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Legislation passed by the state Senate on Tuesday will provide vital funding to nursing homes, personal care facilities and other senior citizens&rsquo; programs impacted by COVID-19 and allow them to continue providing essential services for the state&rsquo;s most vulnerable population.
				Senate Bill 1122 appropriates $507 million from Pennsylvania&rsquo;s share of federal CARES funding to support a variety of programs and services for senior citizens and $31 million for a one-time grant program for volunteer fire and EMS companies.
				The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
				Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, said the new funding will provide a critical layer of support for nursing homes and long-term living programs, including those allowing seniors to continue to live in the community, and volunteer fire and EMS companies that are struggling due to COVID-19.
				Baker voted in favor of the legislation.
				&ldquo;Everyone here realizes that dealing with the fear and uncertainty and risk of the coronavirus requires decisive action, Baker said. &ldquo;The virus has no respect for laws, or procedures, or process, or boundaries, or projections, or assumptions, or beliefs.&rdquo;
				Baker went on to say that there are tragic situations across our communities where the actions of state government during this crisis have been beyond insufficient, at best.
				&ldquo;That applies to our nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;The numbers tell a distressing tale. Too many cases. Too many deaths. Too much risk for the courageous and heroic care providers. Too little protective and preventive supplies available for patients and providers. Too little insight and oversight. Those shortcomings have consequences well beyond the walls of the facilities. The tragic numbers inside, complicate the outside efforts to attempt to resume lives and livelihoods. &ldquo;
				Baker said her office received a call from Ginny Jorda, who was frantic to obtain details about her elderly father who was in his 90&rsquo;s and admitted to a Luzerne County nursing facility.
				&ldquo;Ginny was distressed about the number of deaths that were occurring at this particular facility,&rdquo; Baker said.
				Baker said the woman was asking for a special contact from DOH to answer her questions and allay her concerns. Instead, Baker said the department simply advised her to have a conversation with the facility administrator and check for DOH&rsquo;s guidance on its website.
				&ldquo;Unfortunately, Ginny never received the answers she sought, and her father passed away a short time later,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;To top it off, she has a sister who is a resident at White Haven Center, who will be displaced with that closure &mdash; two tragic circumstances.&rdquo;
				Baker also said coronavirus claimed the life of 88-year-old Delores Shershen, a feisty, unforgettable fan of Bishop O&rsquo;Reilly and Holy Redeemer Boys Basketball teams. Baker said Shershen was in rehab recovering after breaking a hip and planning to return home. In April she tested positive.
				&ldquo;While her positive attitude led her to initially believe she would beat COVID, she died a week later,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;Like many families, her daughter, Joanie, could only speak to her mom by phone. It&rsquo;s Delores&rsquo; last words that broke Joanie&rsquo;s heart because she never got to hold her hand again.&rdquo;
				Those last words were: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so scared, please, please, help me.&rdquo;
				Like many COVID patients, Baker said Shershen passed alone, without her beloved family by her side.
				Baker then told of retired Dallas Police Chief Carl Miers, who called after a frustrating round and round conversation with DOH trying to gather information on the status of nursing facilities in the region and whether they had COVID exposure.
				Miers&rsquo; wife of 53 years has been hospitalized, and he was told she needs to go to a facility for short term care. Frustrated by the lack of transparency and details, Miers told Baler relayed, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t and won&rsquo;t send my wife with underlying medical conditions into a care setting that could put her at risk. I want answers, but I keep getting stonewalled. Why won&rsquo;t they release the data?&rdquo;
				Baker said there must be a concerted effort to improve the conditions in care facilities going forward.
				&ldquo;This legislation is more than warranted &mdash; it is our obligation,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;For families and health care professionals who are starting to doubt the wisdom and commitment of state government, this is a much-awaited answer. These bills are a recognition that we are talking to people about their fears and their hopes and working to address this situation.&rdquo;
				Yudichak comments
				Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, said the most vulnerable citizens in this pandemic, Pennsylvania&rsquo;s nursing home residents, continue to die at alarming rates &mdash; over two-thirds of all COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania are residents in nursing homes. In NEPA, 75 to 80 percent of all COVID-19 deaths are in our nursing homes.
				&ldquo;It is a tragedy of epic proportions that could have been prevented, a tragedy that must be addressed now,&rdquo; Yudichak said. &ldquo;If indeed the battle against COVID-19 is a war, there is one front that has been ignored in Pennsylvania&rsquo;s war plan &mdash; the defense of our most vulnerable citizens &mdash; the residents living in our long-term care facilities. The horror stories I have heard from families and nursing home staff are startling and painful to hear.&rdquo;
				With the passage of SB 1122, Yudichak said the Senate answers the desperate pleas of families, staff, and residents of Pennsylvania nursing homes with over $500 million in much needed, lifesaving, leave no nursing home resident behind, resources to protect Pennsylvania&rsquo;s most vulnerable citizens living in long-term care facilities.

Baker, Yudichak hail passage of SB-1122