DETROIT - The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) today announces an initiative that will provide more than $1.7 million over the next two years to Detroit nursing homes to help improve the overall quality and status of the facilities in need. MDCH created the Detroit Nursing Facility Quality Enhancement Initiative in response to a recent Detroit Area Agency on Aging (DAAA) study that identified severe problems with Detroit nursing homes that include vulnerability to closure, severe financial and operational difficulties and substandard care for the vulnerable, low-income, and minority populations with chronic and mental health challenges.

"Many nursing home facilities in Detroit are in dire need and we are committed to invest in these long-term care facilities and improve their overall quality," said MDCH Director Janet Olszewski. "The ultimate goal is to increase access to quality long-term care for our Detroit residents and we will work hard to implement an enhancement strategy for these skilled nursing facilities."

The Detroit Nursing Facility Quality Enhancement Initiative will focus on five key strategies that include:

- Improving Detroit nursing homes' quality and status;

- Eliminating nursing home closures;

- Training certified nursing assistants to help them succeed in caring for residents with complex needs;

- Supporting homes to improve the overall quality of life for residents; and

- Addressing management, financial, reimbursement and regulation issues to improve business operations in nursing homes.

"Governor Jennifer Granholm shares the DAAA's commitment to ensuring that Detroit residents have access to quality long-term care facilities," said Paul Bridgewater, president and CEO of the Detroit Area Agency on Aging. "In recent years, she has implemented programs that have increased home and community based service options for Michigan residents and provided additional consumer information. Her proposed 2009 budget reflects continued efforts to further strengthen the health care system for Michigan's seniors."

DAAA will receive $750,000 this year and $1 million in 2009. Of the $1.7 million, $350,000 will go toward funding CNA enhancement training through a partnership between DAAA and SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The Union has founded an education and training center, located at 2604 Fourth Street, that will provide enhancement training for CNAs to better prepare them for the complex clinical case mix found in Detroit nursing homes.

"This initiative is a first step toward helping many nursing homes across the state, from the Upper Peninsula down to Jackson," Olszewski said. "Planning is currently underway to help these facilities improve their quality."