ASA - American Society on Aging

1998 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

1998 MEDIA AWARDS

NATIONAL LEVEL

Peter Eisler

Arlington, VA
USA Today

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

Skokie, IL
Consumers Digest

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, TX
Austin American-Statesman

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."