Senior Services

New Mexico nursing homes stumble in national review

Senior scandal

Letting disoriented residents wander outside into traffic, giving insulin at the wrong time, not changing a colostomy bag—all are stunning examples of failures by senior care facilities across New Mexico (Santa Fe's Casa Real was the insulin one). A review of Medicare and Medicaid-approved facilities by the nonprofit journalism group Pro Publica found New Mexico's performance is the worst in the nation. Marie Baca at the Albuquerque Journal sums up the findings and explores the landscape of New Mexico senior care as the Trump administration gets ready to relax oversight on the industry.

Let Them Eat Cake Three Stories Up

While New Mexico undoubtedly needs more and better senior care, Santa Fe is doing okay in the wealthy older people department. El Castillo, the venerable senior living facility off Alameda, has plans to expand to the now-vacant piece of land just north of the federal courthouse. The group has asked the city's Historic District Review Board for a height variance ($) for its 70-plus unit design at the corner of Old Taos Highway and Paseo de Peralta. The exception is relatively minor: 12 feet, for a total of 36 feet. The courthouse, post office and Scottish Rite temple nearby are taller.

Dinner with Donald

Gov. Susana Martinez supped with the president of the United States last night. The two had a contentious relationship during the 2016 election, but have since warmed to each other ($). The topic of the evening wasn't senior care, but border security. New Mexico sent 60 National Guard troops to the border recently in response to the president's call. The governor thanked Trump for what she saw as compassion in the rollback of the Obama-era DACA immigration policy.

‘Systemic problems’ at CYFD

Two former workers at New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department say the agency is plagued by long-term problems that haven't been addressed. Caseloads are too high and they're rotated too frequently, the former employees say. The department is in the spotlight after failing to catch a recent case of alleged sex trafficking of a 7-year-old girl by her family.

Justice, delayed and denied

The state of New Mexico is considering a proposal to let public defenders refuse cases instead of providing a half-hearted defense for poor clients accused of crimes. The issue has been growing over the past years, as judicial system money has flowed toward prosecutors. Bennett Baur, chief public defender for the state, says caseloads often exceed national guidelines. In Bernalillo County, the district attorney will get a 24 percent boost in funding, while public defenders will see about a 4 percent increase.

Councilors worry plastic straw ban sucks

Two Santa Fe city councilors say they want to change the wording of a recent proposal to eliminate plastic straw waste. Instead of a ban, they want the city to call for a reduction in use. That's the original intent, say the ordinance's sponsors. The city of Seattle will see an actual ban later this year and Alaska Airlines just banned plastic straws on its flights, too.

Floods drown ABQ woman

Diversion channels in New Mexico's largest city become raging torrents during heavy rains, and six people were carried away yesterday as the heaviest storm in months filled the channels. Firefighters rescued five of them, but a woman drowned. While crews were able to recover her body, they're not sure which arroyo she was in when the rains came.

More on the way

Precipitation totals from the storms are expected to increase today with more midday rainfall. Santa Fe's highs will be in the low 70s, Albuquerque will be closer to 80. It's going to start drying out west to east across the state and temperatures will warm about 10 degrees into the end of the week.
 
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