On February 10, 2016, several members associated with IONA Senior Services attended the District of Columbia’s Department of Healthcare Finance Oversight Hearing. Among these members, Ms. Malika Moore, Mr. Randy Smith[…]
Vera Waltman Mayer, Esq., who served as a consumer member on the DC Board of Nursing from 2003 through 2009, describes her tenure as “an enormous learning experience and a great joy.” Vera will be missed at Board meetings. Ms. Mayer’s contribution to the Board, and to the DC community, have been truly outstanding. In addition to retiring from the Board this year, Ms. Mayer is also retiring from her position as Senior Advocate at Iona Senior Services Center here in the District.
DC NURSE would like to publicly thank Ms. Mayer for all her hard work toward ensuring the health and wellbeing of seniors in DC. When she was awarded the “Public Citizen of the Year” award by the DC Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in 2009, the organization described Ms. Mayer as “the epitome of a true and sincere champion of the under-served and vulnerable.”
This nonprofit advocacy story has it all: partnership, persistence, and problem solving. The mission at issue is securing the right for persons in need of long-term care to exercise control over the selection and hiring of their personal care attendants. Since bureaucratic simplicity called for exclusive reliance on employees of licensed home care agencies, this was an uphill struggle.