Department of Health

January 29, 2016May 3, 2016

Siting Board acting on Invenergy’s schedule for Burrillville gas plant

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EFSB Chair Margaret Curran said that because of the “tight time schedule” it’s critical that the board get advisory opinions “as soon as possible,” raising the question as to why the board feels the need to rush Invenergy‘s application process.

The EFSB also denied all but two motions that were brought before it today.

The Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) met today to decide a number of issues pertaining to the “Clear River Energy Center” a new methane gas power plant planned by Invenergy for the Town of Burrillville.

Things did not go well for opponents of the plan.

Curran began the meeting reminding those in attendance that their would be no public comment. This did not stop people from standing and loudly declaring their dissatisfaction with some decisions made by the board.

EFSB board member Janet Coit, director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), asked that people “respect the process” and stressed that there would be ample opportunity for public comment. Then the board began making their decisions.

Dennis and Kathryn Sherman and Paul and Mary Bolduc whose properties are near the site of the proposed plant and whose interests are not covered by any other intervenors, were granted intervenor status by the EFSB.

The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats (RIPDA) were denied. They do not have an adequately expressed interest.

Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG) and Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE) are also denied, their intervention was decided to be not in the public interest.The simple allegation “however heart felt” of public interest is not enough.

Fossil Free Rhode Island (FFRI), Sister Mary Pendergast and Occupy Providence filed identical applications, and there is no reason to grant intervenor status said Curran and Coit.

Peter Nightingale, from Fossil Free RI, issued the following statement upon the group being denied intervenor status:

“Rhode Island government may decide to sell Rhode Island down the “Clear River.”

“If it does, it may have acted in accordance with twisted statuary law.
“But government, in that case, will have failed in its fiduciary duty to protect the natural resources —air, land and water— it holds in trust for the People.
“When the time comes, those responsible will be held accountable for their crimes against humanity and nature.”

Nightingale was escorted from the room by security when he rose and loudly read his statement to the board.

Pat Fontes, representing Occupy Providence, also rose and spoke, as she left the room. Fontes said, in a statement, “The predator’s pursuit of profit produces pain for poorer people. It’s the weakest who inherit the consequences without ever having their opinion about the risks taken into account.” She said, “Remember Flint, Michigan!” as she left.

Sally J. Mendzela‘s motion was dismissed because her ideas were “outside the scope” of the process.

The Burrillville Land Trust‘s motion for intervention was denied. Their concerns will be dealt with by the DEM, said the board. “I think their will be other opportunities” said Coit, for the Burrillville Land Trust to make their concerns known. The Land Trust’s motion to close the docket was rendered moot by their denial of intervenor status.

Paul Roselli, president of the Burrillville Land Trust was not surprised by the Board’s decision. He maintains that the issue of biodiversity will not be covered. The impact on species is dependent on an individual species’ status as endangered or threatened, etc. The overall or “holistic” impact of something like Clear River is not considered, and this is the perspective Roselli hoped the Land Trust would bring.

Still, some good came out of the Land Trust’s motion. Invenergy’s application has been updated to ensure compliance with section 44 of the Clean Water Act.

RI Administration for Planning, Office of Energy Resources, the DEM, the RIPUC, RIDOT, the Department of Health and other state agencies will all be asked for advisory opinions. Curran says that because of the “tight time schedule” it’s critical that we get advisory opinions “as soon as possible.”

This raises the question: Why is the EFSB on a Invenergy’s time table?

The Office of Energy Resources will render advisory opinions regarding all issues per the Resilient RI Act. as bought up by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).

The board will be looking for specific limitations on the use of “secondary fuels,” said Curran. The proposed power plant is made to run on fuel oil as well as methane, as discussed on RI Future here.

There was also some consideration given to Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

The EFSB is chaired by RI Public Utilities Commission (RIPUC) Chairperson Margaret Curran and has only one other sitting member, Janet Coit, director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The third position on the board is usually filled by the associate director of the RI Administration for Planning, a position currently unfilled.

The first public hearing will be on Thursday, March 31 in the cafeteria of the Burrillville’s High School. The meeting will be officially announced soon.

April 10, 2015

Home care workers squeezed by inconsistent messaging/policy

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Since two-thirds of minimum wage earners are women, Governor Gina Raimondo says that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is an important way to help women and their families in Rhode Island. But Nicholas Oliver, executive director of Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care, Inc., a group that advocates for the home health care industry here in Rhode Island, says that the governor is “being a bit disingenuous, and we’ve seen that her messaging is a bit inconsistent.” More than 88 percent of home health care workers are women, and Raimondo’s budget isn’t helping them.

The governor is “saying that she wants to be an advocate for home care,” continues Oliver in a phone conversation, “particularly with this working group Reinventing Medicaid, but frankly we haven’t seen her put her money where her mouth is. She put into her budget proposal last month a freeze on home health care for another consecutive fiscal year.”

In testimony before the Senate Labor Committee hearing on the $10.10 minimum wage, Oliver explained that “Medicaid home and community based service rates have been frozen for the past seven consecutive fiscal years. However, much of that last rate increase in 2008 was rescinded the following fiscal year due to state budget constraints. So what we’re really talking about is 13 years since a rate increase…”

Medicaid reimbursements for home health care services are $17.68 an hour in Rhode Island. In addition to the worker’s salary, that money has to cover insurance, licensing, utilities, compliance and other expenses. “Many of our direct care staff, CNAs and home makers are earning wages at or slightly above the minimum wage. At current reimbursement rates we cannot afford to provide them a wage that is adequate, let alone competitive to their counterparts in nursing homes and hospitals that have received increases by the General Assembly almost every year.”

Medicaid reimbursements for similar services in Connecticut and Massachusetts are $24.40 and $24.64. “Why would someone work for minimum wage in a position that requires licensing by the Department of Health, continuing education to maintain that licensure, perform services that include toileting, bathing and feeding patients, at the same wage as someone working in retail or hospitality?” Oliver asked the Senate Committee, “The job market is responding with a resounding ‘no’ as many provider industries are having trouble hiring and maintaining direct care staff to fill the growing need for these services by Medicaid beneficiaries.”

The problem in finding workers for the money available is especially acute outside Providence, in places like southern Rhode Island and Woonsocket. Many workers are simply crossing the border into neighboring states where the money is better.

“We don’t want to oppose increasing the minimum wage,” says Oliver, “We’re really disappointed that the governor is proposing to increase the minimum wage and wants to be an advocate for minorities and women and single parents, but at the same time her message is inconsistent when it comes to health care because she’s saying, ‘Let’s increase wages for these folks, but not you, even though you’re a representative of the same work force I try to advocate for.’”

In her 2016 budget proposal, Governor Raimondo has suggested a 3 percent cut to nursing homes and a 5 percent cut to hospitals. The Reinventing Medicaid working group will issue its report and suggestions for additional cuts later this month. You can view Oliver’s testimony before the Senate Labor Committee below:

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

“Addiction is a Disease. Recovery is Possible.” campaign launches today

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The Departments of Health (HEALTH), Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) and the Anchor Recovery Community Center held a press conference today to announce the launch of a new media campaign, “Addiction is a Disease. Recovery is Possible.”

The ads cover television, radio, billboards and the sides of buses. There is a website. The powerful ads feature eight local men and women who tell their stories of addiction and recovery. Though many share their personal stories of addiction, one woman, Elise, speaks from the point of view of a mother who lost two sons to overdose.

Holly Cekala, executive director of RICAREs (the group that staged a “Die-In” outside the State House earlier this week) pointed out the wide range of ages, races and economic level of those in recovery and told me that the community she serves, and is a part of, is the most diverse community there is. Addiction, it seems, does not discriminate.

Anchoring the event and introducing the speakers was Jim Gillen, Director of Recovery Services at the Providence Center / Anchor Community Center. Gillen has been in long term recovery since 1998 and “As a result, my life is banging, let me tell you,” he said to the audience, “It’s the reason that I’m employable, it’s the reason that I pay taxes, that I drive with a license and insurance… and I vote.”

Dr. Michael Fine, director of HEALTH, said that the point of this campaign is to let “every single Rhode islander know that addiction is a disease.” This is a “campaign to bring Rhode Islanders together.”

There were 232 overdose deaths in Rhode Island last year. People have already died this year. “With each death,” says Dr. Fine, “a piece of Rhode Island dies.”

Dr. Fine revealed that another aspect of this campaign is designed to raise awareness among doctors and others with the power to prescribe opiates about their responsibility in curbing this epidemic, as well as bringing more accountability to the pharmacies that fill the prescriptions. “We need to change our prescribing behavior,” said Dr. Fine.

Linda Mahoney of BHDDH sees this campaign as a means of combating the stigma that addiction carries. She commended the eight people appearing in the ads for having the courage to face this stigma head on in an effort to change the hearts and minds of the wider community. It takes courage, said Mahoney, “to come out professionally and publicly and say, ‘I know I was sick. I got better and there is still work to do.’”

“The idea is to overcome stigma, to treat addiction as a disease like any other disease,” said Mahoney.

Jonathan, one of the eight featured in the ads, started with a joke, “When I was told that this campaign would mean having my face plastered on the side of a bus, I said that this wouldn’t be the first time I was plastered on a bus.” But he soon turned serious. His was a story of addiction that lead to crime and estrangement from friends and family.

It ultimately led to his death, but he was saved by an injection of Narcan. Waking up in the hospital, Jonathan’s first thought was to score more drugs, but he learned that there were people out there who “loved me more than I loved myself.”

Jonathan has been in recovery for 19 months. He is repairing his relationship with his family, has a job and is paying the debts he accrued during his addiction. Still, addiction haunts him. On Wednesday he attended a funeral for a 22-year old friend, one of the first overdose deaths in 2015.

Elise spoke next. She is a nurse who has worked in recovery since 1998. Her son Paul died at the age of 22 in 2004, and her son Teddy died at age 30 in 2010. “Who would have thought it would happen to me?” Elise asked, “You can’t have your blinders on.”

‘We can’t arrest ourselves out of this problem,” said Dr. Fine during the question and answer session, observing that addiction is a medical, not law enforcement problem. Jim Gillen, wrapping up the event, seemed to concur. “We may have lost the war on drugs,” he said, “but we will win the war on addiction.”

Below are all eight videos produced for the campaign.