Tres Bad Form - News from Mom

[susandennis]

I was raised mostly in the South. In the South, one's name should ONLY appear in the public (newspaper) upon birth, in the wedding announcement and on death. There are a lot of rules in the South. This was just one of them. Most have been generally swept under the rug but vestiges remain even in me.

Mom told me this morning that one of the 'inmates' at 'the home' had an issue with the management and there was a story in the morning paper about it. My first reaction was 'she complained in public??!!' and Mom was right there with me - equally horrified. I crack myself up.

The Charleston paper is one of those that wants your email address so I won't make you click. Here's the story. Mom is off this morning to start up the Bishop Gadsden Legal Defense Fund.

"This woman has been trouble from the start. When I heard that she was raising a stink about not being able to eat breakfast with her friends, I was shocked to learn she had friends!" That reporter should have called Mom! Of course, it would have been for naught because... well, re-read paragraph #1 above.

Oh and Mom was grateful that they did not list her as a renowned resident - quelle embarrassing that would have been!

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Resident battles senior community
Woman with ALS sues to remain in Bishop Gadsden apartment instead of its nursing home

BY JONATHAN MAZE
Of The Post and Courier Staff

Blanche Bell likes her apartment at Bishop Gadsden, the retirement community on James Island. It has an office, a living room, dining room, two bedrooms and a bath. It also has a kitchen, though she frequently breakfasts with friends at the community's cafe or in its dining hall.
When the degenerative disease ALS weakened the 80-year-old's muscles to the point that she needed help, Bell hired round-the-clock caregivers so that she could remain in her apartment.

That didn't sit well with Bishop Gadsden. The nonprofit senior community told Bell she had to move into its nursing home, or find another place to live by this week or face eviction.

Bell then contacted a prominent local disability-rights attorney, Harriet McBryde Johnson, who got the attention of AARP. Last week, the advocacy group for older Americans filed a lawsuit asserting that the retirement community is violating the federal Fair Housing Act by requiring Bell to move.

"This is the way I like living," said Bell, who has lived at Bishop Gadsden since the death of her husband in 2000 and now uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. "I just want to stay here, living the way I choose with people I choose. It's big enough. I have my own furniture and treasured artwork on the wall."

Bell's lawsuit seeks to put an end to Bishop Gadsden policies requiring residents to move. It also seeks monetary and punitive damages.

In a statement, Bill Trawick, Bishop Gadsden's executive director, said the retirement community will "vigorously defend the suit."

"Bishop Gadsden firmly believes that it is fully complying with its contractual obligations with its resident and, further, that it is acting in full compliance with all applicable and state laws," Trawick said.

Bell is still living in her apartment. Attorneys for both sides are negotiating where Bell will stay while the lawsuit remains unresolved.

The 155-year-old Episcopal home occupies 65 acres on Camp Road on James Island and has 450 residents and 250 workers. It has seen explosive growth in recent years, including millions of dollars worth of expansions since the late 1990s.

Getting in isn't cheap: Bell paid $161,000 to get into the facility, plus monthly charges that began at $2,050 a month, according to the lawsuit.

Bishop Gadsden is considered a "life care" or "continuing care" retirement community, because it offers senior housing on every level, including 56 small cottages, 159 independent-living apartments, plus an assisted-living facility and a 50-bed nursing home.

Such facilities are designed so that residents can spend their remaining years there, regardless of the amount of care they need.

Disability lawsuits against retirement communities and even nursing homes are not uncommon, but Bell's lawyers say this is the first they know of that challenges a continuing-care retirement community's ability to move a resident based on his or her physical condition.

That is what drew the interest of AARP, which is Bell's co-counsel in the lawsuit along with Johnson, who suffers from a degenerative muscle disease and is known for her annual protest of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day telethon.

Susan Silverstein, an attorney for AARP in Washington, said her organization's goal is to help seniors live as long as they can in their own homes. Up to 90 percent of seniors say they want to stay in their current residence rather than go to a nursing home.

"It really amounts to discrimination to say that you're sick or have a disability, and force you to move into a nursing home," Silverstein said. "In this case she's not asking Bishop Gadsden to provide any services. She's fortunate enough to be able to provide those services herself."

Trudy Robertson, one of the lawyers for Bishop Gadsden, said little about the nursing home's case but did say that it would center on Bell's obligations under the contract she signed to live in the community.

Johnson said that such contracts are useless if they violate federal law.

She likened them to racially restrictive covenants established by developers that were rendered void by the fair housing act in the 1960s.

Johnson said Bell's three physicians all believe she can live in her apartment with the personal care attendants. Nursing home residents have little personal space and are under constant supervision. They are not allowed to dine in the cafe or in the dining hall with their old friends.

"The nursing home environment (means) a sudden loss of privacy, freedom and control," Johnson said. "Most people get depressed in that environment. You're taking away things that are vital to your sense of self."

RENOWNED RESIDENTS

Bishop Gadsden, a retirement community on James Island, includes many well-known and well-to-do residents. Here are some of the most prominent:

-- Gen. William Westmoreland, Spartanburg native who commanded U.S. and South Vietnamese troops in Vietnam.

-- Gen. Alex Grimsley, former president of the Citadel.

-- Ted Stern, former president of the College of Charleston.

-- The Rev. Waties R. Haynsworth, retired Episcopal bishop.

-- Tillie Moseley, former community volunteer and child advocate.

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Jonathan Maze covers health care and nonprofits. Reach him at 937-5719 or jmaze@postandcourier.com.

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