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Governance

Criminal Justice R.E.F.O.R.M.

Recent police-involved killings and public outcry have made it clear that our systems of policing and criminal justice need to be transformed. We must rethink how law enforcement officers serve their fellow citizens, how we measure and track their compliance with our laws and policies, and how we as a people hold them accountable. We must re-prioritize our resources and re-examine our policies on who we detain in our prisons and jails, and for how long.

Our criminal justice system disproportionately affects people of color nationwide and right here in Indiana. Our Black and Brown communities are also disproportionately victims of crimes and of excessive force by law enforcement officers. Our plan will effectively and efficiently combat racial injustices that have been overlooked for far too long. We have a clear vision of how to R.E.F.O.R.M.

REPAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM – Expand intervention efforts to keep people out of traditional courts and prisons
• Decriminalize mental illness and addiction while greatly expanding access to treatment services
• Grow homelessness intervention and permanent housing strategies
• End the school-to-prison pipeline with equitable and effective systematic changes for children

END POLICE BRUTALITY– Mandate new training procedures to eliminate excessive force
• Expand implicit bias, dispute resolution and de-escalation training for officers
• Ban chokeholds and other excessive force practices
• Improve police whistle blower protections and legal duty to protect citizens from excessive force

FUNDING – Re-prioritize taxpayer dollars to use holistic, inter-sectional approaches in public safety
• Put more funding in the hands of local communities to prioritize their needs
• Expand investments in low-income neighborhoods and minority-owned businesses
• Invest in best practices community-based training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy

OVERSIGHT – Establish no-tolerance accountability policies and procedures
• Establish a statewide public database for citizen complaints and officer disciplinary records
• Form an independent statewide nonpolitical criminal justice commission and oversight committee
• Require independent investigations for police misconduct, excessive force and fatalities

REBUILD OUR COMMUNITIES – Invest in sustainable community development
• End barriers to employment
• Expand affordable housing, transportation, and food access
• Invest more in public schools disproportionately serving minority and low-income students

MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION – Reduce harsh punishments and life-altering collateral consequences
• Eliminate minor possession charges for past and future offenses
• Legalize medicinal marijuana

Economy

Hoosier Business Support Amid COVID-19 Plan

Amid the Global COVID-19 Pandemic, Hoosier businesses have struggled to stay afloat. As Hoosiers keep their families and communities safe, many have been forced to close both temporarily and permanently.

With the economy reopening, many Hoosier businesses are forced to choose between their economic security or their health.

With the Myers/Lawson Plan for Hoosier Business Support Amid COVID-19, this administration seeks to ease the burden of being forced to choose between the two. Instead, it lays out specific policy goals to ensure families can both sustain their businesses, and keep themselves and their employees safe.

Oversight

• Develop a Financial Assistance Tracking System to monitor where government aid goes in Indiana to ensure all Hoosier businesses have equal access to funding.

Navigating Economy Reopening

• Form a Small Business Recovery Task Force, like Ohio’s 2020 Economic Recovery Task Force, to help get Hoosier businesses back up and running and to identify and remove legislative obstacles now in their way.
• Delegate small business navigators to help small business owners, and in particular those in our minority communities, sort through loan and grant programs and apply for financial assistance.

Rent and Mortgage Support

• Work with the mortgage industry to remove mortgage defaults related to COVID-19 from credit reports to ensure small businesses can continue to secure loans.
• Supplement existing programs providing relief from tax payments and rent obligations; not just for the next three months but the next nine months.

Protecting Workers

• Establish an incentive program to support Hoosier manufacturers producing protective medical equipment for Indiana medical professionals and first-responders, like Maryland has done.
• Double our unemployment claim processing capacity to handle increased volume to get money into the hands of Hoosiers who need it most faster.

State Economic Support

• Establish a state stimulus program to infuse more money into our small businesses, including those hard-hit minority-, women- veteran-, and disability-owned businesses for payroll, operational expenses, and working capital to help bail out our biggest job creators.
• Call on Indiana’s Congressional Delegation to support legislation to provide grants for operational costs to small businesses for each month of compliance with a statewide closure of nonessential businesses.
• Exclude small businesses, with fewer than 100 employees, from obligations to pay higher unemployment insurance premium rates for at least one year.
• Create a robust Buy Indiana First campaign to encourage Hoosiers to buy from Indiana small businesses.
• Create a state subsidized meals program to make meals for Hoosier home-bound seniors prepared by local restaurants and to the fullest extent possible using food grown by Hoosier farmers to support our restaurant industry, create jobs, and generate sales tax revenue for local governments, while also providing an important public service, similar to a program recently announced by California Governor Newsom.

Strengthening Indiana’s Economy – Dr. Woody Myers

Education

#TheDrIsIN Prescription for Schools: Press Pause to keep K-12 Education safe.

As the number of newly reported cases of COVID-19 cases rises in Indiana, parents, educators, and school administrators are worried about the decision to go back to school with in-person learning, despite procedures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. What’s been missing from the debate is clear guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) whether in-person learning is safe.

Without specific guidance, school superintendents and school boards will be forced into making a wide variety of decisions. School districts to restart in-classroom sessions (with some modifications) and others remaining in “virtual” mode, continuing to monitor the situation. Our decisions should be based on public health science and should be guided by safety, local health conditions, and school-specific information.

Indiana should put in place hybrid and virtual learning modes, holding off on restarting in-person classes.  Why? Because it’s simply unsafe with the recent news that COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing. 

• Children get infected and transmit the virus to others. They do not get “sick” as often as adults but some children get sick and they can die.
• Many of our educators and school support staff and school bus drivers are in high-risk categories (age group, pre-existing medical conditions). Children cannot always be expected to keep their masks on and to stay six feet away from an adult. The virus does not check the date of birth of its next victim.
• While mitigation of viral spread by social distancing and hand washing and wearing masks, and use of personal protective equipment, and cleaning surfaces are worthwhile, they are imperfect. And our children are not always going to follow our directions, but we must make every effort to support smart decision-making.
• Indiana has seen the highest two weeks of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, and the percentage of positive tests is approaching 10% (well up from 3% weeks ago). Therefore, there is more virus in the community spreading from person to person. Hospitalizations in recent weeks are trending upwards. Because there are few tight restrictions and we remain at Stage 4.5. The virus can move from person to person far more easily than it could when we were staying at home most of the time.
• There is no universal consensus on the best factor(s) to use, but many experts believe the most important factors are the reported number of new positive cases and the rate of positive cases in the county where your school district is located.

“This is the most unprecedented education situation Indiana has ever faced and Hoosiers need their Governor to make decisions based on science and data, not politics.”

 – Dr. Woody Myers.

While these guidelines are incomplete (other factors can be used), they are dependent on accurate data from government sources. Schools should review their status weekly. The Indiana State Health Department dashboard does not currently report the 14-day rate of new cases by county, but those data are available.

Some experts will disagree on the rates chosen in each category and with every new study published we learn more and more that might influence the selection of these measures over others. Some counties will have rates in rates that fall into two zones, and there are many other considerations in addition to rates of new cases and positive cases such as how to respond to positive cases when identified, and when to test students and teachers and contact tracking, and what to do regarding extracurricular activities and how to best manage special needs or high-risk students and more. That’s why a consultation with local and state health officials and the State Department of Education remains an essential component in the decision-making process.

“Our school administrators need guidance and offers of help while thinking about the important decisions in reopening. We owe it to them. We owe it to parents and our teachers as well.” 

– Dr. Woody Myers

MYERS/LAWSON EDUCATION PLAN

Dr. Woody Myers and Linda Lawson have announced their plan to revamp K-12 education, with plans to reevaluate how school funding is distributed to help reduce achievement gaps for marginalized students and improve student outcomes across Indiana.

The Holcomb Administration and Statehouse Republicans are ignoring the reality of our public education system and are actively working against improving it. Thus, they have been given a G.R.A.D.E. F. on their handling of schools throughout Indiana.

All Hoosier children deserve the best education possible. Here’s what a Myers/Lawson administration will do to make that a reality;

Governance – Accountability and transparency are hallmarks of good governance. Those are two qualities a Myers/Lawson administration will bring back to our state government, starting with education.

Myers/Lawson will:

• Streamline governance boards to include more diverse voices in board representation

Resources – The Myers/Lawson administration will prioritize funding and training of staff to make sure our children have the resources and services they need to learn.

Myers/Lawson will:

• Increase funding for more school nurses, social workers, and counselors
• Improve access to technology and broadband at home
• Work with the Indiana State Board of Education to ensure the Indiana Academic Standards include culturally sensitive material and appropriate career-readiness training
• Implement training on culturally-responsive, trauma-informed practices and implicit bias for teachers to be better prepared for culturally diverse classrooms

Accountability – We will put people over politics by stopping arbitrary testing, adding in accountability, and pressing pause on new charter schools.

Myers/Lawson will:

• Institute a single accountability system for all public school models that is equitable and transparent
• Streamline testing to put the focus on improving student academic results by subgroups and utilize test results to support at-risk schools
• Pause on new charter schools until we can level the playing field and improve accountability standards

Dollars – We will make Indiana the number one state for K-12 education by prioritizing funding for teachers and ensuring those funds reach our most vulnerable students.

Myers/Lawson will:

• Put public funding back in public schools by placing a pause on vouchers
• Protect education budget from future cuts
  Improve compensation to attract and retain teachers
• Guarantee quality universal pre-k and require kindergarten
• Ensure proper funding reaches our most vulnerable student populations

Equity – Working people want their children to get the best education possible. We will reevaluate how school funding is distributed to help reduce achievement gaps for marginalized students and improve student outcomes across Indiana.

Myers/Lawson will:

• Ensure more equitable distribution of funds and resources so high-need schools are receiving appropriate levels of support
• Reduce achievement gaps for marginalized students through additional tutoring supports and school resources
• End the school-to-prison pipeline by ensuring age and developmentally appropriate approach to school disciplinary practices and youth justice are fair and prioritize improving student outcomes

Facts – The Holcomb Administration and Statehouse Republicans are ignoring the reality of our public education system and are actively working against improving it.

Investing in Education – Dr. Woody Myers

Health Care

Myers/Lawson Healthcare Priorities

We know that every Hoosier deserves to have compassionate, effective medical care, delivered quickly. And yet, the average Hoosier is sicker and suffers from more health conditions than the average American—especially with respects to smoking rates, mental health conditions, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.¹

By all accounts, Indiana spends less on Medicaid than our surrounding states despite the fact that 1 in 6 Hoosiers utilize Medicaid for their healthcare.² This means 1 in 8 adults, 1 in 3 children, 2 in 3 nursing home residents, and 1 in 3 individuals with disabilities are using Medicaid as their primary source to important medical care.³

COVID-19 has highlighted the disparities that have existed in our medical system for years. Indiana has long lagged behind the rest of the United States in more ways than one when it comes to how our government has treated sick citizens. As seen in the table below, not only does Indiana fall behind the US, but also falls behind our neighboring states. Hoosiers deserve better.

That is why Myers/Lawson has put forth their plans to improve our public health and healthcare system here in Indiana. By increasing access, affordability, and coverage, Hoosiers will live healthier, longer lives.

Here are the Healthcare Priorities for a Myers/Lawson administration.

Access & Affordability

• Increase the availability of telehealth (including investments in broadband infrastructure)
• Improve medical transport system
• Address the high cost of prescription drugs
• Create incentives, partnerships, and mentorship programs to address provider shortages and retain Indiana talent, especially in rural areas and minority representation
• Work directly with medical schools to increase the production and retention of Indiana providers
• End surprise billing for emergency services by requiring transparency and disclosure of
  out-of-network physicians
• Extend free COVID-19 tests through the duration of the public health emergency
• Conduct research to examine ways to effectively increase competition in Indiana for payers and providers

Health Plans & Coverage

• Make it easier for Hoosiers to enroll in Indiana Medicaid and Indiana Obamacare
• Expand value-based care agreements for state health insurance programs
• Expand long-term care coverage to prioritize home and community-based care
• Increase the use of end-of-life services
• Institute state reinsurance program to assist in lowering premiums for high-risk populations

Healthcare System

• Address pricing inefficiencies
• Improve coordination of care
• Increase transparency and accountability with Indiana’s health coverage programs
• Support hospital financial stability
• Reexamine state oversight of the delegation of nursing home quality management from county hospitals to private entities
• Implement an all-payer claims database

Comprehensive and Quality Care

• Specifically identify and address health disparities by race, gender, and income
• End infant and maternal mortality
• Expand reproductive care services

Public Health Infrastructure

• Increase funding for prevention and health education
• Improve contact tracing
• Increase immunization programs
• Institute a robust trauma system
• Support raising the cigarette tax

Long-Term Care

Indiana’s long term care facilities are in a crisis. Our nursing homes rank among the worst in the nation and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the state’s negligence of our senior care system and lack of leadership at the top. The Pence-Holcomb Administrations allowed the long-term care industry to grow with very few protections for seniors and their loved ones. Ties between the nursing home industry and the Indiana legislature have created an environment favoring politics over seniors.

More than half of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana can be traced back to nursing homes. Yet for three months, Governor Holcomb refused to release the names of the long-term care facilities that have infected patients and staff- leaving families frightened and frustrated with concern over their loved ones. Neighboring states recognized this is a public health concern and prioritized releasing the information months ago.

We need to push harder for transparency. The fact is, over 90% of the nursing homes in Indiana are owned by county hospitals, ultimately funded by Hoosier taxpayers. We deserve to know what happens in facilities paid for by our tax dollars. This lack of transparency leaves families, and the general public, in the dark about the scope of the virus in our communities and the atrocious living situation for many of our seniors. That’s not the Hoosier Way.

The nursing home industry is in dire need of an overhaul. It is clear the state’s regulations weren’t written to ensure communication and quality care for residents and their families, but to protect business interests at the expense of residents. We can do better and without delay.

We need to improve testing, become more transparent, and invest in and support the direct care staff working in these facilities who are every bit as much our heroes as the nurses and doctors in the ICUs and first responders in the field. A Myers/Lawson Administration will call for transparency on day one and prioritize long term care residents, families, and staff before politics.

Residents

• Expand telemedicine and virtual medicine capabilities to maintain a continuum of care for elderly patients
• Provide nursing homes support for virtual visitations between residents and their families

Oversight

• Create a task-force for COVID-19 long-term care preparedness to determine best practices
• Update Department of Health’s antiquated reporting system and create mandated uniform reporting requirements
• Mandate detailed public communications about COVID-19 cases and deaths in the senior care system to the state
• Oppose efforts to enact blanket lawsuit immunity for nursing homes or long-term care facilities from negligence in the COVID-19 health crisis

Testing

• Increase testing for patients and staff across the senior care system by refocusing the Optum testing and contact tracing capabilities to our nursing homes where the problems grow worse by the hour
• Decrease the wait time for test results through greater efficiency and increased capacity to meet the need
• Require the infection controls teams at each facility to review and act on testing results every day and ensure that testing protocols are followed without exception

Staff

• Develop a multi-faceted plan for COVID-only skilled nursing facilities to support care and recovery for elderly patients
• Establish an immediate pipeline to recruit caregivers to address shortages and implement accountability measures to ensure staffing doesn’t fall below appropriate levels
• Ensure all nursing home healthcare workers and aides have access to medical-grade personal protective equipment to safely care for patients

Advocacy

• Increase funding for Indiana’s Community and Home Options to Institutional Care for the Elderly and Disabled (CHOICE) program, which will allow more seniors to age-in-place
• Enhance whistleblower protections to ensure whistleblower confidentiality

Addressing Healthcare in Indiana: Dr. Woody Myers

Safety

Child Welfare Plan

Indiana kids rank 29th in overall well-being, 15th in economic well-being, 15th in education, 35th in health. Indiana also ranks 2nd in the nation for child abuse victims and 5th in the nation on child abuse and neglects deaths. Setting our kids up for success is pivotal to the state’s future. And yet, our number of kids in the DCS system continues to rise, babies are at risk for early deaths, and marginalized students see massive academic achievement gaps and referrals to the criminal justice system. Areas of education, health, safety and family resources must be priorities for the state to improve overall well-being for our kids.

Housing Plan amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic

Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, Governor Holcomb has extended an eviction moratorium until the end of July but it’s clear Hoosiers need more help. The COVID19 Rental Assistance is needed by more than 200,000 Hoosiers according to housing advocates but only 12,000 Hoosiers will benefit from the assistance. Hoosiers are hurting from the pandemic and the economic crisis enough, they do not need to also worry about losing their homes.

Moving forward beyond the Coronavirus, Hoosiers also deserve better in their access to safe and affordable housing and safeguarding from policies that put them on the path to homelessness. In order to protect Hoosier families and communities from evictions and further economic instability, the Myers/Lawson team has published their intended Housing Plan policies.

Indiana needs to put people’s lives over big business and to put people over politics.

EVICTION MORATORIUM

• Extend a moratorium on evictions, allowing renters more time to pay back past due balances.

PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES

• Proactively reach those at-risk for evictions and in need of emergency assistance, including low-income residents receiving SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid, and those on fixed incomes like social security.
• Target low-income neighborhoods who will be hit the hardest and provide more support for community centers and community development corporations who can get assistance to their residents quickly.

IMPLEMENT OVERSIGHT

• Implement oversight for predatory lending and land contracts.
• Create affordable housing incentives to ensure neighborhoods are economically diverse, inclusive, and livable for Hoosiers.

DISTRIBUTE FEDERAL C.A.R.E.S. ACT DOLLARS

• Equitably distribute federal C.A.R.E.S. Act dollars and eliminate the requirement for landlord approval.
• Allocate a percentage of C.A.R.E.S. to address homelessness across the state.

ESTABLISH HOUSING TASK FORCE

• Establish a Housing Task Force to work with local community representatives to identify the greatest housing needs.

Social Security

A Plan to Protect Hoosier Senior Care Facilities: Improving Safety and Protection and Increasing Testing

COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, is devastating our senior population in nursing homes and long-term care facilities throughout the nation and here in Indiana. Governors in other states have been forthcoming with communications about long-term care facility outbreaks, while Governor Holcomb has refused to disclose this information that could be of enormous help to Hoosier families. He claims releasing the names of long-term care facilities with coronavirus deaths would violate the state’s relationship with private businesses it regulates.[i] Still Hamilton County Health Department started releasing this information weeks ago and has committed to reporting nursing home coronavirus cases and deaths on a weekly basis and other county health departments are also reporting this data.[ii] Hamilton and other county health departments now stand with 36 total states that are also voluntarily disclosing this data, including nine states providing comprehensive reporting of cases and deaths in long-term care facilities.[iii] If all these states can report this information, why can’t Indiana?

Despite Governor Holcomb’s refusal to release the names of the nursing homes and long-term care facilities that have patients and staff infected with the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now collecting this information on a weekly basis and plans to release it to the public later this month.[iv] Additionally, the CDC has released new and detailed guidance that Indiana nursing homes and long-term care facilities should follow.[v] If the federal government believes this information is important for the public to know, why doesn’t Governor Holcomb?

As of May 21, 2020, Indiana reported a total of 3625 COVID-19 infections and 732 deaths in our nursing home and long-term care facilities. Over 75 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana are to Hoosiers over the age of 70.[vi]

Governor Holcomb has taken campaign contributions valued at nearly $100,000 from nursing home operators since 2016.[vii] Money talks, or in this case, pays for silence. Both the Governor and the Indiana Health Care Association/Indiana Center for Assisted Living claim established communication protocols between a facility and its residents and their representatives for routine health issues are appropriate during the pandemic.[viii] However, their combined unwillingness for full transparency limits Indiana’s ability to address the present crisis and to prevent more outbreaks across our entire senior care system. There are Hoosier lives at stake. As families consider care options for their loved ones, it should be easy for a Hoosier family to learn about the COVID-19 status of any Indiana licensed health or residential facility.

The coronavirus doesn’t discriminate. Our nursing homes and other licensed health and residential facilities are acutely vulnerable to widespread virus transmission no matter who owns and operates them or what the facility’s quality rating was prior to the pandemic. However, previously Indiana ranked last in the nation for long-term care provided to seniors and people with disabilities based on a study that looked at affordability and access, choice of setting and provider, support for family care, quality of life care and quality of care, and effective transitions.[ix] This is all the more reason for Indiana to align itself with other states that have been outpacing us for years in making necessary improvements in this area. Refusing to disclose nursing home data is just another example of where we fall behind.

The federal government classifies nursing homes and long-term care facilities below hospitals. This has contributed to testing delays and inadequate access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).[x] Access to PPE is essential to safeguard health care workers and patients alike. Indiana needs a more comprehensive approach to protecting its vulnerable nursing home population that includes more testing and better communication and a leadership team prepared to effectively manage this crisis.

Nursing homes remain a huge problem for Indiana. The state and local health departments, with the assistance of statewide associations representing the facilities, should lead the planning for the upgraded responses now required in each facility to save lives.

As Governor, I’d:

• Communicate detailed information about coronavirus cases and deaths, both for patients and staff in the Indiana senior care system that includes nursing homes, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation facilities, long-term and residential care homes, and retirement and senior living communities to the public on a daily basis.
• Publish a list by county of those facilities that have adopted and fulfilled the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.[xi]
• Establish an immediate pipeline to recruit caregivers to address staffing shortages in our nursing homes and long-term care facilities, as the AARP has recommended to the federal government and states.[xii]
• Develop a comprehensive, statewide reporting system to ensure appropriate staffing levels throughout Indiana’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities and offer triaged assistance when staffing falls below these levels.
• Increase accessibility and availability of testing for patients and staff across Indiana’s entire senior care system, as the CDC recommends before allowing visitation to resume. West Virginia mandates testing for all nursing home patients and staff.[xiii]
• Deny blanket lawsuit protection for nursing homes or long-term care facilities that would shield them from lawsuits stemming from negligence in this health crisis. Partial immunity from legal liability should only be considered on a limited case basis when a nursing home and/or long-term care facility acted in good faith to ensure proper infection controls and staffing were in place but either was intentionally prohibited or denied by the state or local government. The interests of patients should be placed ahead of the financial interest of providers.
• Ensure our senior care facilities have access to medical-grade personal protective equipment to safely diagnose and treat infected patients, as the CDC recommends.
• Expand telemedicine and virtual medicine capabilities to maintain continuum of care for elderly patients, while minimizing risks to caregivers.
• Create regional COVID-only skilled nursing facilities to support care and recovery for elderly patients infected with the virus to prevent spread and to eliminate the need to isolate those infected – similar to a plan being implemented in some Massachusetts and Connecticut nursing homes.[xiv]

The $2 trillion federal coronavirus stimulus bill includes $200 million for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to increase infection-control measures in nursing homes nationwide.[xv] Additionally, the bill includes $100 billion to provide grants to our health care system providers, including Medicare and Medicaid enrolled suppliers to cover reimbursement costs associated with care and expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic.[xvi] As Governor, I’d ensure federal reimbursements Indiana receives for nursing homes go toward funding the significantly enhanced response the pandemic requires. There are federal funds available to make the improvements I’m proposing in this plan, so we can avoid the need to raise taxes.

Although coronavirus can be deadly for anyone it infects, it’s particularly dangerous for seniors who are more likely to have underlying medical conditions. It’s a unique threat to our senior care system requiring full transparency for us to effectively manage the coronavirus crisis and eventually to overcome it. We can’t save every Hoosier, but with more and better communications and aggressive action we can save many more. As Governor, I’ll always put people before politics.

[i] “Hamilton County releases list of nursing homes with COVID-19 deaths,” WISHTV.COM8, April 30, 2020

[ii] Ibid and “The Most Vulnerable: 10 deaths reported at nursing home as county releases data on facilities,” Daily Reporter, May 12, 2020.

[iii] States Reporting of Cases and Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Long-Term Care Facilities, KKF, April 23, 2020

[iv] “Nursing Home COVID-19 Reporting Rules To Be Strengthened,” NPR, April 20, 2020

[v] Preparing for COVID-19 in Nursing Homes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[vi] Indiana State Health Department, Indiana COVID-19 Data Report

[vii] ‘Reeks of cronyism’: Indiana still hiding nursing home coronavirus info, advocates say,” May 1, 2020, IndyStar

[viii] Guest Viewpoint: Association addresses long-term care resident and representative notifications (Indiana Health Care Association President), The Herald Bulletin, May 1, 2020

[ix] Long-Term Care Services and Supports State Scorecard, AARP Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and The Scan Foundation, 2017

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Preparing for COVID-19 in Nursing Homes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[xii] “N.J. Nursing Home COVID-19 Deaths Speak to National Crisis in Facilities, AARP, April 17, 2020

[xiii] “Inside One State’s Plan for Mandatory COVID-19 Testing at Nursing Homes – and How Others Can Follow,” Skilled Nursing News, April 22, 2020

[xiv] In The Time Of COVID-19, We Should Move High-Intensity Prostate Care Home, Health Affairs, April 22, 2020

[xv] “Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Includes $200M for CMS Infection-Control Efforts At Nursing Homes and $100B in Health Grants,” Skilled Nursing News, March 25, 2020

A Broken System

“A Broken System” – that tells the shocking story of institutional racism Myers repeatedly encountered over the course of his 42-year medical career.

The video begins with the retelling of a patient hurling a racial slur at Myers that is seared into his memory. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Myers recounts how “even medicine is not immune to racism, bigotry, and ignorance.”

One story recounted in the video tells the story of an ailing African-American teenager being turned down for a heart transplant “because one of the lead surgeons didn’t want to waste a good heart on a kid from the ghetto.”

The video also describes chronic malpractice in a neurosurgery ward leading to the deaths of minority patients, and Dr. Myers being tasked with delivering newborns of undocumented immigrants while he was still a medical student and not a licensed physician.

Dr. Myers’ career intersects with many of the highest-profile medical stories of the last few decades, including teaching emergency medicine in San Francisco at the time of the emerging AIDS crisis when “we started seeing young gay men come in with mysterious pneumonias and skin lesions.” Myers also served as Indiana Commissioner of Health and championed the cause of Ryan White – a young boy infected with HIV who wished to attend public school.

In the video, Dr. Myers recounts how, as “a direct descendent of slaves and slave owners,” “I’ve had professors look at the color of my skin and assume I was too stupid to pass their class.” Dr. Myers also describes rising to the level of Director of Health Care for the Ford Motor Company where he was responsible for the health and safety of over 300,000 Ford workers around the world.

“Now I’m running for governor of Indiana against Mike Pence’s hand-picked replacement, “Myers says in the video, “because my life has led to this reckoning of a pandemic, an economic collapse, and a racial awakening.”

To find a version of the video edited for younger viewers which can be downloaded

HERE. 

Dr. Woody Myers on Legalization of Marijuana in Indiana

While I favor appropriate medical use of products containing a known dosage of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), our medical community, legislature, and policymakers should be thoughtful and should examine other states’ experiences when considering new legislation and rulemaking.

I do favor the decriminalization of the possession of THC containing products for personal use- our law-enforcement officials have higher priorities, and there is excellent evidence nationally of disproportionate sentencing in disenfranchised populations. I am not convinced that full recreational legalization of THC containing products is a wise move in and for Indiana.

Those who believe there are no potentially serious clinical effects for some patients are simply wrong. And even if a new law creates a minimum purchase age of 21, we all know there will be many violations, and there will be consequences for the mental and physical health of the children who will be exposed to the smoke and who will consume the edible products.

I am pleased to see the emerging research characterizing the benefits of Cannabidiol (CBD) containing products (now legal in all 50 states), and I am encouraged by the potential benefits for IN agriculture as our farmers produce more hemp crops from which CBD is derived. My views are not new, and I believe most members of our medical community share them.

Response to Indiana Protests and Police Brutality

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Last night, Hoosiers practiced their 1st Amendment rights in protesting the tragic and brutal death of George Floyd. Although they were not just grieving for George; they were also grieving for the deep hateful history our nation has had regarding the treatment of African-Americans. I am deeply saddened by the terror and violence that George Floyd and countless others have endured. The Floyd family and the many others who have experienced systematic injustice feel outrage in ways hard for those who have never been stopped and questioned and humiliated and sometimes harmed by those sworn to protect us will never know.

I am proud to know that so many Hoosiers are actively working to change our country for the better. Last night many were in the streets of Indianapolis, Ft Wayne and other Hoosier cities peacefully protesting and letting their voices be heard.  While the initial protests were peaceful, and I was saddened to see and hear the destruction and violence that followed in Indianapolis and Ft Wayne. It was fruitless and did little to further the righteous cause intended by the original protesters and activists.

State and city leaders have a difficult challenge in these troubling times- navigating the anger caused by witnessing murder recorded by cell phones and police body cameras- during a global pandemic. And as leaders our language does matter. Gov. Eric Holcomb is quoted as saying Hoosiers should “take a breath and be part of the solution”.  George Floyd in Minneapolis and Eric Garner in New York were trying to breathe, when their windpipes were crushed, and they were killed by police for allegations of minor criminal violations.

We all want to breathe fresh clean air, free of both tear gas and coronavirus. And it’s our job as leaders to make that happen- and to enable the solutions required.

–Dr. Woody Myers, M.D.

Dr. Woody Myers Calls on Governor Holcomb to invest $500 million in Childcare to Support Working Hoosier Moms

Indianapolis, IND – Indiana’s presumptive Democratic nominee for Governor, Dr. Woody Myers, calls on Governor Holcomb to invest $500 million in federal funds from the Coronavirus Relief Fund into childcare to support working Hoosier moms.

While Governor Holcomb and state officials take their time mulling over how to spend the $2.1 billion in federal dollars from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Indiana’s childcare sector is on the verge of collapse. According to a recent analysis by the Center for Law and Social Policy, the National Women’s Law Center, and senior economic advisors, the $3.5 billion in funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program is a drop in the bucket compared to the $9.6 billion per month needed to ensure working families have access to childcare.

“Without proper funding, our childcare sector could fail, leaving tens of thousands of Hoosier parents–especially mothers–on the sidelines instead of in the workforce,” said Myers. “Prior to the pandemic, lack of access to childcare cost Indiana an estimated $1.1 billion in economic activity, and we stand to lose even more if parents can’t access childcare now. It’s simply a risk we can’t afford to take.”

“As Governor, I’d immediately invest $500 million of the $2.1 billion received to ensure childcare access for working Hoosier parents. It’s the right investment to make during this critical time,” said Myers. “I call on Governor Holcomb to do the same for families to support working Hoosier moms.”

Dr. Woody Myers Releases Coronavirus Control Plan

Indianapolis, IND – Indiana Candidate for Governor Dr. Woody Myers has unveiled a series of steps the state should take immediately to control the spread of COVID-19, commonly known as the Coronavirus.

March 16, 2020

The 11-point Coronavirus Control Plan involves a variety of steps to expand social distancing and help businesses and individuals cope with the economic and health uncertainties created by the pandemic.

Among the items that the former Indiana State Health Commissioner is proposing:

• Close all Indiana schools immediately, and then reassess continued closure.

• Immediately appoint and convene a taskforce on COVID-19, the Indiana Coronavirus Leadership Group (ICLG), with a broad range of representation from multiple sectors including state elected officials.

• Call a Special Session of the Indiana General Assembly to adopt necessary changes to state law to maximize protection of Hoosiers such as:

o Passing an emergency paid leave law.

o Authorizing an emergency appropriation from the state surplus; and o Passing stronger price gouging laws.

• Develop contingency plans now for those individuals in confined settings not easily moved.

• Direct state agencies to adopt needed changes and/or additions to state rules and policies related to COVID-19 ASAP. For example:

o Delay the requirement to file Indiana state taxes by 60-90 days for both individuals and for Hoosier businesses.

o Expand unemployment benefits for workers impacted by COVID19, like Illinois and Washington have done.

“Indiana has not been acting as quickly as it should to control the spread of the coronavirus,” Myers said. “This plan ensures that patients are put ahead of politics to save lives.” Myers will be hosting a town hall tonight on Facebook to answer questions from Hoosiers about the virus. The event will be moderated by Indiana’s Own Podcaster Dana Black and can be viewed here at 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Woody Myers is running to be Governor of Indiana because he knows our state needs new leadership where people are first – not politics. As Governor, Woody will use his background in business and in medicine to guarantee all Hoosiers can access high-quality health care at an affordable cost, bring more good-paying jobs to Indiana and provide every Hoosier child with a world-class public education. Learn more at www.drwoodymyers.com.