"That's six siblings flying into the Boston area at various times from all over the country, checking out perhaps 40 different places, and a constant stream of phone calls and emails among us," Maher says.
"It was even more traumatic and disruptive than the experts we talked to told us it would be. Aside from a death in the family, it was perhaps the most traumatic thing we've ever gone through."
Like Maher, many people find the search for a nursing home for a parent to be gut-wrenching. There are plenty of safe, ethical nursing and retirement homes and assisted-living communities, but there are also ample awful ones.
Horror stories abound of elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes. In recent years, a few homes throughout the country have been cited by public health officials because family members found their parents – usually Alzheimer's victims – with maggots somewhere on their body, often in a wound.
[If]you want to avoid the worst of the worst nursing homes, what should you look for? Here are five red flags.
1. A history of violations. Nursing homes are highly regulated by public and private agencies at the state and federal levels, but there are plenty of bad players in the industry. The good news is that if you do some research online, it's easy to find out if a home has a reputation for substandard care.
2. A number of severe violations. "The key is quantity versus severity," says Diana Pelella, a senior living advisor with A Place for Mom.
3. High staff turnover. If a nursing home is a revolving door for staff members, that could be a telling sign, according to Pelella.
4. The residents lack independence. If your parent has Alzheimer's or dementia, you don't want him or her wandering in and out of the facility. But you don't want your parent in a prison, either.
5. You feel uneasy in your gut. Sometimes, you just know when a nursing home isn't the place for your parent, says Michael Schulman, a member of the elder planning task force for the American Institute of Certified Personal Accountants.
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5 Traits of the Worst Nursing Homes
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ReplyDeleteTo quote Gail Nardi of the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, the head of Adult Protective Services for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia: "only 20%" of adult abuse and neglect occurs in facilities.
ReplyDeleteOnly 20%!!!
No wonder the Commonwealth of Virginia dragged its feet for seventeen agonizing months in shutting down the five dangerous, filthy facilities with 379 victims operated by the notorious Scott Schuett in the Hampton Roads area.
No wonder the two well-paid attorneys for DARS, Amy Marschean, Esquire and Janet James, Esquire, continue to cover up the number of victims dumped into these hellholes by public guardianship programs like Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia.
These sleazy attorneys even had the audacity to claim that it's impossible to determine how many victims are in any particular facility!!!
That's right, we're closely monitoring these public guardianship program to ensure quality of care, but we can't be expected to figure out where these clients actually live!!!
Oh, and we have another meaningless conference to scurry off to .... We'll lecture other sycophants on "person-centered practices" and "supported decision making".... Just don't expect us to get our hands dirty by walking into any of these places with rats, mice, bedbugs, filth, vermin, inadequate food, missing medication, fights, vicious assaults ....
Good for people to know. There are still far too many who turn their loved ones over to facilities thinking everything will be ok because they are unaware.
ReplyDeleteNumber 4 states that you don't want your parent wandering in and out of facility if they have alzhemers or dementia. But you also don't want them in a prison. Well if they are under guardianship many times they are in a prison!!! Probate court needs to stop letting guardians that isolate for no reason!!
ReplyDeleteIsolation is very bad for anyone!!!