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Nursing Home and Elder AbuseRead the article this discussion is about
This archived discussion is "read only". « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next » » Tranquility - Hi Elena... Some communities will have ratings concerning nursing homes. You can also check with the liscencing bureau to make sure that the nursing home has all its credentials. I have a section on my web site about nursing home selection. If you would like to visit, the URL is http://www.geocities.com/~elderly-place/...Good luck with your search. -- posted by Tranquility » RobSpaz - Rated Nursing Homes I work in a nursing home in Union County for the past 10yrs., I could help you along by telling you to go visit any nursing home you are thinking of putting you family member. Try to stay around for awhile to observe or visit several times at different hrs. of the day.State Inspections of all Nursing Homes are listed on the net through a Government site -- http://www.hcfa.com -- You may need to browse a bit. For NJ -- Ocean County see (copy and paste) http://www.medicare.gov/nursing/SearchRe... -- posted by RobSpaz » JerryBryant - Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect I have read through the postings and thought I might be of help to some. I have spent two years researching the subject for a group of attorneys. The results are posted at:http://www.nursinghomeneglect.net/ Although this site is an advertisement for the said group of attorneys... I believe you will find it very informative. Thanks -- posted by JerryBryant » sharynx1 - Elder Abuse Hi, I was searching the web looking for residential care home owners, and ran across this! I am an LPN and have worked in many nursing homes, and at one time had to testify against another nurse who was accused of abuse ( and rightly so). She was turned into the state by the Nurses Aides, as they came to me, and I could do nothing, as I had not seen the abuse. I told them to call the State Board of Nursing, and they did. Before the hearing, I did witness neglect, not abuse, but did testify, and the nurse was put on probation, with mandatory counseling. Wasn't what we were shooting for, but was better than nothing. Sometimes you get good results, and sometimes you don't. But I would go to the state, rather than the administrator, or director of nursing, because they don't want to hear about it. But, please find someone who will take this further, don't let anyone do this and not have it reported and taken care of. Good luck.-- posted by sharynx1 » BSink4 - Re: Nursing home abuse In response to message posted by Madison:Madison, -- posted by BSink4 » CnaWatch - The Nightmare of Corporate "Care" in the Nursing Home "Industry" Hello all,I'm so pleased to have found this Message Board. I'm a 57 year old writer by profession,I also work in the state of Kansas as a CNA/HHA (Certified Nursing Assistant/Home Health Aide). I am currently at home with a back injury sustained on the job, a job that neither affords me health care benefits nor sick leave. I was injured the latter part of June, and have not yet seen a Work Comp check. I took the CNA course a year and a half ago, naively supposing, I would be able to make a living, while at the same time be of service to the elderly. When our CNA class did what iscalled "clinicals" at a local nursing home, I was appalled by what I discovered there. Appalled, shocked and horrified! I had empathy for those ones trying to earn a living in this abominable place, the CNAs that really did care about the Residents were in the minority to be sure, nonetheless as a wordsmith, I decided to take up the plight of the underpaid, uninsured, overburdened CNA. I have dedicated a Web site to that end and would like to invite you all to come check it out. Interestingly, what I've learned in the massive research on the subject of short staffing in the Nursing Home Industry is that indeed it has more to do with Corporate bottom line, and nothing whatsoever to do with basic, human, caring. Nothing. At this moment, I'm so coldly enraged at what I've learned that it takes everything I have to sit here and calmly compose this letter. So! Let's consider the Corporate attitude and how that attitude has created this malignant obscenity we know as the Nursing Home "Industry". The facts are these, the bar is set so low for Certification as to be insulting to one of average intelligence. Anyone that can legally sign their name can become an "Instant CNA". Why? Because these ones will work for slave wages and ask no questions. There ARE some, I DO NOT wish to discount ALL CNAs(!) that are caring, loving, effective (as effective as they are allowed to be when staffing ratios are so out of balance as to be dangerous). This sets the stage then, to put at odds, the Care-Giver vs. the Care-Needer. Unfortunately the good ones are leaving in droves. The turnover is extraordinary, into the ninety percentile. What's left are the dregs,the addicts, high school kids who snicker at genitalia, etc,etc...you get the picture. Nursing Homes are turning out Instant CNAs like batches of cookies. Yes, they pay for their "training." In my attempt to save the good ones, I created a Web page to encourage them to REPORT! REPORT! REPORT! to include a Whistle Blower Page. Posted here are national links to Congress, Attorneys General,and State Licensure Boards. May God have mercy on us all, this is a nightmare from which we may never awaken. Mandated staffing is non-negotiable but my concern remains "staffed" with what? Sincerely, -- posted by CnaWatch » ooragg - Re: The Nightmare of Corporate "Care" in the Nursing Home "Indus It is enlightening..and encouraging...to read this perspective of Nursing Home "Care" from one who knows it from the inside. Myself, I found myself in the situation of Care-Giver forced to seek a nursing home for my comatose 48yrs. old husband. Not quite considered an "elder" yet anything available to us related to elder care so, hopefully, you won't mind my voice in this discussion.The hospital decided there was nothing more to be done for him medically..insurance company and hospital's Social Services Quality Control people decreed he was a waste of their resources and demanded I remove him, immediately, to a nursing home. I, on the other hand, was adamant that they had done little to stimulate etc. and knew if he was placed in a nursing home he would be left in a bed...yet another Karen Anne Quinlen. The stress placed upon me to find accomodations was incredible, in addition to worrying about my husband's health, circumstance, home worries etc. so, needing time to stall, I agreed to meet with the nursing home recommended. Because he had a PEG and trache, a skilled nursing centre was the "only" choice and I was told there were none in our home county. I made the appointment...the nursing home required this appointment be of 2hrs. duration. I made it known I expected to meet with all parties involved in my husband care and planned a tour of the facility without specifically asking for one for I had no intention of allowing them to organize "the best of the best" for me to see. I arrived for my appointment, promptly, and was met by a Social Services representative who spoke with me...small talk, that is...for approximately 20mins. until the Financial Advisor arrived. She was to be, I was told, my "first interview". For exactly 1hr. 40mins. I mostly listened while she talked of financing my husband's care, forms I would need to complete, where I might get assistance, etc. I asked many questions and received few answers. This is what I learned: The care would cost $3,000 per month (which I did not have) and I needed to apply to the State for assistance. If my husband needed to be hospitalized...and this was a "given" considering his general status and unstable health...I would be required to pay $100 per night to "hold his bed for him", which the State would not cover. Before we could proceed with admissions etc. my application to the State needed to be approved because "You're insurance expires 60 days after we admit him...we *need* to know where the money is coming from, starting the 61st. day or we cannot admit him." I have little doubt that this is probably standard procedure at most nursing homes and, like it or not, I suppose I could understand that. However, when I repeatedly asked what they offered in the way of care for this man, there were no answers. They could not tell me what, if any, stimuli would be offered; what, if any, PT/ST/RT would be provided. All i was told was "if he shows any signs of emerging from the coma we would have him transferred to a suitable place...." At the end of this meeting, my time was up...there were no other meetings, no Social Services rep returned as promised, no tour offered (even though I wished an unexpected and unplanned tour, I should have thought one would have been offered by the staff, that particular day). I left there, determined my husband would not be transferring to this facility or any other like it. If this is how they interacted with me there was little hope for my husband of anything better than lying in a bed, on machines, receiving the barest of necessary care. He did not enter this facility. Two weeks later the hospital decided they were going to move him to a nursing home with or without my permission..providing me date, time and whereabouts. Fortunately, his surgeon was more caring than the administrative staff and surreptitiously arranged for a colleague of his to examine my husband. This was done at 5pm the evening before my husband was to be moved against my will and next day, 20 mins. before this transfer, we whisked him out of the hospital, into an ambulance and we were on our way to a coma-stim centre 350 miles away. The biggest concern was that he had a trache and was in need of oxygen. The ambulancemen then told me they could not carry oxygen. I had seen my husband be without oxygen for short periods, called a doctor and asked how long he could manage without it and was told his need for oxygen was only approx. 10%. He could travel. We took the chance. Eight months later and after some improvement in his condition (he had finally emerged from a Level 1 coma to a Level 4/5 but a quadriplegic) CHAMPUS (Military insurance) decided not sufficient progress had been made and the prognosis was poor...he "may have a year survival"...and, yet again, I was told to find a nursing home in which to place him. Still needed to be a Skilled Centre because of the PEG. Perhaps it was fear...fear that he would end up in a place where his care would be minimal and I would have no control over the situation, little to no say in the care he would receive...mostly it was I believed he deserved to spend his last days in his own home...but I opted to bring my husband home where I took care of him, myself. CNAWatch...thank you for what you have written here. I had a private hire CNA (after two months of agency CNA's who knew nothing about lifting/moving, dressing someone in my husband's condition) who was an absolute gem. When I interviewed her she admitted she did not know how to care for a Quadriplegic but asked me to teach her, which I did. She came in four days a week for a couple of hours each to do the morning bath and dress and thus give me a break and she was an angel. She gave compassion, TLC and humour and her remuneration reflected her worth to us. Like you, I wouldn't say all nursing home CNA's are worthless...most are overworked and underpaid and we do know their jobs are never easy. But under no circumstance would I leave any loved one of mine in such a situation. My husband's prognosis was one year...maybe. He lived four more years after I brought him home and continued to improve. The PEG was removed seven months after he came home...the process of which was a battle between the medical fraternity and myself...and in working with him several times a day, he did reach a point where he could remove/replace his own glasses; drink from a cup by himself and use a fork with which to eat...not for an entire meal but this *was* success of sorts. It was not an easy life for him and I know it never would have been what he would have chosen had been offered but this what we were given and the most was made of it...sadly, in a nursing home I have no doubt he would have died much sooner and in the condition in which he had been admitted. Would that have been better, kinder, to him? I don't know and daren't ponder this too much but being handed this responsibility I had to fulfill it to the best of my ability. -- posted by ooragg » AmandaDenise - Re: Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect In response to message posted by JerryBryant:
-- posted by AmandaDenise » roni63 - You are to be commended! I am a Registered Nurse, who started out as a nurse assistant long before a state abuse register, or testing was mandatory.I went in to long term care, simply because I had/have such a love for the elderly, and I see NO NEED for abuse of any type whatsoever. --Quality Care is the only way to describe what our elders deserve! With 4 children and 200 ewes, I enrolled in college to pursue my life long dream of becoming a nurse. --with that goal behind me, I decided to go for another - which was Staff Development director in Long Term Care -- now, with that goal behind me, I find yet one more goal -- Director of Staff Development at a facility 3 x's larger than the one I previously worked in, and persue my master's degree in Nursing ... In my years getting to where I want to be professionally, I have grown to love many elderly people. I have also witnessed some unfair treatment of residents. However, that is what has made me the person I am today. The instructor I am today. I feel the CNA's of today, need to be told it is OK to 'Care' for their patients, along with the skills of daily living. It's all about the heart of things in today's world. Is there anything better than seeing the sparkle in a resident's eyes when you give them a hug, or maybe it's the slight upward turn of the resident's lip as you tuck them in & tell them you love them. Gee, I used to love when I was told 'good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite..... If they do, hit 'em with a shoe & make 'em black & blue!' --it's only fair I say it to my residents when I tuck them in at night. We are their family too, and in alot of instances, the only family they have. I commend you for staying strong, teaching that CNA skills, and most of all for standing your ground where your husband's best interest was the issue. I agree with you, not all nursing homes provide quality care --quality 'cares' possibly, but NOT quality care..... the care that comes from the heart. God Bless, Roni -- posted by roni63 » LS1123 - looking for information I am a student working toward a certificate in Human Services, I plan to pursue a late(over 50)career in the helping services. I might like to work in the area of elder abuse prevention, independent living for the older population, or maybe specialize in geriatrics and their special needs. I am concerned as to where our increasing older population will live in the near and far future. I am fifty-one and have a very independent seventy-seven year old mother, I am concerned for her future and the future of myself as I approach my senior years. We live in a community with a large senior population and we have many services but we need more. I fear older people are being forced into care facilities and loosing their independence before it is necessary. I am seeking information regarding the concerns I have included above and also information on something like group homes -- posted by LS1123 « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next » Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion. |
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