At 77, He’s Leading Fight for Reforms

Larry Roth is starting over yet again. At age 77, he’s lost count of how many times his life has changed.

Two years ago, he moved from San Francisco to the Westside to be close to his two sons. But simply establishing a new residence was not enough for Roth. He needed some purpose to his life.

Roth is opening the Southern California office for CANHR--California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform--the organization he founded 14 years ago in San Francisco. CANHR’s mission is to educate long-term health-care consumers about their rights under the law. The goal is to create a united voice for nursing home reform and to provide humane alternatives to institutionalization.

“If a spouse enters a nursing home--the cheapest is $3,000 a month--it’s easy to go bankrupt,” he said in an interview at his home in Santa Monica. “We teach people how to avoid that because if a person doesn’t know what could happen, a lifetime of savings can be wiped out. It happened to me.”

Roth sold his plastics business when he was 62, but the combination of his wife’s illness and his own heart surgery absorbed his savings--even though he carried three types of insurance.

Appalled, he founded CANHR with the help of a lawyer. Within a year, the demands of the older population forced them to triple the staff.

He moved to Southern California fully aware there would be plenty of work to do on his cause once he got here. In San Francisco, he said, nearly half the calls the office received were from south of Santa Barbara.

Another major issue for Roth is that many long-term-care residents are isolated from the public eye and suffer from serious neglect and abuse. Such problems as misuse of drugs, unsanitary conditions, understaffing and general lack of care have been well-documented, but neither the residents nor their relatives are aware of their rights.

Roth has always had an ability to see an existing need and organize a way to answer it. In the ‘60s, he volunteered for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., raising money to establish black-owned businesses. In the ‘50s, when he was living in the New York suburbs, he organized a committee to improve the public schools.

Roth is looking forward to establishing the new office for CANHR in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade.

He will begin with the outreach efforts he knows so well--setting up educational meetings, recruiting members and setting up the appropriate referral sources. In a way, he says, the elderly need to be trained.

“More than 50% of the elderly do not have contact with services--we’re talking about people who have worked all of their lives, paid their bills, didn’t get into any trouble and never reached out. And now when they need help, it’s a reflection of the past. They still don’t reach out. . . . Our real job is saying to these people you are not alone.”

For more information on CANHR, call Roth at (310) 458-1507. The organization receives no government support and relies on donations and grants. There is no fee for services, but there is a $10 cost for lawyer referrals, which goes back to the organization to cover printing costs.

Bulletin Board

European Folk Tales--The Felicia Mahood Senior Multipurpose Center will sponsor an afternoon of heroes, fools and magical folk; 11338 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles; 1 p.m. today; information: (310) 479-4119 (free admission).

Dinner Meeting--Over the Hill Gang, a group of skiers and seniors over 50, will hold its monthly dinner meeting; Reuben’s restaurant, 6531 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles; 5 p.m. today; information: (818) 244-2631.

Social Security--Social Security Administration retirees will hold a luncheon meeting; Tam O’Shanter restaurant, 2980 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles; noon Monday; information: (213) 466-0712.

Flu Shots--Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital will offer flu shots for people 55 and older; lobby, 4650 Lincoln Blvd., Marina del Rey; 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday; information: (310) 823-8911 (free).

Book Club--The West Hollywood Senior Center has a new book club for seniors; Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays; information: (213) 851-8202 (free).