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Santiago
Introduces Legislation to Force Nursing Homes to Provide
Air Conditioning for Their Residents
Dalia Diaz/Tom Duggan
Published 11/15/99
| State Representative Jose Santiago
appeared on the Paying Attention radio program
with Tom Duggan to discuss campaign issues before
the November 7th election. During the discussion
Duggan told Santiago about his grandfather
Everett Martell who had been a resident of the
Mary Immaculate Nursing Home here in Lawrence.
"My grandfather had three strokes and was in
a room on the third floor with no air
conditioning in the middle of august,"
Duggan said. "It was at least a hundred
degrees in his room. He had to struggle to breath
day after day. It was hell. I noticed that some
of the nursing home residents had air
conditioning while others didn’t and was
told by the administration that only privately
paid rooms had air conditioning. These elderly
people have nothing, they are stuck in a room,
some of them confined to their beds and have no
way of getting relief from the extreme heat of
summer. These are people right now who live in
Lawrence and they deserve better. Would you
support a law that mandates air conditioning and
climate control for all nursing homes in
Massachusetts?" Duggan asked. Santiago immediately embraced the idea saying that the elderly must be given the highest priority, promising to introduce a bill for the comfort of our senior citizens across the commonwealth. "That’s a great idea, and I would have no problem introducing legislation making air conditioning mandatory in every nursing home or elderly facility. I have seen this myself and you are right we should do something. These seniors have paid their dues and there is no reason for a man like your grandfather or anyone else to struggle to breath for ten or fifteen hours a day. That’s a horrible story and I promise you I will introduce the bill when this election is over." Last week Representative Santiago sent a letter to all Massachusetts legislators seeking cosponsors of his bill for mandatory climate control and to treat air conditioning the same as heat in all senior facilities. "This is a great victory for the seniors in Massachusetts and I am thrilled that Mr. Santiago has taken this idea to the state house." Duggan told the listeners of the Paying Attention radio show last week. "My grandfather has since passed away but it is a great feeling to know that something positive is going to happen from the hell he had to go through at Mary Immaculate. I’m not blaming the nurses or the workers at the nursing home for what happened. But, a state law requiring nursing homes to provide basic comfort for their residents means it will be done across the board and there will be no excuse for this to ever happen again." Santiago circulated this memo throughout the state house last week: AN ACT REQUIRING AIR CONDITIONING IN ELDERLY HOUSING SECTION 1. Chapter 111 OF THE General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after 127P the following section:- Section 127Q. The owner of all nursing homes and elderly housing developments, public or private, shall provide air conditioning for all tenants. Air conditioning shall be provided in the bedrooms and living areas of all seniors in nursing in nursing homes and elderly housing developments. The Representative has visited many nursing homes and assisted living complexes. He has found many of the elderly occupants suffering during the summer months because of a lack of air conditioning. This bill will require that these developments regulate and provide air conditioning as they do with their heating systems. Anyone interested in signing on to this bill or anyone that has questions regarding the bill should contact Veronica Lantigua (Legislative Aide) by telephone - 617-722-2575 or email - Veronica.Lantigua@house.state.ma.us The bill is available for signing in Room 146." Santiago says he has very little reason to believe that there will much opposition to the bill. If he is right the bill may become law by next year at this time. "These are the kinds of things that legislators should be doing," Santiago told Rumbo. "I am very concerned with the conditions these senior have to live in during the summer months and I have seen it for myself. As soon as Mr. Duggan brought to my attention the story about his grandfather I knew the time was right to get this done as fast a s possible." District "A" City Councilor Patrick Blanchette told Rumbo this week that he was going to draft a resolution asking the City Council to support the measure. "This is a great idea, we need to do everything we can to help out the seniors and I will be asking the Council to support this either through a resolution or a vote. I can’t imagine anyone being against this. These are the people government should be concerned with helping." Blanchette says he is placing the item on the next City Council agenda. Rumbo will keep our readers informed on the progress of this bill. You can call your state representatives and State Senators to encourage them to support it. (Dave Torissi 682-5644, Barry Finegold 470-4934, Senator Sue Tucker 475-7584. ) |