1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE: SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, 2 SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGING, SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS & 3 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, 4 ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGING, and ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT, ANALYSIS & 5 INVESTIGATION ---------------------------------------------------- 6 VIRTUAL JOINT PUBLIC HEARING: 7 RESIDENTIAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIES AND COVID-19 8 9 UPSTATE NEW YORK 10 ---------------------------------------------------- 11 Date: August 10, 2020 12 Time: 10:00 a.m. 13 PRESIDING: 14 Senator Gustavo Rivera 15 Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Health 16 Senator Rachel May Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Aging 17 Senator James Skoufis 18 Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Investigations & Government Operations 19 Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried 20 Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Health 21 Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Aging 22 Assemblymember John T. McDonald III 23 Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Oversight, Analysis & Investigation 24 25 2 1 SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT: 2 Senator George Borrello 3 Senator Pat Gallivan 4 Senator Pam Helming 5 Senator Betty Little 6 Senator Sue Serino 7 Senator Jen Metzger 8 Senator Brad Hoylman 9 10 ASSEMBLYMEMBERS PRESENT: 11 Assemblymember Jake Ashby 12 Assemblymember Thomas Abinanti 13 Assemblymember Charles Barron 14 Assemblymember Carl Brabenec 15 Assemblymember Edward Braunstein 16 Assemblymember Kevin Byrne 17 Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes 18 Assemblymember Kevin Cahill 19 Assemblymember Joseph DeStefano 20 Assemblymember Natalia Fernandez 21 Assemblymember Sandy Galef 22 Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther 23 Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee 24 Assemblymember Mark Johns 25 Assemblymember Ron Kim 3 1 ASSEMBLYMEMBERS PRESENT (continued): 2 Assemblymember Brian Manktelow 3 Assemblymember Missy Miller 4 Assemblymember Michael Reilly 5 Assemblymember Doug Smith 6 Assemblymember John Salka 7 Assemblymember Al Taylor 8 Assemblymember Monica Wallace 9 Assemblymember Brian Williams 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 SPEAKERS: PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Stephen Hanse 13 23 3 President & CEO Lisa Volk 4 Director of Clinical and Quality Services 5 NYS Health Facilities Association 6 James Clyne 13 23 President 7 Leading Age New York 8 Mary Jo Botindari 122 145 Resident 156 9 Syracuse, New York 10 Jerry Maldonado 122 145 Resident 156 11 Newburgh, New York 12 Mikko Cook 122 145 Daughter of NYS Nursing Home Resident 156 13 Ventura, California 14 Virginia Wilson-Butler 122 145 Ombudsman, and Resident 156 15 Brooklyn, New York 16 Vincent Pierce 153 156 Resident of Coler Hospital 17 Spokesperson for Voices of Coler 18 Steve Lampa 199 220 Partner with Kensington Senior Living 19 Chair of Argentum NY Advisory Board 20 Stephen Knight 199 220 CEO 21 United Helpers 22 Kimberly Townsend 199 220 President and CEO 23 Loretto 24 25 5 1 SPEAKERS (continued): PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Jason Santiago 199 220 3 Chief Operating Officer The Manor & Springside at Seneca Hill 4 Rachel Dombrowsky 199 220 5 Owner/Operator Harbor House Assisted Living and 6 Oyster Bay Manor Assisted Living 7 Ruth Heller 265 277 Executive Vice President, 1199 SEIU 8 United Healthcare Workers East 9 Brenda Anderson 265 277 LPN, and 1199 SEIU Member 10 St. Catherine Laboure Healthcare Center 11 Iris Purks 265 277 Certified Nursing Assistant, 12 and 1199 Member Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns 13 Vanessa Brooks 265 277 14 Home Health Aide and Healthcare Workers Rising Member 15 MedTemps and Venture Forthe agencies 16 Kathy Febraio 310 320 President and CEO 17 NYS Association of Healthcare Providers 18 Al Cardillo 310 320 President and CEO 19 Home Care Association of NY 20 Sorrelle Leslie Braugh 348 366 Spokesperson 21 Teresian Home Family Council 22 Lynn Goliber 348 366 Member 23 Teresian Home Family Council 24 Bonnie Webster 348 366 Resident 25 Caledonia, New York 6 1 SPEAKERS (continued): PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Donna Morgans 348 366 3 Family Council Chair Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation 4 and Nursing 5 David Hoffman 389 414 Chief Compliance Officer 6 Carthage Area Hospital 7 Mary D'Ercole Pritchard 389 414 Former Ombudsman 8 Bobbie Sackman 389 414 9 Member Leader New York Caring Majority 10 Cynthia Rudder 389 414 11 Founder and Former Director LTCCC 12 Mary Somoza 389 414 13 Patient Advocate Self-Direction Families of New York 14 Tania Anderson 442 464 15 Chief Executive Officer ARISE Independent Living Center 16 Meghan Parker 442 464 17 Director of Advocacy NYS Association on Independent Living 18 Douglas Hovey 442 464 19 President and CEO Independent Living, Inc. 20 Keith Gurgui 442 464 21 Systems Advocate Resource Center for 22 Accessible Living, Inc. 23 Gail Myers 483 506 Deputy Director 24 Statewide Senior Action Council 25 7 1 SPEAKERS (continued): PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Lindsey Heckler 483 506 3 Supervising Attorney Center for Elder Law & Justice 4 Marydel Wypych 483 506 5 Co-Chair Elder Justice Committee of 6 Metro Justice 7 Sandy Reiburn 483 506 President 8 Save Our Seniors 9 Alexia Mickles 544 561 Staff Attorney 10 Empire Justice Center 11 Timothy Clune 544 561 Executive Director 12 Disability Rights New York 13 Ann Marie Cook 544 561 President and CEO 14 Lifespan of Greater Rochester 15 John Holt 596 608 Director of Legal Services & Policy 16 Vera Institute of Justice - The Guardianship Project 17 Beth Haroules 596 608 18 Senior Staff Attorney NYCLU 19 Thomas Mahoney 615 630 20 Chief Medical Officer Common Ground Health 21 Bill Hammond 615 630 22 Senior Fellow for Health Policy Empire Center 23 Nina Kohn 615 630 24 Professor Syracuse University College of Law 25 8 1 SENATOR RIVERA: Good morning, everyone. 2 This is State Senator Gustavo Rivera from the 3 33rd District in The Bronx, Chair of the Health 4 Committee, and Chair of this, our second hearing 5 related to the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes 6 and other home-care settings around the state. 7 Today we will be mostly focusing on Upstate. 8 We have a long hearing ahead of us, so we'll 9 get to some procedural matters, and we'll kick it 10 right off. 11 I will just, very quickly, recognize that 12 I am joined by my co-chairs: 13 Senator Rachel May, the Senate Chair of 14 Aging; 15 As well as Senator Jim Skoufis. He's the 16 Chair of Investigations; 17 Also joined by my Majority Member 18 Senator Metzger, and Senator Hoylman. 19 And we are joined, in the Minority, by 20 Health Ranker, Senator Pat Gallivan; 21 Health -- I'm sorry, Aging Ranker, 22 Senator Sue Serino; 23 As well as by Minority Member 24 Senator Pam Helming, and Betty Little. 25 Mr. Gottfried. 9 1 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Good morning, 2 everyone. 3 So in a moment, Harry Bronson, Chair of our 4 Aging Committee, will be announcing all the 5 Assemblymembers who are on the hearing. 6 I'm just going to do some very quick 7 procedural remarks. 8 This is going to be a very long hearing. 9 And so every three hours or so we will take a 10 10-minute break for what the health committee calls 11 "ambulation and toileting." 12 We are reminding everyone, do not talk -- 13 OFF-SCREEN SPEAKER: Has resolved itself. 14 And -- just hold on a second. 15 SENATOR RIVERA: That is a perfect example of 16 why you should be muted when not -- when not being 17 called upon. 18 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Yes. 19 SENATOR RIVERA: Assemblymember Gottfried, we 20 lost you there for a second. 21 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Yeah, a little 22 sign showed up on my screen saying that the host has 23 dropped my video. 24 SENATOR RIVERA: But I can still hear you. 25 Your video will come back in a second. 1 0 1 Continue with your procedural -- 2 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Okay. 3 So don't talk while driving. 4 We will not be having opening remarks for 5 this hearing, basically, because we did that a week 6 ago. 7 The witness testimony will be limited to 8 5 minutes for each witness. 9 Questions and an -- question-and-answer time 10 will be limited to 5 minutes per panel for our 11 co-chairs and their rankers, and 3 minutes for other 12 members of the committees holding the hearing. 13 Committee members may submit written 14 questions to us, which we will forward to the 15 appropriate witness, asking them -- asking the 16 witness to respond within three weeks. 17 And each witness will be asked to swear or 18 affirm that the testimony he or she is about to give 19 is true. 20 That's it. 21 SENATOR RIVERA: All right. 22 ASSEMBLYMEMBER BYRNE: Mr. Chair, I just 23 wanted to speak up. 24 I know the first hearing we had opening 25 remarks by chairs and rankers. And I understand 1 1 1 this is the second hearing, but deviating from that 2 tradition. 3 I know not every chair or ranker elected to 4 give opening remarks, which shrank down the time. 5 But some of our colleagues did hope to 6 provide opening remarks to this hearing, and would 7 object to preventing them from doing so. 8 SENATOR RIVERA: Objection is so noted. 9 We will proceed, actually, with just 10 recognition of the members that are in the Assembly, 11 recognition of the ones that are in the Senate, and 12 then we will begin the hearing. 13 Any member is -- can certainly share what 14 they want to share when they are asked -- when they 15 are called upon to ask questions. 16 Assemblymember Bronson. 17 ASSEMBLYMEMBER BRONSON: Thank you, 18 Mr.