Eldercare advocate rallies family members to fight for better care
Eldercare advocate Wes Bledsoe stood among nearly 100 residents from Hot Springs, South Dakota last week, and rallied them to take action and change federal and state guidelines that impede speedy reporting of incidents that harm vulnerable elderly in the state’s nursing homes.
The meeting was his second since early last month, when he held a town hall meeting with an audience of more than 200 focusing on recent allegations of sexual abuse of residents at Castle Manor by a nursing home aide at the home. According to family members, it took days for the nursing home to file the sexual abuse claims with the Department of Health, and the accused abuser continued to work at the home for weeks after the initial complaint was made.