[Peace] Send a message Saturday to Manor Care and the Carlyle Group

[Robert Naiman]

This Saturday is our Jobs with Justice Steering Committee meeting. The
meeting will be at *noon* at the Illinois Disciples Foundation. At
_1:30_, we will gather in the IDF parking lot to march to the nearby
Manor Care facility. This is in response to a call from SEIU Health
Care, which has a national campaign on Manor Care. Here is some
background:

-----------------

ILLINOIS

Manor Care runs 30 nursing homes in Illinois with 3,902 resident beds.

    * Health Standards Violations: Under federal law, nursing homes
are required to be inspected every 9 to 15 months. Over the past three
survey cycles, Manor Care nursing homes in Illinois have been cited
for a total of 362 violations of federal health standards regulations.

    * Staffing levels below government standards: Ninety percent of
Manor Care nursing homes in Illinois already staff below a standard
recommended in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
study as putting residents at risk.

The Carlyle Group is planning to purchase the Toledo-based nursing
home chain, one of the largest nursing home providers in the country
with more than 37,000 resident beds and nearly 60,000 employees. HCR
Manor Care is a company that has a suspect patient-care track record
that has drawn concern from regulators and the public.

   1. The Carlyle Group has little track record in the nursing home industry.
   2. A recent study of government records by the New York Times
revealed that when nursing homes have been taken over by private
equity firms in similar buyouts, staffing levels and quality of
patient care have declined significantly as compared to
publicly-traded companies.
   3. In response to the investigation and growing public outrage,
ranking Republican Sen. Grassley and Democratic Senator Clinton have
called for a General Accounting Office investigation into the impact
of private equity ownership of nursing homes on patient care.

--
Robert Naiman