State Sen. Robby Mills says that the owners of the Henderson Manor have met with legislative leaders during the interim session, and he believes changes to personal care homes will result.
In a recent interview with the Hendersonian, Mills said Michael Edery and his daughter, Racquel Reynolds, testified twice to budget committees and have met with Senate President Robert Stivers.
Their main ask, according to Mills, was more funding. He believes an increase is a real possibility in the next legislative session.
Currently, personal care homes, of which Henderson Manor is one, receive about $50 per person per day.
In an interview with Edery last spring, he said that breaks down to about $1,523 per person per month.
Mills said a current proposal he’ll start the session with is to ask for a $25 increase per person per day for the budget’s first year, 2027, followed by another $25 per person per day in 2028, for a $100 per person per day. That would equal a 100% increase in funding from what it is now.
Mills said there would be some reporting requirements for personal care homes, and the facilities would likely be required to put a percentage of the increased funding into upgrading facilities. He said the facilities would need to show a substantial investment—perhaps 20%-25%.
The Henderson Manor owners meetings in Frankfort came after they promised to speak to legislators during a trip to visit Henderson Manor in late April. During that visit, the owners toured the local facility with Mills and Henderson state Rep. J.T. Payne.
The visit from the owners, who live in New York, came on the heels of two previous Hendersonian articles about Henderson Manor last spring.
In the first, Fr. Richard Meredith, the pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, sounded the alarm on the abhorrent living conditions at the facility. Meredith said he had visited care facilities in third-world countries that were better maintained and offered a level of dignity. He said Henderson Manor smelled of decay.
The second article, published a week later, centered around Mills’ and Payne’s statements that they wanted to learn more about personal care homes and to look for ways to improve them—if that was something the legislature could do.
After the owners’ visit last spring, the Hendersonian sat down with both legislators, Edery and Reynolds. Edery said that personal care homes operate on the slimmest of margins, especially in Kentucky where facilities receive a flat monthly fee to care for a resident.
Additionally, Reynolds said at the time that the conditions at Henderson Manor are up to expectations. “It’s clean. It’s in line with what other personal care homes are,” she said.
More recently Mills said the owners are in charge of 45% of the 2,600 personal care home residents in the state.
Mills said in the interim session owners of other personal care homes in the state have invited legislators to their facilities to educate them.
“They’ve all been trying to educate folks for the need and demand” of personal care home services, Mills said. The state senator said he and other legislators have also met with officials with Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/Kentucky Center for Assisted Living.
He said he’s “moving forward with some confidence” that increased funding will be put into the next budget.
“I’m pretty sure we can move the issue forward,” Mills said.
During a September visit to the Henderson Manor to visit with some residents, Meredith said he found conditions only “slightly better than it was to start with” when he made his first visits earlier this year.
He said he received a records request of a letter from the Office of Inspector General about an investigation of the Henderson Manor on July 1. Based on the OIG’s investigation, observations and interviews, the office determined it to be in compliance, Meredith said.
“That’s because (standards) are so minimal,” Meredith said.
Contacted Thursday, Meredith said that the money is a step in the right direction but legislators must also increase the standards and regulations so that the living conditions can improve.
“There should be standards that have to be met by personal care homes,” Meredith said. Otherwise, “the money (increased funding) might be wasted.”
