RAFU STAFF REPORT | OCTOBER 9, 2021
Read the entire Rafu Shimp report here: https://rafu.com/2021/10/newsom-vetoes-bill-that-sought-to-block-nursing-home-evictions-during-pandemic/
David Monkawa and Traci Imamura, representing Save Our Seniors, said the governor had chosen to side with Pacifica over the elderly residents, many of whom had been incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II. SOS claimed that there have been more than 200 citations for involuntary, non-medically necessary nursing home transfers over the past 18 months, “some resulting in ‘transfer-trauma’ and leading to premature death.”
“The governor delivered a gut-punch to residents facing transfers and evictions from skilled nursing facilities. In particular, to Japanese women in their 80s to 100s; including some who were ‘evicted,’ and sent to U.S. internment camps in their youth during WWII,” Monkawa and Imamura said.
“The governor believed the myths from the California Department of Public Health’s Cassie Dunham, who claimed along with Pacifica Co. that the ‘ICF was financially struggling on the verge of bankruptcy.’ Pacifica’s execs signed off on documents and bought the facilities in 2016 and acknowledged the ICF was losing money. They knew the property value will be worth much more than the projected losses, especially if they could replace the ICF with market rate housing …
“For the few internment camp survivors now in the twilight of their years, they have been evicted again, likely for the final time. Gov. Newsom’s veto will be seared into the hearts of those women, their families and the community as a racist dismissal of human and civil rights. How long must we continue to scream out ‘Never again’?”