Can Nursing Homes Learn From Jails?

Why in the world would I suggest the the people who are responsible for the care of our most vulnerable take a lesson from those responsible for most violent? The answer has to do with how nursing homes keep track of their residents.

Call it wandering, eloping or just escaping, there are reports of nursing home residents who have wandered from their facilities to their death without the facilities knowledge. When nursing home residents leave their safe and familiar facilities thay are at the mercy of a world unaware of each residents needs. Two cases highlight the need for nursing homes to take notes from the jails in the way they monitor residents, staff their facilities and implement basic safeguards to minimize the risks of missing residents.

In Chicago, 89 year-year-old Sara Wentworth was a resident at The Arbor of Itasca, a Chicago-land nursing home when she walked out a door and into a wooded area. Hours later, staff found Ms. Wentworth's dead body just a short distance away.

In Ohio, an 87-year-old resident wandered from her facility and into a nearby road where she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. The woman's body was found on the side of the road by local drivers. The woman had similar wandering episodes prior to this incident.

Perhaps the nursing home administrators should take a page from the wardens and other administrative staff of our correctional system? An out of place inmate poses a risk to other inmates in the jail and to the public at large. In a jail setting, an inmate who is known as an escape risk will also likely get increased supervision.

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Can Nursing Homes Learn From Jails?