“We were surprised by that,” says Claudia Hutton with the New York Health Department. “You call the police as soon as you realize someone is missing.” Federal regulations state that the facility must report persons who have been missing for more than 24 hours.

Constable was a resident of Lakeside Manor Home for Adults, a facility that allows residents to come and go as they please. Residents there must be able to function on their own at a basic level but may require assistance with some tasks.

A therapist discovered Constable was missing when Constable was not at the home for a regular therapy session. The police are actively searching for Constable. They won’t say what condition Constable suffers from; however, they do not believe he is in imminent danger.

People who live near the home have made several complaints saying the residents of the home are publicly drunk, urinate on lawns and litter the area with cigarette butts and trash. Many neighbors don’t blame the residents of the home, but the staff there for not keeping up the property.

“It’s the staff; they’re just nasty, miserable people. They don’t care,” says neighbor Anthony Caccamo.

A representative from the health department says the facility likely won’t face more than a citation.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Man wanders away from assisted living facility

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Earlier this week the sisters were arrested and charged with a third-degree felony of one count of operating and/or maintaining an assisted living facility without a license. If convicted, the sisters each face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to All Headline News.

The arrests followed an investigation by law enforcement and Attorney General Bill McCollum’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The unit’s Patient Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (PANE) team also was involved in the investigation.

Earlier this year, the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration sent notices to each of the homes requiring the facilities to close. The women stand trial in the Judicial Curcuit Court on April 17th.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Assisted living facility owners, sisters arrested for cheating government

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Ombudsmen provide a valuable service to the elderly. Not only do they serve as advocates to nursing home residents, they also investigate and resolve complaints and make unannounced visits to nursing homes to ensure residents’ needs are being met. An estimated 40 percent of nursing home residents have no family or friends to visit with or advocate for them.

A spokesperson with Ombudsman Services of Northern California says mandatory reporting of incidents has dropped though the number of residents in the homes has increased – a formula which doesn’t make sense. The group is concerned that the 1,600 northern California nursing homes and assisted living facilities regularly serviced by the program will begin to see a rise in senior abuse.

Instead of visiting assisted living facilities once a month and nursing homes weekly, since the budget cuts ombudsmen visits have dropped to once a year for assisted living facilities and monthly for nursing homes.

According to the report, Assemblyman Dave Jones, (D) Sacramento, has co-authored legislation to restore ombudsman funding. That bill would direct money to the ombudsman programs from fines levied against care home operators who break the law.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › CA long-term care facilities suffer from cuts to ombudsman program

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The man’s wife had had enough. She sought legal counsel and as a result, Elderberry Square is facing a $1 million lawsuit in the severe neglect and abuse of the man, according to Salem-News.

Falls among seniors pose a major medical problem. While many injuries from falls can be minor, others can result in major cuts and bruises, broken bones and head trauma. Some may lead to hospitalization, disability, the need for continuous skilled nursing care, or even premature death. Falls also can have psychological consequences, such as depression, isolation and a decline in physical function due to lack of activity.

This is not the first lawsuit of this nature that Elderberry Square has faced. Two years ago, a similar lawsuit was filed against the home involving an Alzheimer’s patient who was repeatedly left unattended. That patient fell numerous times over a two-week period and soon died as a result of a fall.

While an investigation into both cases by the Oregon Department of Human Services found the charges of neglect to be substantiated, a second review resulted in a reversal of the investigators’ conclusion. Attorneys plan to challenge the finding through an appeal.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Facility facing lawsuits for leaving patients unattended

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This week in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Boston Herald reported that a former nursing home aide was charged with sexually molesting a 62-year-old woman at Sudbury Pines Extended Care who had recently suffered a stroke which had greatly limited her ability to speak.

Despite her condition, investigators were able to interview the woman. She was able to answer yes and no questions and point to various parts of her body. From that, investigators ascertained that nursing aide Kofi Agana reportedly walked into the room of the victim while she was awake and her roommate asleep, and closed the door nearly all the way. He then rubbed the woman’s breasts and pinned her arms down as he touched her genital area. Agana was accused of assaulting the nursing home resident. He pled not guilty and is being held on $500 bond. He also was fired from the facility where he had worked since August.

In the same week just states away, 2 News TV reported that a Nampa, Idaho, man was arrested for sexually assaulting a mentally disabled resident of an assisted living facility where he worked as a case worker.

The accused, Thomas Hamlin, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The victim is reportedly in her 50s. The name of the assisted living facility where the incident occurred is not known, though reports say the incident occurred within the past few months.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Sexual abuse reported at nursing homes, assisted living facilities

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Connie’s grandparents, James and Anne Morgan, had saved nearly $500,000 for their care as they aged. The two moved into a retirement community in 2005 and had turned over power of attorney to their granddaughter. Anne suffered from dementia, and James, who had received a brain injury a few years earlier, was kept heavily medicated by his granddaughter. Connie charged her grandparents $7,000 per month to care for them, though other family members said that care was less than adequate.

During that time Connie had squandered her grandparents’ money away on cars, boats and gambling trips, often lying to her grandparents to get more money. As the funds in their bank accounts began to dwindle, family members began to get suspicious. They moved the Morgans into an assisted living facility, where their social security checks and the state could pay for their care. And they alerted police. When investigators talked with James and Anne, the Morgans defended their granddaughter. But the paper trail was already laid. Connie is now serving time in jail for embezzlement.

The Morgans are just one example of how the elderly are taken advantage of by friends, family and even strangers. Bryan Brock, a deputy district attorney in Clackamas County, says he has seen a dramatic rise in financial abuse among the elderly. Five years ago he used to see only two cases of a year. Now he sees about a dozen per year.

Families of the elderly who suspect financial abuse are advised to contact police with their concerns.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Woman jailed for embezzling from grandparents

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While she was away, a 47-year-old disabled woman had a heat stroke and seizures. She was found around 5 a.m. by another resident who called 911. The woman who had fallen ill was rushed to the hospital, according to the story.

An investigation found that the air conditioning had been out for days at the facility and the temperature in the room in which the woman was found was extremely high, according to an affidavit.

A housekeeper at the home told investigators that Shaw said she was headed to the beach. Another report said she was heading home to get medication. Regardless, she never returned. One resident said that Shaw had played the disappearing act before in her 10-year career at Personal Care II.

An investigation into Shaw’s past revealed she had a history of mental health problems, including bipolar disorder. She, too, had been a resident in an assisted living facility for a decade. She also has previous convictions, one in 1991 for retail theft and 1994 for assault and battery.

Shaw was arrested and faces up to five years in prison for a charge of neglect of a disabled adult, a third-degree felony.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Caregiver leaves 16 unattended at assisted living facility

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Chmura had scooped the ice from the ice bin at By the Lake senior assisted living facility she owns in Hayden, Idaho. She immediately had a suspect in mind – a disgruntled employee who had just joined two other employees in a walkout to protest of a firing of two employees three days prior, according to The Seattle Times.

“I won’t put up with this crap,” Chmura told the newspaper. Chmura opened the facility two years ago.

Chmura contacted Kootenai County officials and informed them of the urine-in-the-bin incident as well as suspected theft and fraud by the former employees. The facility owner accused the former employees of stealing money and prescription drugs from the assisted living center, including OxyContin and hydrocodone. She claims the three made more than $10,000 in credit card purchases for personal items such as groceries and gift cards, restaurant dinners and theater tickets.

She told police that before the walkout, the employees woke up residents and told them the assisted living center was closing and that all employees had been fired.

Chmura is part of an advocacy group that fights for stronger laws against those who abuse and neglect vulnerable adults. The group is credited with triggering the 2005 state legislation that made abusing the elderly a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Disgruntled employee accused of putting urine in ice bin

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Assisted living facilities differ from nursing homes in that they provide less skilled nursing care and in general have fewer state and federal regulations under which they must operate.

Watts is questioning whether there are enough state inspectors to oversee the assisted living homes in South Carolina, placing the most blame on the state Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Mental health advocates and the Sheriff’s Association agree that more needs to be done to ensure residents are well cared for and out of harms way.

Complaints have soared in the area, so much so that the DHEC last month hosted a meeting with home operators, state agency representatives and advocates. DHEC turns blame back on the operators, stating in a Sept. 26 memo that home operators are “often unable to achieve the level of care necessary” to comply with state laws, according to The State story.

A DHEC spokesman says that more inspectors are needed to sufficiently oversee the homes on a regular basis. For the past two years, DHEC has asked the General Assembly for funds to hire more inspectors, but those requests were turned down.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Coroner questions number of deaths at assisted living facilities

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But when Fitzgerald returned 2 ½ hours later, the facility was overrun with firefighters and deputies, according to the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.

While Fitzgerald was out of the building to handle what she later told police was a home health crisis, an 88-year-old woman fell on the bathroom floor. Unable to get up, she asked a fellow resident to call 911. When medical personnel from Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue arrived, they discovered there were no staff members on site and called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office to investigate.

When Fitzgerald returned, she willingly told police she had left a resident in charge. Police then found Vicodin, a controlled substance, in her pocket. Fitzgerald, 60, was booked on one count of abuse and neglect of the elderly, a second-degree felony and one count of possession of a controlled substance, also a felony. Police say other charges may follow. Fitzgerald was jailed with a $12,000 bail.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nurse arrested for leaving 21 assisted living residents alone

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But as Catherine moved into her sunset years at the Lutheran Towers facility in Georgia, she had one regret she just couldn’t shake. She always wanted to graduate from Emory.

National nonprofit organization Second Wind Dreams got word of Catherine’s desire, dressed her in a cap and gown, and presented her with the distinction of being a member of Emory University’s Class of 1028.

For more than a decade, Atlanta, Ga.-based Second Wind Dreams has been enriching the lives of seniors by granting wishes. Many of these residents live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. To date, more than 235 facilities in 40 states, Canada and even India have see wishes granted by Second Wind Dreams.

The organization focuses on individuals living in long-term care facilities or in hospice care. Many of these individuals are without family support or financial resources. Dreams come in the form of motorcycle rides, bowling games, special first dates, and camel rides.

Eighty-six-year-old Virginia from West Virginia, dreamed of conducting a symphony orchestra. Second Wind Dreams arranged for her to take the podium at the West Virginia Symphony.

At a time when more than 90 percent of our nation’s nursing homes are cited for federal health and safety violations, it is rewarding to see an organization dedicated to making the lives of the elderly happy. A dream come true for one person, can warm the lives of many. As witnessed by Second Wind Dreams: “Long after a dream has been fulfilled, the effects linger, giving all involved a second wind.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Second Wind makes seniors’ dreams come true

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When he died, staff told her Mr. Kittower died peacefully in his sleep.

But when Mrs. Kittower received a call the day after burying her husband from an employee at Silverado, she was devastated. The caller said that shortly before Kittower died she saw a fellow employee punch Kittower’s husband’s face and wrap a towel around his head as if to suffocate him.

After an 11-month investigation which included the exhuming of Mr. Kittower’s body, homicide detectives say they have evidence that 20-year-old Cesar Ulloa, who worked in the home, physically assaulted Mr. Kittower in the minutes before and the months prior to his death. Ulloa is being held on $1 million bond and could face charges of elder abuse and torture.

Police also arrested Luis Arrelleano, 21, Juan Soto, 21, and Maria Gomez, 34. The family plans to offer a $10,000 reward for more information about abuse at Silverado.

Silverado officials have not been fully cooperating with the family nor with investigators. Facility officials say that an internal investigation concluded that staff had done nothing improper nor had any connection to Kittower’s death.

Meanwhile, police investigations continue.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › California police investigate elder abuse at assisted living facility

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Joanne now doubts that decision.

Last month, Luveda fell from her bed in the night and pressed her personal emergency call button. The fall caused a two-inch gash on her leg, which bled out on to the floor of her room at Villa Valencia. Nearly fifteen minutes later, a staffer called 911. When paramedics arrived, Luveda was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported today that the family of Luveda has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Villa Valencai and its owner, Sunrise Senior Living Inc. Joanne contends her mother’s death could have been prevented.

According to the story, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services said Villa Valencia would be cited for not filing a report about Luveda’s death within seven days of the incident. The citation will require the facility to submit a report on how it would correct similar problems in the future.

While assisted living patients have similar needs to those in nursing homes, they are governed by less stringent regulations.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Family files wrongful death lawsuit against California facility

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