A young student (above) learns sensory skills from the staff at Hollydell School in Washington Township during a tour by state legislators on Feb. 19, while another student (right) communicates by using his eyes to focus on computer icons.
Parents gave emotional testimony about the difficulties finding one-to-one nurses for their children and praised the progress they’ve made as medically fragile students during a tour and presentation with state legislators at Hollydell School.
“My daughter is 10 and does not have a nurse,” one parent told legislators and aides in a class with a sign that said, “Happiness Blooms in this Room.” “Finding a family health aide was challenging. She is now approved for nursing.”
“Without nursing, my daughter would not be in this school,” noted another parent during the Feb. 19 presentation, while a caregiver said, “We have a different nurse for our granddaughter nearly every day of the week.”
“One-to-one nurses provide the only support we get,” explained another parent, who also praised Hollydell School, located across the street from the Hollydell Ice Arena in Washington Township. “My daughter is excited to be here, and she is thriving.”
“Our daughter has one nurse, and she’s incredible,” said another mother, who nearly broke down when talking about the school. “We need the nurse’s help. Our daughter is like the Energizer bunny, and we get two or three hours of sleep a night and still have to go to work every day …
“She is naughty when she isn’t in school,” the mother continued. “The academic strides she has made at Hollydell are incredible.”
The comments from parents and caregivers shared with the legislators were part of a tour organized by Shelby Myers, senior manager of Government Relations and Advocacy Engagement for BAYADA Hearts for Home Care, and Jodi Coates, executive director of Hollydell School.
“It is a privilege for us to have a small window into your world as parents,” said Assemblywoman Heather Simmons, adding that legislators read many reports about issues but “visiting in person with real people makes such a difference.”
Assemblywoman Melinda Kane was impressed by the sacrifices the families have made to help their children, who “are so precious and so worth it.”
Also in the circle with the parents were Jeanette Alvarez, Kane’s legislative aide; Mike Harrington, the legislative aide for Simmons; Jade Arroyo, legislative aide to state Sen. Paul Moriarty; Sabrina Marchesani, legislative aide for Assemblywoman Carol Murphy; Cora Present, the aide for Assemblyman Louis Greenwald; and Paul Broderick and Alyssa Aron, who both represented the pediatrics department of BAYADA.
“We are happy you are all here in person to tour this phenomenal school,” Myers told the officials. “We want to address the nursing shortage in New Jersey that cascades into other areas such as Hollydell. We need one-on-one nursing here, as the medical challenges are so severe.”
“We have 38 students here who need to have one-to-one nurses,” noted Coates, who said the school accepts children from 30 sending districts throughout six counties in South Jersey.
Hollydell’s mission is to provide exceptional educational, social, emotional, therapeutic and technological programs for individuals with physical and medical challenges from age 3 through adulthood.
“We are very proud of what we do here,” Coates pointed out.
“The state of New Jersey has a dire nursing shortage,” Myers relayed. “We will work together with these legislators to address the issue. We are asking the legislature for a budget resolution of an increase of $4 per hour to the LPN Medicaid reimbursement rate.
“What it would accomplish,” she continued, “is the ability to have a higher reimbursement rate to compensate nurses whose specialized ICU level skills are needed to care for the increased medical complexities of the clients.”
Marissa Fogal, senior manager of Government and Public Affairs for BAYADA, outlined the process.
“In order for legislators to increase the LPN reimbursement rates for Medicaid, they would need to include an increased investment of $4 an hour in the budget for this year for the private duty nursing (PDN) program,” she emphasized. “Once they allocate additional funding towards PDN, it would go to the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS), who oversees Medicaid reimbursement rates, to update their Medicaid Fee Schedule Adjustment.
“Then, Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) would adjust their payment rates for LPN-provided PDN services based on the approved increase,” Fogal added. “Most Medicaid services in New Jersey are provided through MCOs. Then home-care providers offering PDN services would submit claims to Medicaid or the MCO handling the patient’s Medicaid coverage and be reimbursed accordingly.”
Medically fragile children in Hollydell’s program rely on one-on-one nurses to attend school safely, socialize with their peers, and learn as much functional independence as possible, according to Myers.
“Often,” she observed, “medically fragile children are unable to attend school regularly when their private duty nursing (PDN) needs are not met.”
Louise Lindenmeier, deputy executive director of Government Relations and Advocacy for BAYADA, said that in New Jersey, caregivers can bill for RNs and LPNs for private duty nursing.
“However, the billing codes do not have a separate ability to bill for extremely complex high acuity babies, children, and adults,” she said. “We will be seeking, through legislation, a new Medicaid bill code for high- tech nurses which will allow providers to pay both LPNs and RNs, a higher wage for their nursing expertise.
“The goal will be to recruit and retain these highly skilled nurses to render the care to those individuals in the home with high, complex care needs.”
The first stop on the Hollydell School tour was a classroom where students improve their senses by feeling textures and vibrations and hearing different sounds. Other rooms featured technology where a speech challenged child could touch a computer icon to say, “I am happy,” or “How are you?” or even just look at and focus on an icon and get the same results.
“They communicate by using their eyes,” said Coates, who then led everyone to a calming room that features cool lights, fiber optics and a hammock. “The technology is so vastly different. We’ve come a long way.”
Next stop was the physical education and therapy room, complete with bicycles, walkers, exercise machines, treadmills and swings for the students. The tour ended in the large classroom where parents, students and legislators met to listen, discuss and share ideas.
