Nursing home abuse, Nassau officials' pay, and stolen catalytic converters

Nursing home abuse is nothing new

First, it was Fulton Commons Care Center in East Meadow. Three days later, it was Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Woodbury whose fraud led to inferior patient care and a lawsuit [“A.G. suit alleges nursing home fraud, neglect,” News, Dec. 17]. Are we to be surprised?

The neglect and abuse of the elderly in these warehouses of horror are the worst-kept secret. Anyone who has had a family member in one of these “homes” knows this is not breaking news. The facility owners profiting from the alleged mistreatment of these vulnerable people is a disgrace.

The state must be more aggressive in overseeing these homes with unannounced visits and shutting them down, if necessary.

Misuse of Medicaid and Medicare funding at this large a scale should not only be clawed back, but the profiteers should incur jail time, as well.

We celebrate people living longer, but when they are robbed of their dignity due to greed and neglect, what are we celebrating?

— Tony Giametta, Oceanside

Advocates and family members fighting for the dignity, proper care and rights of nursing home residents for many years can thank State Attorney General Letitia James for acting against the owners of these Long Island facilities.

Nursing homes, which provide necessary medical, physical and emotional care, are critical to the well-being of mostly an elderly and vulnerable population. It’s unconscionable to need this care and be subject to neglect, abuse or a general lack of dignity and concern. The owners are said to have known about their facilities’ woes but simply did not care to address them.

Most administrators and nursing and support staff are likely good people and try to care for residents the best they can with limited resources. A few, though, instead of honoring their positions, bowed to their owners’ wishes.

I hope that James continues to reveal the outrageous greed of nursing home owners, prosecute them, and restructure the nursing homes to ensure the best care possible.

— Debbie Olson, Massapequa

Refusing pay raise isn’t showboating

Lane Filler provided an interesting analysis of county executives accepting or refusing pay increases [“Public officials should take the salary,” Opinion, Dec. 8]. I agree that officials should not be shamed for accepting their fully designated salaries. I disagree, however, that those of us who took less were doing so to showboat.

When I entered office in 2004, I had promised to curb county expenses and foster a leaner government. My first step was to ask my incoming appointees to accept a lower salary than those they replaced. I did this to gain the moral high ground as I would be entering into tough negotiations with Suffolk County’s unions.

I could not have asked for these sacrifices if I didn’t lead by example. So, I agreed to take a salary that was far below that to which I was entitled. While I thereafter took cost-of-living increases, the lower base at which I started led to me sacrificing more than $80,000 during my tenure.

It wasn’t showboating. It allowed me to navigate a course that resulted in getting the concessions needed to freeze our general fund tax rate for the entirety of my eight-year tenure.

— Steve Levy, Bayport

The writer was Suffolk County executive from 2004 to 2011.

I was rather surprised to read that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman accepted an 8% raise [“Blakeman’s salary raised,” News, Nov. 29]. Surprised because, to date, neither I nor any of my neighbors have seen a decrease in our property taxes.

Under the previous county executive, Laura Curran, we saw our taxes go through the roof. Blakeman called her on it in their debate and promised, if elected, to lower our taxes.

So we, the overtaxed homeowners, voted her out and Blakeman in. Shouldn’t he fulfill his promise and lower our taxes before he starts collecting on that raise?

— Angelo Vetrano, Floral Park

Reimburse those who lost converters

It is great that the Nassau County Police Department made this big bust [“Stolen converters seized,” News, Dec. 15]. Catalytic converter thievery has long been a headache for car owners.

The cost of replacing them is expensive. Recovering more than $7 million dollars? That’s a lot of money. It would be nice to help out with a county check to motorists who had to replace them once they provide a paid bill proving it.

— Howard Frisch, Baldwin

The writer is a retired owner of an automotive repair shop in Lynbrook.