From Wallace Roberts, for The Crisis Magazine, an investigation of the demise of nursing homes serving poor and minority neighborhoods, due to historic underfunding rooted in Jim Crow decision-making. Roberts probes the case of the Lemington Home for the Aged, a microcosm for a national problem. The Pittsburgh home, a long-standing community-based institution, closed after a death investigation found chronic understaffing and a high rate of health related violations. The home’s finances were further impaired because it could not afford to hire a skilled accounting clerk to file complex federal reimbursement claims, which if paid, had the potential to keep the home on a healthier financial footing.
[Reporting sponsored by The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.]
Photo credit: Wallace Roberts