LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Jim Runestad announced Thursday he will be speaking at the “Rally to Save our Seniors” being held in Lansing this Saturday, April 3, at 9 a.m. to protest Michigan’s nursing home policies.
“Our seniors in nursing homes have suffered enough over the past year,” said Runestad, R-White Lake. “From being isolated, kept away from their families, and even put in harm’s way, the elderly have been let down again and again. It’s time we stand up for seniors and their families.”
Saturday’s rally will take place on the east lawn of the Michigan Capitol, 100 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing.
The rally comes as the Whitmer administration has come under fire in recent weeks for their executive orders that put COVID-19-positive patients into the same facilities as noninfected residents.
“The inconsistent nursing home policies we’ve seen have isolated seniors from their families while still putting them in harm’s way,” Runestad said. “Seniors deserve much better treatment than what they have received so far, and we need to support them.”
The policy mirrored four other states, including New York, where an investigation recently revealed that the Gov. Andrew Cuomo administration had been falsifying nursing home death numbers, among other offenses.