Nursing home death rates examined, Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing recap: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Nursing home chain stood out for higher death rates as pandemic peaked
Producer PJ Elliott talks with investigative reporter Letitia Stein and data reporter Jayme Fraser. Plus, Russia and Ukraine discuss peace but remain apart, politics reporter Chelsey Cox talks about the future of HBCUs after being helped with COVID-19 funding, one day of confirmation hearings is down for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson and Disney employees walk out, demanding better LGBTQ support.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 22nd of March, 2022. Today, an investigative look at nursing home deaths during the pandemic. Plus the latest from Ukraine, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
- No survivors have been found on board the China Eastern Airlines flight that crashed yesterday. The plane was carrying 123 passengers and 9 crew members. No cause for the crash has been determined.
- 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, Boris Romanchenko, has been killed in his home city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. He survived Nazi concentration camps, but was killed by Russian bombing.
- And after 14 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, quarterback Matt Ryan has a new home. The Falcons traded him to the Indianapolis Colts for a third-round draft pick yesterday.
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A Paste BN investigation has traced the casualties at nursing homes at the beginning of the pandemic back to one nursing home chain, Trilogy Health Services. Paste BN Health Investigative Reporter Letitia Stein and Data Reporter Jayme Fraser spoke with producer PJ Elliot about their findings.
Letitia Stein:
Yeah. So, Paste BN found pervasive problems that escaped notice during the pandemic. Specifically, we identified one nursing home chain that reported death rates at twice the national average at the height of the pandemic during last winter's surge. This nursing home chain also happened to be part of a unique investment model known as a Real Estate Investment Trust or a REIT, and they had their own very unusual version of this. And it was taking in millions of dollars for a California company as the deaths were surging.
Jayme Fraser:
Yeah, and to do this investigation, we had to compile a unique database because federal regulators track performance at a facility level, whether that's general nursing home quality or COVID deaths. But they were not looking at it at the company level. And so we had to research which operating chains ran each nursing home in America. And then additionally, researched a number of Real Estate Investment Trusts, which are in essence, landlords who rent the building to a nursing home. And in that work, that's how we discovered this one chain that reported more deaths than similar companies, and gave us perspective into the limitations of existing regulations.
PJ Elliott:
So how bad were things mishandled at nursing homes in the US?
Letitia Stein:
Yes. So there were 71,000 deaths last winter at the height of the pandemic. More than 140,000 deaths reported in nursing homes during the pandemic from COVID. Our reporting had to unravel ownership webs that are invisible to consumers and not well-known even to some of the state and federal health regulators who are charged with keeping people safe inside nursing homes. It also had to probe questions of corporate responsibility that weren't answered in dozens of research studies on COVID in nursing homes. And we had to do this by creating lists of owners that didn't exist in any public space.
Jayme Fraser:
Yeah. And it's no secret that during the winter surge, a lot of nursing homes were hit. COVID was prevalent in communities across the country. And when there's a lot of COVID in a community. it is really difficult to keep it out of the nursing home. And so that's one reason why we focused on the deaths per infection. So understanding once COVID was in a nursing home, how likely someone was to die. I would also note that by the winter of 2020 and early '21, we were months into this pandemic. This was not a new virus anymore. There were guidelines on how to care for people and keep people safe. And yet during those months, we saw more people die in nursing homes than any other wave in the pandemic. And so I think that there were clearly some failures to implement the best practices that were recommended by that point.
Letitia Stein:
Yeah. I might, if this is helpful... Federal regulators were looking at facility level problems and facility level failures during the pandemic. They weren't looking across change for systemic problems. And that was something that our work was able to show, is needed. And the federal health regulators are acknowledging now that there do need to be reforms. President Joe Biden has proposed some pretty extensive reforms, but some of them get to some of the financial and ownership questions that are at the heart of our investigation.
Jayme Fraser:
Yeah. And I would just add that one problem that we highlighted in our investigation was understaffing. And right now there is no federal requirement for nurse staffing that says this is how much care each type of nurse should provide. There's a requirement for "sufficient nurse staffing," but it's not enforced very much. That's another piece of the reforms proposed by the Biden White House. But it's really pervasive across the country for nursing homes to not have enough CNAs, RNs, and sometimes LPNs to provide good care to residents. And you can look up what that staffing was during the winter surge for every nursing home in America at our database that we published with this project.
Taylor Wilson:
Subscribers can find a full link to this story in today's episode is description. And if you haven't subscribed yet, we've got another huge deal. Sign up today, and pay just a dollar for the next six months of journalism. We'll post an easy link in today's episode description.
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Ukrainian forces say they took back a suburb of Kyiv of earlier today. They forced Russian troops out of the town of Makariv after what Ukraine's defense ministry described as a fierce battle. The suburb also marks a major strategic win for Ukraine as they retake control of a major highway and block Russian troops from coming toward the capital from the northwest. But it appears that Russia has been able to take other key northwest suburbs like Irpin and nightmarish scenes are ongoing elsewhere in Ukraine like Mariupol, where Russia continues to relentlessly shell civilians.
As Russia struggles more than expected on the ground, President Vladimir Putin is upping attacks from the air in general. And a senior US defense official told the AP that Russia has increased air sorties over the past two days with as many as 300 over the past 24 hours, and more than 1100 missiles fired into Ukraine since the invasion began last month. President Joe Biden yesterday suggested that the worst may still be to come, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, again, praised his people's resilience saying, "There is no need to organize resistance. Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul."
Talks between Russia and Ukraine continue, but with little progress. Though Zelenskyy told Ukrainian television late last night that he would be prepared to consider waving any NATO bid by Ukraine, which is a key Russian demand in exchange for a ceasefire and other security guarantees.
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Historically Black Colleges and Universities already operate with fewer resources than most other higher education institutions, and the pandemic disproportionately hurt those institutions even further. To address the inequity, Congress tossed the schools a nearly $3 billion lifeline under the American Rescue Plan. But what lies ahead for HBCUs when COVID goes away? Politics Reporter Chelsey Cox looks into it.
Chelsey Cox:
A 2021 survey by the American Council on Education found that the HEERF funds were essential to retaining students. 63% of 400 university presidents polled agreed that funds kept students from dropping out, and 81% of presidents agreed on some level that the funds allowed their schools to keep tuition at pre-pandemic levels. So, it really has worked out to these school's benefits. HBCUs student bodies are typically young people from lower income families and lower income neighborhoods. And so they don't run on as much revenue from tuition as their counterparts, typical PWI universities, or even minority serving institutions, other types of those, they don't run on the same kind of revenue as those schools might. So, they're dealing with the less money to begin with. And so the funds from HEERF really went a long way in helping them to keep their students enrolled. And to get them the sort of technology needed to succeed on campus.
So, the hope is that funding will continue for HBCUs because they do face such disproportionate difficulties. But the question is sort of up in the air since President Biden's Build Back Better infrastructure agenda didn't pass Congress in January. However, Biden did sign the omnibus bill, which was $1.5 trillion on March 15. That includes $363 million to assist HBCUs in institutional development. That's a $25 million increase from fiscal year 2021. But what the House HBCU Caucus is really pushing for is something called the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act, which they think is a long term solution that allows Historically Black Colleges to apply for grants to... and I quote, "strengthen the safety and security of their campuses."
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One day of hearings is in the books for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Things were civil and centered around lawmakers opening statements yesterday, though the tone was at times different on each side of the political aisle. Here's Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Democrat, Dick Durbin, followed by Committee Ranking Member, Republican, Chuck Grassley.
Dick Durbin:
In its more than 230 years, the Supreme Court has had 115 justices. A 108 have been white men. Just two justices have been men of color. Only five women have served on the court, and just one woman of color. Not a single justice has been a Black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first. It's not easy being the first. Often you have to be the best. In some ways, the bravest. Many are not prepared to face that kind of heat, that kind of scrutiny, that ordeal in the glare of the national spotlight. But your presence here today, your willingness to brave this process will give inspiration to millions of Americans who see themselves in you. Judge Jackson, I have no doubt that history will remember you as a justice who never stopped working to defend the constitution. But I also ask the members of this committee, as we begin this landmark confirmation process, to consider how history will judge each senator as we face our constitutional responsibility to advise and consent.
Chuck Grassley:
We will conduct a thorough, exhaustive examination of Judge Jackson's record and views. We won't try to turn this into a spectacle based upon alleged process fouls. Good news on that front, we're off to a very good start. Unlike the start to the Kavanaugh hearings, we didn't have repeated choreographed interruptions of Chairman Durbin during his opening statements, like Democrats interrupted me for more than an hour during my opening statement on the Kavanaugh hearings. What we will do, however, is ask tough questions about Judge Jackson's judicial philosophy.
Taylor Wilson:
For her part, Judge Jackson used the opening statement to talk about her roots, and her neutrality as a judge.
Judge Jackson:
I know that my role as a judge is a limited one, that the constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented. And I know that my judicial role is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent.
Taylor Wilson:
Today, Jackson will return for questioning, which could run the rest of the week. If confirmed, she would replace retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.
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Some employees at Disney are calling for the company to better support LGBTQ employees after the company's response to Florida's so-called, "Don't Say Gay" bill. Employees are staging a day-long walkout today with a list of demands. If signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, the Parental Rights and Education bill would prohibit classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in some grade levels. Disney was initially silent on the legislation, but CEO, Bob Chapek later apologized for not being a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and pledged the number of supportive measures. Still, that's not enough for many employees. Chapek said Disney would pause political donations in Florida for now while restructuring how they donate. But walkout organizers want the company to permanently cut-off donations to lawmakers who backed the bill. They also want Disney to stop relocating employees to the state, and to stop construction and investment there until the bill is off the books.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast app is. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from Paste BN.