According to police reports, the nursing home workers held down residents, put their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their screams and cries for help, hit and rubbed their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humped” the residents. It was all done as some sort of sick on-the-job entertainment, according to coworkers’ reports.

The attack-for-thrills case has made headlines across the country and spurred the creation of an advocacy group for called Families Against Nursing Home Abuse. The group is made up of family members of victims. Jan Reshetar and Myrna Sorensen are the co-founders of the organization and have started their own blog, which can be found at FamiliesAgainstNursingHomeAbuse.Blogspot.com.

“It’s been over one year since we first got the phone call that Mom ‘may or may not be a victim of what may or may not be abuse,’” the daughter writes in her first entry, which tells the gripping story of how she copes with the realization that her mother was among those targeted by the nursing aides. “I question things now. I question what kind of world we live in. I question respect. I ask how we have lost respect for the people in their care; for each other.”

It is up to the judge to decide if the statements made by Broitzman’s coworkers can be used against her and if there is enough evidence to take the case to trial. Meanwhile, the families of the victims, such as the founder of Families Against Nursing Home Abuse, will fight for justice: “I think. I question. I wonder. I wish. I advocate. I pray. Tomorrow, I will pick up where I left off today. I will make the phone calls. I will write the letters. I will work for policy, procedure, training and laws that will help the elderly.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Judge to decide if nursing aide abuse case goes to trial

But no one was laughing when the reports went public and lit up news media across the country. Two aides now face at least 10 charges, and family members of residents who were victims to the crimes have come together to raise awareness of elder abuse and advocate for reform in long-term care facilities across the country. The group, which has held town hall meetings about the Albert Lea incident, is called Families Against Nursing Home Abuse.

The group is now gathering more supporters through social media. It has pages on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Some members have videos on YouTube, and one writes a blog.

“We’re trying to get the community involved,” says Jan Reshetar, co-founder of Families Against Nursing Home Abuse. “We’re trying to get the attention of our local people.”

Reshetar writes in her blog about her experiences as a family member of a victim of the horrible crime at Good Samaritan Society. “How I long for the days before that, when I was in total ignorant bliss, where I lived in a naïve world in which people took care of one another, and would not intentionally hurt anyone; especially someone so vulnerable as Mom,” she writes. She continues to say that the organization “is trying to get the community to understand that changes in policy procedure and law have to come or this is what we can expect all our last years on earth to be.”

Source: Albert Lea Tribune

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Families of nursing home abuse victims speak out using social media