Award
Winners
1998
MEDIA AWARD
NATIONAL
LEVEL
Peter
Eisler
USA Today
Arlington,
VA
Peter
Eisler is the recipient of this year's National Media Award for his November
1996 series in USA Today on abuses in the home healthcare industry. His stories
documented how the nation's fastest growing industry is a haven for criminals
who harm and exploit vulnerable patients while stealing billions of dollars
from Medicare and Medicaid. The stories marked the first national look at
this growing problem and spurred an array of government investigations and
regulatory reforms that Mr. Eisler has continued to document in follow-up
pieces.
Mr. Eisler's series was
thorough--and it made for compelling and interesting reading. It provided
readers with information on solutions to the abuses and resources for consumers
wanting help in securing quality care for their loved ones.
Peter Eisler is a USA
Today reporter specializing in investigations on health and environmental
issues. Much of his work focuses on long-term care for elderly and disabled
people. His work has won several national awards and is cited in various journalism
books. He previously worked for Gannett News Service, where he developed a
beat focusing on aging issues, and as a reporter covering Congress, politics,
the space program and legal affairs for wire services and papers in Washington,
DC, Connecticut and Florida.
Honorable
Mention
John F. Wasik
Consumers Digest
Skokie, IL
An Honorable Mention is
awarded to Mr. Wasik for his article, "How to Protect Your Pension,"
in the November 1996 issue of Consumers Digest. "How to Protect Your
Pension" explored the underfunding of defined-benefits plans, bringing
to light, through a Freedom of Information Act request, an "Early Warning
List" of 500 companies whose pensions were underfunded. The article brought
attention to a topic often not reported but very important. Mr. Wasik's coverage
was authoritative and comprehensive. The article was accompanied by a host
of information about how workers can investigate their own pension plans,
where to turn for help and how to safeguard their pensions. Mr. Wasik is the
senior editor of Consumers Digest in Skokie, IL.
LOCAL/REGIONAL
LEVEL
Denise Gamino
Austin American-Statesman,
Austin, TX
Denise
Gamino is this year's winner of the ASA Local/Regional Media Award. For two
months, Ms. Gamino investigated the role of the Texas Board of Nursing Facility
Administrators in failing to hold nursing home administrators accountable
for squalid, unhealthy conditions. In her article, "Neglect Unpunished,"
and in follow-up articles, she found that despite hundreds of complaints about
deplorable conditions, not one of the 2,700 licensed administrators had been
punished. In a state where nearly 100,000 vulnerable people live in 1,200
nursing homes, the state board was dominated by the industry -- in violation
of federal Medicaid law.
As a result of the Austin
American-Statesman articles, a coalition of senior rights groups and key state
officials was formed to fight for new laws. Public outcry forced the board
to write new, tougher rules, remove the board's director and strengthen its
investigative staff. Ultimately, Texas lawmakers abolished the Board of Nursing
Facility Administrators and moved its functions to a new agency. The series
highlights the importance of good coverage of state government and the impact
one reporter can make.
Denise Gamino has written
about aging and social issues for 13 years at the Austin American Statesman.
Her numerous articles cover a range of issues from the plight of elderly residents
in unlicensed boarding homes to disabled children living in geriatric nursing
homes. Many of her articles have resulted in reforms and stronger laws governing
the care of people with disabilities and nursing home residents in Texas.
She has won numerous state and national reporting awards.
In 1995, Ms. Gamino spent
four months in Japan studying nursing homes, disability services and long-term
care issues as a fellow in the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program sponsored by
the Japan Society of New York. Her co-sponsor in Japan was the International
Leadership Center on Longevity and Society in Tokyo.
Honorable
Mention
Diane C. Lade
Sun-Sentinel
Delray
Beach, FL
Diane C. Lade receives
an Honorable Mention in this year's Local/Regional Media Awards for a body
of work covering the half million people aged 60 and older in Palm Beach and
Broward counties. The centerpiece article was "The Gray Wave," an
extensive look at the active, adult retirement communities that have made
Florida the state with the oldest per capita population in the country. Life
in these condominim communities is interestingly and thoroughly explored with
excellent stories of real people--including the condo politicians--real problems
and solutions. Ms. Lade's other work includes covering AIDS and HIV infection
among the older population of south Florida in articles which helped inspire
the state's first health program targeting HIV prevention to seniors; depicting
the growing number of Alzheimer's patients living alone, particularly in articles
on a poor migrant farming community adjacent to one of the wealthiest communities
of older adults in the state; reporting on the threat of healthcare and food
stamp loss posed to sick and old legal immigrants as a result of the dual
combination of welfare and immigration reform; and covering Florida's first
assisted suicide case. A city editor for almost five years, Ms. Lade returned
to reporting in December of 1995 to cover the age beat for the Sun-Sentinel.
Judy Nichols and Victoria Harker
The Arizona Republic
Phoenix,
AZ
An Honorable Mention is
given to Judy Nichols and Victoria Harker of The Arizona Republic for a year-long
investigation into Arizona's home care industry. The expose, "Homes Without
Hope," was detailed, forceful and troubling. Ms. Nichols and Ms. Harker
found cases of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation and, the employment
of drug addicts, child molesters and even one convicted murderer as caregivers.
The five-part series uncovered cases of residents who died after showing up
at emergency rooms dehydrated and covered with bedsores, as well as other
cases of suspicious broken bones, sexual assaults and medication overdoses.
The series prompted a strong public response, resulting in the proposing of
new regulations to insure the safety of care recipients and to require investigation
into the background of caregivers.
Judy Nichols is a reporter
for The Arizona Republic civic affairs team. Starting in 1982 she has served
in a number of capacities: assistant city editor, night editor, bureau chief
and copy editor. Victoria Harker is a court reporter for The Arizona Republic.
She came to the paper in 1985 and has covered including general assignment,
crime, education and government. In 1994, she won the Maricopa County Bar's
top award for a series on the county's juvenile justice system. In 1996, Nichols
and Harker received an honorable mention in the National Heywood Broun Awards
for their project "Crisis in Child Care."
