Facility #1, Interview with Sabrina

August 4, 2025

Phone interview transcript with Sabrina

Facility #1


Well, right before the pandemic, my mom decided—and thankfully, she was very open and frank with her abilities and with us about what her abilities were—she felt that she was no longer able to live independently. My parents are divorced; they have been for quite some time. So she had been living on her own at least 15, probably 20-plus years.


We moved her into assisted living first, and that was in February of 2020, so right before everything shut down. Everything was marching along quite well. You know, we would have periodic visits with her when we were in town.


At some point, she started having more frequent falls where staff would find her on the ground, or she wouldn't necessarily report that she fell. I guess that was also what we were told—which I do believe might be the case. Once she had several falls like that, and those were happening more frequently, she was requiring more care. As a result, she wound up hospitalized.


And this is where it kind of gets interesting, because having some background in the medical field, I didn't really see exactly, medically, what was putting her in the hospital. But anyway, she was hospitalized, and I already saw it coming from afar. I knew that she was not going to be able to go back to assisted living. I could just feel it. That, again, is from some of my previous experience working in hospitals. I mean, I knew—I knew what was going to happen. I knew that the reason why they wanted to hospitalize her, or what I felt was the reason, was so that they could transition her to long-term care and no longer have her in assisted living.


And it's true—she really was probably ready to be in long-term care. She was certainly becoming more dependent, less mobile, and so forth.


Fast forward, I get a call: “She's going home on this Wednesday, and you need to figure out where she's going to go, because she can't come back here (to the assisted living facility).” I mean, it was rather abrupt. If I did not have the knowledge that I had, I would have been completely taken off guard. Like, “Wait, what are you talking about?” You didn't leave this conversation in a way that would let me feel that we were getting to this point. There were a couple of allusions to that, but nothing that I felt, in my eyes, was a direct type of communication—like, “Hey, you know the hospitalization was going to be the trigger to transition.”


That was very stressful, especially living afar. I quickly flew in, and I wound up selecting the nursing home that I did for a couple of reasons. A) She was already in the “system” (of facility #1), and so that sort of limited us. While I did feel that my mom did a lot to prepare financially for this time—taking out long-term care insurance when she was probably my age (I'm 53, so she maybe even started paying for it earlier)—she was definitely ready to be able to finance long-term care.


I selected facility #1 because I loved that it was smaller. That was one of my big things. When I toured it, the staff were quite receptive to talking to me, and the folks who were in charge then (and are no longer in charge now)—I mean, I don't even know how many times the leadership has changed in that regard, but I think it's been quite a few times. The nurses who were there are not necessarily the nurses that are there now. There's at least one I know of who is still there.


So that's pretty much how we arrived at facility #1. And I guess that was—I think—in 2022 or 2023.


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Advocacy in Action (September 2025): KABC Testifies on FY26 Budgets

By Libby Hastings • September 3, 2025
Dan Goodman, KABC Executive Director, recently provided testimony to both the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) during their Fiscal Year 2026 budget hearings. Our message was clear: Kansas must invest in systems that protect the dignity, independence, and well-being of older Kansans. Key Recommendations from KABC Protect Access to In-Home Services • Projected shortfalls of $27M in FY26 and $70M in FY27 threaten the HCBS Frail Elderly Waiver. • Without funding, older Kansans may face a waitlist for services, leading to premature nursing home placement. Strengthen Care Coordination • Frail Elderly, Physically Disabled, and Brain Injury waiver recipients currently lack dedicated case management. • KABC urged implementation of the long-overdue $20M Community Care Coordination Service. Improve Oversight & Resident Protections (KDADS) • Surveyor vacancies are near 50%, delaying inspections and weakening resident protections. • We called for wage increases and innovative staffing models to close gaps in oversight. Increase the Personal Needs Allowance • Nursing home residents in Kansas receive only $62/month for personal expenses. • KABC supports raising this allowance—closer to the $70 national average—and tying it to cost-of-living adjustments. Continue the Statewide Senior Resource Guide (KDADS) • KABC requested $150,000 to maintain and distribute the statewide guide annually. • This investment ensures older Kansans have access to accurate, trusted information on care and services. Why It Matters By 2030, more than 20% of Kansans will be age 65 or older. Budget decisions made today will directly impact whether older Kansans can age with dignity, safety, and independence. Read KABC’s full testimonies to KDADS here and KDHE here .

Facility #2, 3, 4, and 5, Interview with Steve

September 2, 2025
Steve shares his journey through multiple long-term care facilities after a major surgery, describing repeated medication errors, poor food quality, untrained staff, and systemic neglect. His story highlights how understaffing, weak oversight, and profit-driven management leave residents without advocacy and dignity.