumor mill now
has it that Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt has
found his cure for Senate fever: Packwood’s vul
nerability. Goldschmidt has been eyeing the senate
for some time, Portland sources say, and 1980 just
might be his chance.
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Senate approves new
compensation boss
SALEM (AP) — Roy Green was confirmed Tuesday as head
of the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Department after an
hour-long Senate debate over his 25,250 shares of insurance
company stock.
Five senators rose to speak against Green, claiming that
ownership of the Employees Benefit Co. stock was a conflict of
interest because the company is the largest private carrier of
workers’ compensation in Oregon.
However, other senators cited Green’s promise to get rid of
the stock by next fall and the confirmation went through 19-10
with one senator absent.
Sen. Dick Groener, D-Milwaukie, called Green a “cost con
scious but compassionate” man and praised Ns handling of the
department.
Sen. Walt Brown, D-Lake Oswego, said the issue was not
whether Green had acted improperly, but whether a situation
existed where he could influence the profits of a company in
which he holds stock.
“When the director of our Workers’ Compensation Depart
ment has over a half million dollars in holdings in the insurance
company wNch writes the largest amount of workers compensa
tion insurance in the state... there is at least an appearance that
profits of that company will be in his mind,” said Brown.
Green, 62, was a founder of Employee Benefits Insurance
Co. and was a senior vice president when he left the company in
April 1976. When he was appointed to the Workers’ Compensa
tion Department in September 1977 by former Gov. Bob Straub,
he promised to get rid of his 30,500 shares of stock within two
years.
He told the Senate Labor Committee last week that he had
divested himself of 5,250 shares so far, but had been inhibited
from getting rid of the rest by Securities and Exchange Commis
sion rules.
Senators opposing the appointment said that Green’s stock
had almost doubled in value since he took office, but Sen. Ted
Kulongoski explained the increase was due to the company going
public.
Kulongoski, D-Junction City, said he had questioned Green
extensively about his holdings when the nominee appeared be
fore the Labor Committee and was satisfied he was the most
qualified person for the job.
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