Proposal would ease nursing home burden
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But her ideas, which echo those of the state association of housing authorities, won’t see the light of day until laws are changed.
Basham, who is a 40-year veteran of the local housing authority and serves as its executive director, said the idea is to create a pilot program that would make assisted living available to housing authority residents.
The program would provide residents help with medicines, transportation to doctor appointments and help with basics like cooking and personal hygiene. She said it is not only a way to help residents avoid nursing homes, but it can also reduce TennCare costs. Basham indicated residents at Spangler Towers would be the first to be introduced to the program.
“I have never met anybody who wanted to go to a nursing home. It’s their worst fear,” Basham said. “They have nightmares of going to the nursing home and in a few cases, they have not told us, or their own families, the truth about their own condition because they’re scared.”
Basham said there are currently at least 11 residents living in housing authority facilities who will go to nursing homes but who wouldn’t need to if assisted living was offered there.
Advocates from the Tennessee Association of Housing and Redevelopment, which includes Basham, recently met in Nashville to pitch the idea to legislators, including Sen. Jerry Cooper, Rep. Charles Curtiss and Rep. Judd Matheny.
Cooper spokesperson Christina Barber said feedback from the senator’s office, as well as from the other representatives, was a positive one, although changes will be up to the governor’s administration.
“We felt like it went well but we have not heard back from the administration. The governor will have his budget out, so we’ll go from there,” Barber said.
Basham said nursing homes cost around $92 per day, while assisted living in public housing is estimated to cost around $30 per day. She said she is cautiously optimistic things will change.
“We were told in the beginning that this was not the year, that it couldn’t happen,” she said. “And then we were told they had a governor that had such major financial problems that he was grasping at straws to try to figure out how to save money.”
Affordable housing
According to housing authority director Patricia Basham, nursing home care costs around $92 a day. She estimates assisted living in public housing to cost around $30 per day.