Special Report: Nursing Home Abuse

Rachel Gotbaum

Rachel Gotbaum is a freelance journalist with 15 years experience covering health and science. She has produced nationally syndicated public radio documentaries, filed stories for National Public Radio (NPR) and hosted and produced webcasts for The New England Journal of Medicine. She recently won first place in the Radio category from the Association of Healthcare Journalists for her documentary, "Quality of Death - End of Life Care: Inside Out."

Barbara Ann Salerno

Daughter of Albert John Salerno

Barbara Ann Salerno is an attorney living in Reno, Nevada. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, she is one of four children of Albert and Marie Salerno. Ms. Salerno became an elder advocate with SAFE (Special Advocates for Elders) in Reno, Nevada, following the untimely death of her father Albert Salerno. Mr. Salerno died at the age of 80 from renal failure and pneumonia, as a result of a lack of medical attention in the nursing home where he lived. Through her advocacy, Barbara hopes to help make nursing homes safer for residents and to prevent more families from experiencing the pain of losing a loved one because of neglect and a lack of appropriate care.

Janet C. Wells

Director of Public Policy
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care

Janet Wells first joined the staff of The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (formerly the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, NCCNHR) in 1986 after a 15-year career in civil rights advocacy. From 1992 until 2000, she was a long-term care specialist and team leader with AARP, where she coordinated national conferences on long-term care as woman's issue and improving the quality of paraprofessional jobs in long-term care and developed research, education, and communications programs on long-term care and health care reform issues. In 2000, she returned to NCCNHR as director of public policy to oversee the organization's legislative and regulatory activities.

James G. Sokolove

Chairman
Sokolove Law, LLC

In his 30 years of helping people get the legal justice they deserve, attorney Jim Sokolove's practice has focused on helping victims of nursing home abuse, based on the experiences of his own mother. During that 30-year span, Sokolove Law has worked to educate people about their rights and has helped thousands of people in all 50 states get the legal support they need to move successfully through our court system. Jim has dedicated his law practice to a single mission: making sure everyone has the same chance at justice, regardless of race or income.

W. Scott Plumb

Senior Vice President for the Massachusetts Senior Care Association

W. Scott Plumb is Senior Vice President for the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, a trade association of more than 500 proprietary, not-for-profit and governmental skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and hospital-based transitional care units providing care to over 50,000 frail elders and disabled individuals. Mr. Plumb has been with the Association for the past 21 years. His duties include directing the government relations activities of the Association. He is the principal negotiator for the industry in its annual Medicaid rate discussions with the state of Massachusetts. In addition, he is the principal staff person responsible for legislative advocacy and policy development in the area of long-term care.