For Albert Lea nursing home, an ordeal of shame, angst
It's been a rocky seven months at the facility in Albert Lea, where reports of abuse have led to soul-searching and new procedures.
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: December 11, 2008 - 2:31 PM
Nursing director Renae Peterson returned from a police interview, stepped into her boss' office at the Good Samaritan nursing home and "collapsed, sobbing like a 2-year-old.''
On that day in May, Good Samaritan administrator Mark Anderson knew "it wasn't just a wild story'' -- an incredible tale told by an aide as she was being fired for swearing in front of residents.
Now he had reason to believe what the aide alleged: that a group of women ages 17 and 18 had for months taunted residents who had dementia, abused them physically and sexually, made them scream during the night shift -- then laughed.
"I had thought: This has to be a lie or at least a huge exaggeration. This just couldn't be," Anderson recalled in an interview Thursday.
The police interviews in May were the start of a seven-month ordeal of shame, soul-searching and self-examination at the Albert Lea facility.
They already have triggered changes in the way aides are assigned and supervised at Good Samaritan -- part of the nonprofit Good Samaritan chain based in Sioux Falls, S.D. -- and at others across the state.
They have also started a debate among regulators, industry professionals and scholars about whether Minnesota needs stronger regulation of nursing home aides. More than half the states, for example, already set a minimum age of 18 for certified nursing assistants; Minnesota's minimum is 16. Some are asking whether Minnesota should increase the required training of such aides above the 75-hour federal minimum -- or take other steps to ensure frail, elderly patients are treated with dignity.
There's no question that some sort of abuse occurred. The only question is whether it reached the level of a crime.
The angst at "Good Sam" didn't end Monday, when the Freeborn County attorney filed criminal charges against two aides, Brianna Broitzman, now 19, and Ashton Larson, 18, and charged four others as juveniles.
1. What do you think possessed the abusers to do this since abuse is usually possessed by power?
2. How do you think abuse in Nursing Homes or Assisted livings can be further prevented?
3. If you were in the Nursing Director's position, what would you do?
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I don't really know what possessed them to do this other than the fact that it must have been "a cool" thing to do. I think this is terrible but it could have happened any where. I am sure many abuse cases like these have been life unreported. If I would in the Nursing Director's position I would do the same thing. I would try to get it so that you do not hire anyone under the age of 18 so they have matured a little bit more. Also it could help the fact that they should know a little better right from wrong. It is very hard sometimes to determine abuse in nursing homes or assisted livings but i know there is a vulnerable adult act that the employees are informed about constantly.
ReplyDelete1.I believe that they felt that they had the power over them that they were in control of the situation. The abusers like feeling the power that they had and for the fact that they would not remember their horrifying experience with the aides that gave them more power to keep doing this multiple times.
ReplyDelete2.To prevent abuse in nursing homes or assisted livings I think that they should monitor their staff closely, have many education packets for the staff about the laws out there. The staff should have numerous updates on that because if it is going on in a facility not only would the abusers know but someone else would to, like in the situation in Albert Lea.
3.I would automatically fire them, also have authority take charge of the situation.
I don't even know where to start on this topic. It literally makes me sick to my stomach knowing that people can to that to the elderly. I got my CNA when I was 15 years old, and then started my first job as soon as I turned 16. I do not think age has a factor in who would possibly abuse the elderly. I also worked as Good Sameritain for 2 1/2 years in highschool. I know exacty what goes on in nursing homes, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I could tell a million stories about cases of abuse I have seen; ranging from an aid hitting residents, to aids that let residents sit in their own shit because they don't want to clean it up (this neglect happened yesterday acctually). People that have done this in NH that I've worked at ranged all ages and amount of experience. I think the best thing the nursing homes can do is fire those who do these things. The question asked why would they abuse the elderly, the answer is power and by humiliating a vunerable person that makes them feel powerful over that person. And lastly the aids in the news story should be charged with a crime and never allowed to work in health care again.
ReplyDelete1. What do
ReplyDeleteyou think possessed the abusers to do this since abuse is usually possessed by power? I think that power has a lot to do with this, and I also agree with Erica, what gave them even more power was that the elderly people wouldn’t remember the incident. In addition even if the elderly people did remember the incident it is so far out there the question would be would people even believe them ( I hope they would), but these incidents are unbelievable in a sense. It is hard for me to think that someone would actually do this. Another fact that I think gave the individuals who did this even more power, was that they new their clients were helpless, and were unable to defend themselves against abuse.
In addition I think another question that should be asked is were the individuals who did these horrible things abused themselves at some point in their lives. As we talked about in chapter 11 those individuals who are abused at some point in their lives are more likely to abuse other people.
2. How do you think abuse in Nursing Homes or Assisted livings can be further prevented? As far as the debate of how old someone should be to work in a nursing home goes, I don’t think this is a huge factor in determining whether or not someone will abuse their clients, but I do think that staff should be 18 years old because hopefully they are a little more mature. Another thing that I think would help prevent abuse in Nursing Homes is having staff work with different staff (not the same people working together all the time), because perhaps the other staff would pick up on any signs of abuse.
3. If you were in the Nursing Director's position, what would you do? I would feel extremely embarrassed and helpless that this happened.
I think this is absolutely sick. I work in an assisted living home and could not imagine such a thing could be done to the elderly. There is no reason for it. think that what probably possessed these girls to do this is that they know they are in a power over these weak elderly people and probably thought they would get away with abusing them.
ReplyDeleteI think these kinds of things could be prevented if there were cameras put into nursing homes. I don't think they can be in the residents room but at least in the common areas and hall ways.
If I were in the Nursing Director's position, I would fire these girl for one thing but also see if I could press charges against them. They should be punished for this kind of behavior, no doubt about it.
It is really hard to say what might have possessed them to do such a thing, but one idea that comes to mind is that they just felt they could get away with it, but it obviously shows no compassion at all for the elderly. It is so hard to understand the horrible behavior of these girls and their disregard for an elderly person, especially someone who is so defensless. These girls should be charged with a crime and prosecuted. It is abuse. It is hard enough for people to get through old age and illness without their caretakers making it even worse for them. Not to mention the fact that these individuals and their families often are paying a great deal of money for their elder loved one to be cared for. It is just hard to understand how anyone could do this. We need to have laws that will prevent anything like this from happening again.
ReplyDeleteI dont think its within our capacity as people who wouldn't commit these crimes to even begin to understand what would cause someone to commit them. Though obviously there's a variety of possible reasons: family history of abuse, mental illness ect. The thing that strikes me as the most likely is the relation to the Phillip Zimbardo (most likely butchered the name) experiment where sane individuals when placed in a position of undeniable power would act in ways that denied their values/principles ect.... obviously when someone is depending on you for survival, as many health care recipients are, power is present to the extreme. Everyone involved should be prosecuted to the inth degree, if there's one thing I don't agree with(there's many actually) in our legal system, its the leniency given to minors
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