News for April, 2009

Nursing home aides need training to handle dementia patient aggression

The 87-year-old nursing home resident likely meant no harm. He suffers from dementia and wouldn’t give a belt used to assist residents with walking back to certified nursing assistant Sharoia D. Hill. But Hill became frustrated with his aggressive behavior. She decided to remedy the situation by hitting the frail man with a closed fist. Now the 28-year-old nursing aide faces up to five years in prison on a Class 3 felony charge, according to The News-Gazette.

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Nursing home manager faces claims of abuse, neglect

A former manager at a Cambridgeshire, England nursing home says he is the victim of sabotage by disgruntled staff members who didn’t agree with his measures to improve the facility’s poor standards. But the claims made against him are mounting, according to the Cambridge News.

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Wandering injuries, deaths a big concern for those with dementia

Wandering is a common symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other cognitive disorders. According to the Alzheimer’s Association more than 60 percent of those with the condition wander at some point and up to 70 percent of those who wander will do so again. More than 127,000 critical wandering incidents are reported each year. If not found within the first 24 hours, up to half of all persons with dementia who wander will become seriously injured or die, according to research obtained by the Alzheimer’s Association.

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Nursing home resident dies after fall down steps

Early Sunday morning an 86-year-old resident of Kruse Village retirement home in Brenham, , pushed the wheelchair he was riding in out of the sight of nursing home staff and through a security door to a short flight of steps. That’s when police believe he accidentally rolled down the stairs and sustained serious injuries that killed him. While police strongly believe the death was an accident, because he died of unnatural causes they are investigating how and why the accident occurred.

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Man wanders away from assisted living facility

Richard Constable, 66, walked away from his Staten Island and remained gone for two days before staff bothered to call the police, according to the Staten Island Advance. Staff felt the police would respond better the longer the man was missing.

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Assisted living facility owners, sisters arrested for cheating government

Sisters Duanne Bewely, 36, and Fiona Nicolas, 38, worked as a team, running Faith Manor Vermont and Faith Manor Melrose assisted living facilities in south . They marketed themselves as a fully licensed facility and won over the trust of physicians and clinic owners, who would refer patients to their homes. Those health care professionals now say they would have never put patients in the care of the sisters had they known they were lying and cheating the government.

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