| Push to more home health care
COLUMBUS -- Shifting Medicaid funding to home health-care providers from nursing homes and comparable facilities could save the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to a study unveiled by an advocacy group Monday. The Ohio Council for Home Care released the findings of "An Economic Study of Long-Term Care Costs in Ohio" during a press conference at the Statehouse. It commissioned the Columbus firm of Levin, Driscoll & Fleeter (at a cost of $25,000) to assemble and analyze Medicaid and health-related data; the information will be provided to the governor's office and lawmakers in advance of budget deliberations. "The study has confirmed what we have long understood -- that Ohioans on Medicaid who wish to remain in their homes should be provided with that opportunity," said Kathleen Anderson, the council's executive director.
Sex Charge
An assisted living center employee in Georgetown County who told police he has AIDS has been charged with having sex with a vulnerable patient. Georgetown Police Captain Nelson Brown says the 45-year-old victim told authorities that 40-year-old Matthew Linen entered his room twice this month and had sex with him. Officials at the center say the victim is mentally retarded. Brown says Linen is charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult and willfully and knowingly exposing another to the H-I-V virus. Brown says Linen has confessed to having sex with the patient. Brown says investigators also are checking allegations from another female patient. DHEC Regulations of Assisted Living Nursing Home Comparisons from DHEC Warning signs of Abuse .
The People's physician
Turlock may have selected him as the city's most outstanding citizen but forgive Dr. Ralph Truitt if he has a slightly devilish sense of humor."Don't make me sound as though I'm an angel ya know," laughed Truitt during an interview. "Cause' believe me, that's one thing I'm not!"The Turlock Chamber of Commerce sees Truitt a bit more seriously."He's a nurse advocate, a believer in bettering patient care, promoting local, quality health-care through services at Emanuel Medical Center, a donor and a volunteer," said Sharon Silva, CEO of the Turlock Chamber of Commerce that bestowed the citizen of the year honor.Truitt was born on March 13, 1920 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was the only child of missionary parents, Earnest and Bertha Truitt. During his first six months of life, he lived with drastic dietary limitations and was near death at 6 months of age.
Ex-girlfriend testifies about assault
When Demetrius Lamont Reynolds went on a violent rampage a few days before Christmas 2005, prosecutors argued Wednesday in Mobile County Circuit Court, he tried to kill his ex-girlfriend and then later one of his friends. And although originally charged with reckless endangerment and menacing, Reynolds went on trial before Judge John Lockett facing two counts of attempted murder, along with a third count of second-degree domestic violence. But did Reynolds, 25, intend to kill his ex-girlfriend Trena Moffett and, later on the morning of Dec. 21, his friend Michael Francis? Witnesses said Wednesday that on each occasion that day, Reynolds pulled a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol from his clothes during a struggle with the victims, pointed the barrel at them and pulled the trigger.
'A gift from God'
WILLOW CREEK -- One can hear Paula Mattocks' pain in the pops, cracks and snaps that emanate from her shoulder. It can also be heard in the Hoopa-based artist's voice, which she tends to lose when the pain is at its worst. It's a pain that can also be seen in the braces that secure her right arm and wrist, almost concealing an eight-inch scar that nearly runs the length of her forearm. It's also in her teeth, which are starting to crack from the constant clenching of her jaw. It's also in her paintings. It's embedded in the landscapes, which burst with colors and textures. It's not a pain that manifests itself in dark and dreary abstracts or images of widespread suffering; rather, the pain is the painting. Without it there would be no image, no paint and no artist. Mattocks' art career took root as her nursing job in a Nevada assisted living center came to an end.
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