Five major nursing home chain owners received a solicitation this week from an organization that may be considered a horse of a different color: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA.
Responding to reports that as many as 5 million seniors had not yet filed for their economic stimulus packages, PETA issued a letter Tuesday to the proprietors of HCR ManorCare, Kindred Healthcare, Genesis HealthCare Corp., Golden Living and SavaSeniorCare asking the groups to help the process along and suggest residents donate to charitable organizations such as PETA.
In the letter, PETA asks those companies to ask residents to donate “at least a portion of the money to help animals–perhaps in memory of a beloved dog or cat they have had–or to help a homeless person, a cancer patient, an orphaned child in a faraway land, or a callously abandoned dog.” PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk is hopeful that the potentially 150,000 seniors at these facilities donate to the various causes on the PETA-sponsored Web site www.caringconsumer.com.
