My elderly cousin’s nursing home coerced her into changing her will — and selling her house. She was worth millions. Can they get away with this?

by Quentin Fottrell

Dear Quentin,

My wife had a cousin, “Bob,” who was married and had no children. He told her that he and his wife, “Mary,” had made new wills, prepared by an attorney, and that he had made sure that if he died first, Mary would state that my wife would inherit part of their estate.

Here is what happened: Bob’s estate, which was worth several million dollars, passed to Mary after he died. We thought everything was in order so that when Mary passed away, part of her and Bob’s estate would go to my wife. That didn’t happen.

Mary was in her nineties when Bob passed away. She moved into an assisted-living facility, leaving her house vacant. My wife and Mary, who was then 93 years old, had frequent telephone conversations about her health and welfare.

She was pressured to change her will

One day, out of the blue, Mary called my wife and stated that the facility she was living in was pressuring her to change her will and to leave all of her estate to the facility’s trust fund, leaving nothing to her or her late husband’s families.

She asked my wife what she thought she should do. My wife told her that Bob wouldn’t approve of her changing her will, as he had stated that he wanted their estate to go to their distant family members. Later, we called the facility she was living in to inquire about her welfare.

We were told Mary died two months ago. We asked why her family wasn’t notified and were told we would have to talk to her attorney. When we contacted the attorney, we were told that the attorney had attempted to call family members, but none of the numbers worked.

Nursing home received her millions

Mary had the correct phone number for my wife. We asked what was going to happen to Mary’s estate, and the attorney stated she had been granted power of attorney for Mary and had helped her write a new will that left everything to the facility’s trust fund.

We believe Mary was under duress when she changed her will and feel sure there was criminal intent in the way things happened. We contacted the police department in the town where Mary died and filed an elder-abuse case, which the district attorney wouldn’t take.

Unfortunately, Mary’s house had been sold a month before she passed away. We believe that the trust fund and attorney worked together to steal the estate, leaving nothing to family members, and that it’s probably not the first time this has played out involving these people.

Feeling Duped in Texas

“One reason people act so brazenly is because they are betting on your lack of knowledge about the legal system.” - MarketWatch illustration

Dear Duped,

The red flag was the phone call from Mary, alerting your wife to the fact that the management of the facility wanted her to change her will. In an ideal world, you would have called a lawyer then. In an even more ideal world, Bob would have set up a trust before he died.

It’s easy to believe that people who own and run a nursing home or assisted-living facility will respect their duty of care over their clients and patients. They benefit from a halo effect, perhaps because we believe kind, honorable people choose this work as a vocation.

But there are, of course, many bad actors in this industry. Just one example: This nursing home in New York illegally diverted millions of dollars of Medicare and Medicaid funds and covered up reports of sexual assault while its residents lived in squalid and unsafe conditions.

It seems inconceivable that an attorney would cooperate in such a scheme and risk losing their license, unless they too were somehow benefiting. One reason people act so brazenly is because they are betting on your lack of knowledge about the legal system.

Hire an elder-care attorney

Texas law does allow you to challenge a will that was made under duress or undue influence, particularly in a case such as this, where the person with power of attorney and the beneficiary represent the nursing-home facility upon which your cousin’s wife was entirely dependent.

At first glance, you have a very strong case, and you should not allow your experience with the district attorney’s office to deter you. Another thing bad actors are counting on: In Texas, after a will has been probated, there is a two-year statute of limitations to contest it.

“If you believe that there are grounds to contest a will, it’s crucial to act quickly and seek the guidance of an experienced attorney,” says the law firm Texas Probate Litigation. “But contesting or defending a will in Texas is not for the faint of heart. It’s a complex process.”

You’re already feeling helpless and have a statute of limitations hanging over your head. Challenging a will is time-consuming, stressful and sometimes expensive, and you will need to collect paperwork, bank records, a copy of the will and circumstantial evidence.

Talk to an elder-care attorney and explain your case. Some will take your case without a retainer if they believe they have a good chance of winning. The Texas Legal Services Center, the Volunteer Legal Services Free Legal Clinics and others offer services for eligible individuals.

The good news: Your wife is classified as an “interested person,” typically an heir or beneficiary, and as such has the right to contest this will. Don’t allow the brazen actions of this facility or their attorney to deter you. A nursing home “trust fund”? That is immediately suspicious.

Depressingly, rates of elder abuse are high in institutions such as nursing homes and long-term care facilities, according to this report by the World Health Organization. “Abuse of older people is predicted to increase as many countries are experiencing rapidly aging populations,” it says.

Mary was isolated in this nursing home and, rather than being a safe place, she was taken advantage of. Texas, like other states, has a hotline you can call if you suspect an elderly relative is being abused, physically, emotionally, verbally, sexually or financially.

Questions to prove undue influence 

“Demonstrating the presence of undue influence may involve a variety of factors,” according to the Johnson Firm, a law firm based in Texas. “For instance, did the person leave a bequest that seems unnaturally generous to someone in a position of influence?” Yes.

“Was a beneficiary a fiduciary or trusted advisor to the deceased?” Yes. “Were the expected beneficiaries entirely cut out of the estate?” Yes. “Was the testator in a compromised position or weakened mental capacity of any kind, making them susceptible to influence?” Yes.

“Disputing the validity of a will based upon undue influence begins by filing a lawsuit,” the firm adds. ”The case will typically be assigned to a Texas probate Judge depending upon the county in which the case arises. Will disputes may be heard by a Judge or jury in some instances.”

As you say, if they did it once, they will probably do it again, and they have probably done it in the past. Elderly patients’ estates should not be treated like ATMs by caregivers. There are a lot of good, honest and decent people in this industry, but Mary’s experience gives them a bad name.

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My elderly cousin’s nursing home coerced her into changing her will — and selling her house. She was worth millions. Can they get away with this?

2 arrested in Humboldt County on elder abuse charges

By Kevin Sheridan

OROVADA, Nev. (KOLO) - Two people are under arrest in Humboldt County on elder abuse, drug, and fraud charges.

On Oct. 3, detectives with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received information that a 65-year-old man was possibly the victim of financial fraud. After an investigation was launched, it was determined an elderly man was being isolated from his family while being the victim of fraud, elder abuse, and theft.

Police identified two suspects, 56-year-old Dawson Barnes and 36-year-old Savannah Wilson of Orovada.

Around a week later, on Oct. 12, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, along with Nevada State Police, located the elderly man at a residence on South Valley Road in Orovada. Police found the man living in unsanitary and unsafe conditions, in a state of malnourishment, and lacking medical care or personal hygiene.

Further investigation determined he was being isolated from his family for around six months after he was deprived of his cell phone, laptop, and other communication devices. He was taken to Humboldt General Hospital.

A search warrant was subsequently obtained for two separate residences in the Orovada area, which resulted in the seizure of a large amount of methamphetamine, cocaine, stolen property, stolen credit cards and checks, and personal identifying information of the victim, as well as a numerous guns, including a sawed-off shotgun. They allegedly possessed these firearms despite being considered prohibited persons.

Barnes was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Detention Center on charges of abuse of an older or vulnerable person, being a convicted person who failed to register with local law enforcement, possession of a schedule 1 or 2 controlled substance with intent to sell, and eight counts of owning a firearm despite being a prohibited person, among other charges. His bail was set at $258,780.

Wilson was booked and charged with abuse of an older or vulnerable person, two counts of possession of schedule 1 or 2 controlled substances less than 14 grams, and using personal identity information of another to harm or for unlawful purpose, among other charges. Her bail was set at $58,140. 

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2 arrested in Humboldt County on elder abuse charges

Isolated by guardianship

By Mardi Link and Luca Powell

George Pappas and his daughter, Mary Hilliard, in a photo taken in the 1950s and preserved in a family photo album.
Maria Sterlini/Special to the Record-Eagle

BAD AXE — It was June 2021 and by the way she describes it, every bone in Maria Sterlini’s body told her the solution to a family emergency seemed obvious.

Five years earlier, a Huron County probate court judge deemed Sterlini’s cousin, Mary Hilliard, 68, incapacitated because of a mental health diagnosis. In 2016, the judge appointed Hilliard’s elderly mother, Rita Sniecikowski, as guardian.

But then last summer Sniecikowski, 83, was hospitalized, throwing Hilliard’s life into disarray. Hilliard’s family lost control of her care — and have since felt isolated from her.

Sterlini said she wanted to keep her family together, yet at times it seemed to her as if those in positions of authority did just the opposite.

A public guardian and staff with Adult Protective Services supported Hilliard’s emergency placement in an adult foster care home, while Sterlini and another close relative said they thought Hilliard should live with family.

This case came to light last August when Record-Eagle reporters began examining probate court records in 10 Michigan counties, as part of an ongoing probe of the state’s guardianship system.

Reporters learned, among other findings, problems can arise when family members, a judge, and social service agency staff all contend they are acting in the best interests of a vulnerable person, but disagree on what those best interests are.

Hilliard became a resident of Lauren Osantoski’s AFC in Bad Axe on June 9, 2021, and has had scant contact with some members of her family since.

“This doesn’t make sense to me,” Sterlini said. “I don’t understand why the family wasn’t included in this decision. We never wanted her in a foster care home.”

Sterlini said she and Hilliard’s father, George Pappas, of Harbor Springs, can count on one hand the number of times they’ve spoken with Hilliard in the past year.

The public guardian contends the frequency of communication is what Hilliard wants, while Sterlini and Pappas expressed concern the AFC’s phone policy, trauma experienced by Hilliard when her mother was hospitalized or stonewalling by caretakers could be responsible.

Calls to the foster care home by a reporter seeking to speak with Hilliard went to voicemail and were not returned. Osantoski, owner of the AFC home, did not return calls seeking comment. County officials confirmed the facility does not allow individual cellphones, providing instead access to a house phone.

Ashley Kidd, a case worker with Huron County’s Public Guardian office, which now oversees Hilliard’s case, said limited contact is what Hilliard has so far preferred.

“Mary does have all of their phone numbers and she is allowed to call if she wants to,” Kidd said. “She doesn’t always want that communication, at least not right at the moment.”

Pappas, 96, who owns a car and drives short distances but cannot make the 460-mile trip from Harbor Springs to Bad Axe and back, said he last spoke with his daughter in mid-April.

Sterlini and Pappas said they tried to make a conference call to Hilliard on April 24, Greek Easter, a holiday of special significance for the family, who are members of the Greek Orthodox Church. The call went to voicemail and wasn’t returned, Sterlini said.

Pappas is himself no stranger to the control a third-party court-appointment can exert over a person’s life. In 2021, an Emmet County Probate Court judge appointed him a conservator, the decision went awry and continues to be the subject of extensive reporting by the Record-Eagle.

“I feel like Mary has been stolen from us by all these people,” Pappas said, of staff with social service agencies and the probate court. “I can’t even get with her anymore on the telephone.”

Worth saving

Maria “Dolly” Sterlini, 74, lives 130 miles south of Bad Axe in Canton. When Hilliard’s mother was hospitalized, Sterlini, who lives alone, said she’d hoped Hilliard could come live with her.

Sterlini and Hilliard have always been close, Sterlini said, growing up as they did just blocks from one another in a Detroit suburb. Hilliard is artistically talented, Sterlini said, recalling summer afternoons the two spent together, painting and drawing.

“Mary is the most beautiful, heartfelt person you ever want to know,” Sterlini said. “There’s never been a cross word between us. She’s like my little sister. And she’s worth saving.”

Hilliard is one of more than 130,000 adults in Michigan who a probate judge has determined requires help managing their medical, housing or financial affairs and as a result have a court-ordered guardian, conservator or both.

When Huron County Probate Court Judge David Clabeusch appointed Hilliard’s mother as her guardian, he also appointed the county’s Public Guardian, Stephen Allen, as her co-guardian and later, her conservator. Jacilyn Geiger took over in the role when Allen retired in 2020.

Guardians make medical and housing decisions, conservators handle finances, which in Hilliard’s case included $643 in monthly social security disability benefits, records show, and $76 a month from Veterans Affairs.

A court-appointed attorney met with Hilliard on July 6, 2016, court records show, and reported back to the court that Hilliard did not drive, cook or grocery shop, but had easily recited her age, birthday and address.

The attorney said in her report that Hilliard questioned whether her mental health diagnosis was still accurate.

Sterlini said she also has questions about Hilliard’s diagnosis and treatment; annual guardian reports filed in 2017 and 2018 by Sniecikowski state Hilliard saw a psychiatrist twice annually for treatment and prescription medication refills.

Doubly Victimized

Pappas said he feels like his family has been doubly victimized by a system that has long failed to care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Decades of reform attempts by governors, attorneys general and legislators have so far failed to alter the Michigan judiciary, which controls guardianship and conservatorship in the state’s probate courts.

But it is family members and other “persons of interest” — and not the court — who bear the responsibility of making sure appointed guardians and conservators protect the people they are assigned to serve.

Pappas and Sterlini are listed as “persons of interest” in Hilliard’s case, records show, and after APS placed Hilliard in the AFC home, Sterlini fought Hilliard’s guardianship in court.

On Aug. 6, 2021, Sterlini filed a petition in Huron County Probate Court, seeking to have herself appointed Hilliard’s guardian. The court appointed a guardian ad litem who met with Hilliard and reported back to the court, but never met with or mentioned Sterlini, records show, even though Sterlini was the petitioner.

Hilliard attended the Aug. 10, 2021 petition hearing, where Judge Clabuesch asked her where she preferred to live, at the Osantoski home or with Sterlini — who the family knows as “Dolly.”

In hundreds of pages of documents the Record-Eagle reviewed for this story, the transcript of this hearing is the only time Hilliard’s voice was evident.

“The Osantoski home is a — what’s, what is it?” Hilliard asked the judge.

“Right there, where you are,” the judge said.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh. Lauren’s,” Hilliard said.

“Lauren’s,” the judge confirmed. “Do you —”

“I, I, I think I’ll go with Dolly,” Hilliard said.

The judge asked again whether Hilliard wanted to live with Dolly and the transcript shows Hilliard said living with Dolly would alleviate pressure on her mother.

When the judge responded that he didn’t want to know about Hilliard’s mother, he wanted to know which place was best for her, Hilliard said she couldn’t make up her mind.

“All right. That’s fine,” the judge said. “That’s a sign of somebody being incapacitated.”

Sterlini’s petition was denied, court records show, the public guardian retained its appointment as co-guardian and conservator and Hilliard stayed at the AFC home.

Sniecikowski, after being hospitalized, did not return to the apartment she shared with her daughter and, records show, now lives in a nursing home. In October the court removed her as Hilliard’s co-guardian.

A Difficult Spot

In Michigan there are a handful of counties, like Huron, in the state’s thumb, which fund public guardian offices and employ staff to accept probate court appointments. Their jobs are difficult and, records show, frequently underfunded.

A county public guardian is different from a public administrator, which most counties in Michigan have. Public administrators are attorneys who handle estates when there are no heirs on record. The state also has an overall public administrator, Katharyn Barron, who acts as “person of interest” for vulnerable people who’ve been appointed a guardian or conservator, and have no family of record.

“As a county-funded office, we don’t turn down any cases,” Kidd, employed by the county’s public guardian office since 2017, explained. “We are having a growing number of people who are on our caseload and now live outside the county as there’s a lack of appropriate housing available in our area.”

Vulnerable adults the public guardian office is appointed to serve all once lived in Huron County, Kidd said, and many still do, though others are placed in facilities as far away as Rose City (117 miles), Grand Rapids (204 miles), Berrien County (260 miles) and Detroit (113 miles).

A fact Sterlini said makes placement of Hilliard into a sought-after spot in the county, instead of with family, all the more inexplicable.

The county’s public guardian office has a full-time staff of four, Kidd said, who are responsible for the well-being of about 270 people. Kidd confirmed she and others in the office have had repeated communications with Sterlini and Pappas.

“Dolly does have the right to petition the court if she feels there is a more appropriate placement or a guardianship alternative of her being the guardian,” Kidd said, of Hilliard’s case. “I get where Dolly is coming from. We empathize that she wants her family close to her. Unfortunately, it just hasn’t ever gone that way due to Mary’s wishes.”

Kidd said the staff all know Hilliard and see her frequently. Osantoski’s AFC is near the public guardian’s office and Kidd said a dozen other people the office serves as guardian or conservator also live there.

Osantoski’s AFC is one of the only facilities in the area that accepts emergency placements like Hilliard’s, whose situation was first investigated by Adult Protective Services after Sniecikowski expressed concern for her daughter to a hospital social worker.

That doesn’t explain why Sterlini and Pappas weren’t informed, or why faulty information stating Hilliard was in danger of becoming homeless, was included in an APS log documenting the complaint.

Records show Sterlini began communicating with the public guardian’s office in 2019, asking to be kept informed about Hilliard’s care. Pappas said he wasn’t initially informed his daughter was placed in an AFC home, either.

Instead, when Pappas learned his ex-wife was hospitalized and he couldn’t reach his daughter, he called police.

Records show officers from Bad Axe Police Department visited Osantoski’s AFC for a welfare check and found Hilliard safe, happy and in good health. The involvement of law enforcement, however, prompted another alarming entry in the APS complaint log.

This entry, dated June 23, 2021, referenced a call to APS from Osantoski.

“Lauren stated Mary’s dad called her on Friday night,” the entry states. “No one knew she had a father. He called police and had them come out to check on Mary ‘cause Lauren would not release any information.”

If Pappas wanted to speak with his daughter, the APS log states, he had to go through the public guardian.

Kidd said the public guardian’s office is in a difficult spot – Sterlini and Pappas would like Hilliard to live with family, while by law public guardian staff must respect Hilliard’s wishes and according to Kidd, that means staying at Osantoski’s.

“She would do OK in a home setting with family or whatnot, if that was something she desired,” Kidd said, of Hilliard. “She’s been very happy where she’s at. She has not expressed wanting to go anywhere else.”

Pappas previously expressed concern about the care Hilliard is receiving there, and while state records with the Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs show the facility is in compliance, there have also been regulatory violations.

Since October of 2019 the facility has been the subject of six special investigations by LARA licensing consultants – none have substantiated allegations or recommended the facility’s license be reviewed.

“The residents are going to be afraid to tell you the truth for fear of what will happen to them when you leave,” stated one complainant, whose name LARA redacted.

Adult foster care homes in Michigan are required to be licensed by LARA, and many of these facilities draw all or a large portion of their residents from placements by social service organizations, like APS or community mental health.

Previous reporting by the Record-Eagle has found it is common for residents of AFC homes to be appointed guardians, conservators or both. AFC home residents are often elderly, developmentally disabled, mentally ill or struggle with memory issues.

Pappas said last year he was unable to speak with his daughter on Father’s Day, and is hopeful when he calls on June 19, the result will be different.

Pappas kept a tally of his attempts to talk with his daughter, jotting down on a yellow legal pad repeated denials and excuses, including, “we’re eating lunch,” or “It’s Sunday.”

Phone calls are the only way Pappas can communicate with his daughter, he said, since he is unable to drive to the AFC home and, while he sends cards and letters, she doesn’t write back.

“That is something that we have addressed with the home,” Kidd said, reiterating Hilliard has phone numbers of family members and can make outgoing calls if she wants.

Sterlini has continued to communicate with the public guardian’s office. For example, in October she emailed the office to ask whether Hilliard received the hot pink hat, scarf and gloves Sterlini sent to her for the winter.

Last year, during one of several visits a Record-Eagle reporter made to Pappas’ apartment in Harbor Springs, Pappas put the handset for his landline on speakerphone, called Osantoski’s AFC, gave his name and asked to speak with his daughter.

The staff member who answered the phone said Pappas had to call Hilliard’s guardian.

When Pappas asked for the name of the guardian and their phone number, the call was disconnected.

Full Article & Source:

Isolated by guardianship 

 

See Also: 

A guardianship gone wrong 

 

Michigan’s guardianship system leaves vulnerable exposed

Man’s prison conviction for embezzling $300,000 from elderly woman affirmed by higher court

By Marie Weidmayer

MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – A conviction was upheld this month for a man who embezzled $300,000 from an elderly woman.

Gary Edward “Duke” Haynes, 60, was convicted in December 2018 by a jury in Muskegon County Circuit Court on eight counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, four counts of failing to file his income taxes and running a criminal enterprise.

Haynes appealed the conviction to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The appellate judges affirmed Haynes’ conviction in an Aug. 12 opinion.

In February 2019, Haynes was sentenced to between 7 1/2 and 20 years in prison on convictions for embezzlement of $100,000 or more and a criminal enterprise charge. He was sentenced to 30 months to five years on the remaining charges, which will run concurrent to the longer sentence.

The 97-year-old victim of the crime said she was isolated, lost confidence and feared retaliation from Haynes. Before her husband died in 2001, they invested in an annuity.

The case was brought by the office of Michigan’s Attorney General. Haynes met the victim in 2006, when she was 85, at a financial planning seminar he ledk and served as her agent for 10 years. He took more than $300,000 over four years, documents show.

Hanyes argued in his appeal that there was juror misconduct, that his attorney was not effective, that he wasn’t sentenced correctly and that there was not sufficient evidence to prove the victim was a vulnerable adult and that he intended to defraud his taxes.

The appeals court did not find his arguments convincing, per the opinion.

“The evidence in this case was clear and I commend the Court of Appeals for upholding Mr. Haynes’ conviction,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “Prosecuting elder abuse and exploitation remains one of my top initiatives. My office remains committed to securing justice against those who take advantage of vulnerable adults.”

Haynes is incarcerated at the Ionia Correctional Facility and his earliest release date is Aug. 5, 2026, per the Michigan Department of Corrections.

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Man’s prison conviction for embezzling $300,000 from elderly woman affirmed by higher court

A Photographer Captured The Moment A 98-Year-Old Got To See Her Family After A Year Apart

COVID-19 vaccines mean some nursing homes are now reopening, so residents can finally hug loved ones. A series of viral photos captured Yoshia Uomoto's surprise reunion.

 

by David Mack

Staffer Laura Iijima-Schergen guides Yoshia Uomoto, 98, back to her room at Nikkei Manor in Seattle on Tuesday.
Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

It's been a long year for the Uomoto family.

As the coronavirus pandemic raged, nursing homes and assisted living facilities around the world shut themselves off to visitors in order to protect their vulnerable residents.

That meant that for over a year, Mark Uomoto couldn't see his 98-year-old mom, Yoshia, in person at her Seattle facility except through a window.

"It was hard. She was kind of isolated," Mark told BuzzFeed News. "When I saw her through the window, she was just happy to see me and I was happy to see her, but with her being hard of hearing, it was hard to talk."

Yoshia lives at Nikkei Manor, an assisted living facility primarily designed for Japanese Americans. It shut its doors to visitors on March 23, 2020. The tight restrictions helped ensure no residents contracted COVID-19, according to executive director Theresa McLaughlin, but it's still been tough.

"The pandemic has taken an enormous toll on our staff and residents,” McLaughlin said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

Residents there have now all been fully vaccinated — so as of Monday, staff have been allowing families to visit with their loved ones, as long as they still wear masks as a precaution.

Mark, who is also fully vaccinated, said he was surprised on Tuesday when he was informed he'd finally be able to visit his mom in person. "I said, 'Yeah! Let's do it!'" he recalled.

When he arrived, he was told that Lindsey Wasson, a photographer with Reuters, would be on hand to capture their reunion.

Meanwhile, a staff member escorted Yoshia back to her room and told her to prepare for a surprise.

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

 Yoshia closed her eyes, as she was told...

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

And Mark and Yoshia's niece, Gail Yamada, made their way into the room, which Yoshia had decorated with pictures of the family members she hadn't seen for so long.

"The sense of anticipation was really fun," Wasson, the photographer, told BuzzFeed News.

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

Then came the moment of surprise.

Yoshia's face said it all.

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

She truly was surprised.

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

"It was wonderful," Mark said. "Her expression was just seared in my memory — how happy she was."

Photos of the reunion went viral after they were published by Reuters, then shared by NBC News on Twitter on Wednesday.

Mark said he thinks his mom will get a kick out of going viral at 98: "She'll probably laugh and think, Oh, not me!"

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

Wasson has memories of visiting her own grandmother, June Takeshita, when she lived at Nikkei Manor prior to her 2011 death.

"It was definitely nostalgic to be back there for the first time in many years and definitely brings up a lot of feelings of relief for the families," Wasson said. "We are still a long way from the end of the pandemic, but I think it represents a hopeful step towards that direction."

Lindsey Wasson / Reuters

Born in Woodinville, Washington, Yoshia raised two sons with her husband. She was widowed in 1982 but still found happiness with her sister and friends at her church. Mark said she's also been well taken care of at Nikkei Manor since she moved in about a decade ago.

Mark hopes that life continues to normalize for his family and others. He knows how lucky he is to have had the chance to see his mom in person again. The mother of a colleague of his died in a nursing home several months ago before the facilities opened back up. For now, he's counting his blessings — and hugging his mom.

"It felt wonderful. I haven't felt that in over a year," he said. "Knowing I could feel Mom and see Mom, see her smile — it's been a long while."

 

Full Article & Source:

A Photographer Captured The Moment A 98-Year-Old Got To See Her Family After A Year Apart

Ohio starts ‘friendly line’ for lonely nursing home, assisted living residents

By Kaitlin Schroeder

In an attempt to lessen the loneliness of Ohioans in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, Ohio is starting a “friendly caller” initiative where residents can sign up for regular conversations.

The Ohio Department of Medicaid announced it is joining forces with the Area Agencies on Aging and the five Medicaid insurance companies that manage Medicaid benefits to operate the joint “friendly caller” initiative.

In Ohio, nearly 19,000 facility residents have been infected from the virus and and 54% of reported coronavirus deaths in the state are among residents in long-term living facilities. Visitor restrictions to keep the virus out have also limited or canceled time with family and friends.

Residents interested in the initiative are linked through the area agencies with trained callers to share their thoughts, feelings, and memories, or converse on any topics of interest during twice-weekly, 30-minute phone chats.

Callers trained on the UCLA Loneliness Scale – the leading scientific measure in evaluating loneliness – include three questions from the assessment tool to identify residents who may need additional interventions.

“Research shows us that the holidays are an emotionally challenging time for those residing in shared living facilities – a reality exacerbated by months of social distancing and limited interaction with loved ones,” said Maureen Corcoran, director of Ohio Medicaid.

“We also know that depression can accelerate physical deterioration – this initiative gets to the heart of the matter by offering consistent, caring, and highly interpersonal connections that are needed now and throughout the holidays ahead.”

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report found a notable increase in the rate of depression among facility residents due to the pandemic. One in four adults ages 65 and older (24%) reported anxiety or depression in August (a rate that has 2 been relatively constant since March). By comparison, the same study conducted in 2018 found that roughly 10% of this group reported anxiety or depression.

Any nursing or assisted living facility with a minimum of 50 residents receiving services through an Ohio Medicaid managed care programs can participate in the program.

The department said more COVID-19 prevention and intervention strategies will be introduced shortly and follows initiatives already underway, such as vaccine clinics to catch kids up who fell behind on immunizations during the pandemic.

 

Full Article & Source:

Ohio starts ‘friendly line’ for lonely nursing home, assisted living residents

99-year-old woman in quarantine, but nurse went on a spending spree, police say

A 99-year-old woman has remained isolated for months in a Sarasota assisted living facility due to the coronavirus pandemic, but her credit card was being used all over Manatee and Sarasota counties since early July.

According to Sarasota police, a 29-year-old nurse who worked at the nursing home is responsible.

Police say Yolanda Taite made multiple purchases of more than $2,000, including at a liquor store and nail salon.

Detectives launched an investigation in early July after family members of the elderly woman noticed multiple charges to the victim’s credit card, knowing it was not possible for her to be out of the assisted living facility during the pandemic.

Charges were made at local restaurants, clothing stores and retail outlets in both Bradenton and Sarasota.

Detectives began following the trail of expenditures and collected video surveillance of the transactions.

The videos showed Taite and an unknown male suspect in some of the transactions, on her own, with another female, and with a group of children during other transactions.

While making purchases with the unidentified male suspect, he used a credit card of an 85-year-old elderly male who also lives at the same nursing home where Taite worked, according to the Sarasota police report. She was terminated upon her arrest.

According to the arrest report, Taite later used that same card at a nail salon and when questioned about the male’s name on the card she was using to pay for services, told the employee, “It belongs to a guy I take care of,” according to the report.

Detectives say on the video at a local liquor store, Taite is wearing her work name tag.

The name of the facility was not released, but police say Taite began to work there in February 2019. Management told police that Taite had full access to patients’ rooms where credit cards and Social Security cards are accessible.

Taite was charged with two counts of grand theft from a person over the age of 65, and an arrest warrant has been issued for her to additionally charge her with elderly exploitation after a third family has come forward with a similar complaint.

The investigation is ongoing and detectives believe there may be additional victims. A search for the male suspect also is underway.

Anyone with information is asked to call Sarasota Police Detective Jessica Sullivan at 941-263-6070 or call Crime Stoppers at 941-366-TIPS.

Full Article & Source:
99-year-old woman in quarantine, but nurse went on a spending spree, police say

Woman whose mom died of COVID-19 in Crestview assisted living center: ‘What good did it do to keep me out?’

By Wendy Victora

CRESTVIEW -- On a day in early March, Johnnie Kay Ealum and her mom, Patsy Poss, colored pictures together at the assisted living facility where Poss had lived since November.

Poss, who was almost 88, liked to color. She liked it when her daughter sang to her and played the piano. She couldn’t remember how to sing or even her daughter’s name, but she’d hum along and had a new name for her daughter, one she could remember.

She called her “Pretty.”

“To her, I was the probably the most beautiful thing in the world,” Ealum said.

Poss, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 15 years earlier, had been in a slow decline for years.

Pretty would be the last intelligible word Ealum heard her mom speak.

“I love you” and “We can’t give up” were her last sentences, offered during a surprisingly lucid conversation on Mother’s Day.

Both were over the phone as Ealum struggled to maintain contact with her mom after visitors were shut out of Shoal Creek Rehabilitation Center in mid-March. The same thing was happening around the state and the country, as officials struggled to protect the elderly and infirm, particularly those in assisted living facilities.

But in Poss’s case, they failed, Ealum said

Not only did her mother contract the coronavirus, but also lived the last months of her life alone and confused. By the time she died Saturday, she’d lost all connection with reality, spending her days agitated and yelling gibberish.

“What good did it to to keep my mama from me?” Ealum said. “She ended up dying from somebody else giving it to her. I tested negative. I would not have given my mama COVID.

“Somehow COVID got into that facility.”

Ealum had always promised her parents that she would never put them in a facility. She did her best to keep that promise, making sure her mother was cared for 24/7 as the older woman lost the ability to follow simple commands. She poured her tea on her food, sat down where there was no chair and stayed up all night talking.

By late 2019, Ealum knew she could no longer continue to keep her mother safe at home.

Making what she says was the most difficult decision of her life, she placed Poss at the facility in Crestview. Five or six times a week, Ealum drove from DeFuniak Springs to visit.

That decision transformed Ealum from a full-time caregiver back into a daughter. Her mother seemed content. It worked as long as they could still spend time together.

But on March 12, the day after they colored together, Ealum got the call that family members were no longer allowed to visit.

“I didn’t know that was my last time to do anything with her,” Ealum said.

The next months were difficult and frustrating. Ealum tried talking to her mother on the phone, but her mother couldn’t concentrate. They tried Zoom once, but Ealum was confused by it and the nursing home staff had to prompt her responses.

In mid-May, Ealum’s sister, Joy, died unexpectedly. Ealum got the call in the middle of the night and all she wanted to do was talk to her mama. Instead, she called the nurses’s station and sobbed.

“I just babbled to the nurse, ‘I can’t talk to my mama,’” Ealum said. “She said, ‘Honey, I’m the closest thing you’ve got right now.’”

Although Poss was never told about her Joy’s death, Ealum believes she sensed it. From that point on, she spiraled rapidly into full-blown dementia.

It got so bad by the end of May that nurses dressed Ealum in full personal protection equipment and brought her in to try to calm Poss. As she sang, her mother quieted. But when Ealum stopped, and as she walked out the facility’s doors, she could hear her mother wailing again.

She wouldn’t see her again until July 15, the day after her mother’s COVID test came back positive.

By then, there was nothing anyone could do. Nothing left to protect her mother from. Ealum was allowed to visit her mom, as long as she was covered from head to toe in protective clothing.

She held her mother’s hand wearing plastic gloves.

“She opened her eyes to me and she moved her hand and she squeezed my hand,” Ealum said. “I sang to her. I believe she knew I was there.”

Two days later, Ealum went back.

“I told her goodbye. I started down the hallway. I turned around and went back in. she opened her eyes. I told her I loved her and that she was going to be OK, and I was too,” she said. “That it was her time.”

Twenty-four hours later, Poss was gone.

As of Monday, the facility where her mother died had 53 active cases of the virus among patients and another 15 among staff, according to the state’s COVID report.

In the days since her mother’s death, Ealum is grieving the loss of the woman who’d loved to laugh, who’d stayed home to raise five children, who could cook anything and who tried to take care of her husband even after she was no longer able to care for herself.

And she’s angry.

Ealum believes her mother died of a broken heart every bit as much as she died of COVID. She died wondering why she had been forgotten and abandoned. She died without the comfort of human touch and the power of feeling loved.

Poss had long ago signed documents giving Ealum the power of attorney over her affairs, including her medical care.

In those last months, Poss had no voice. She literally couldn’t understand words or speak them. She needed Ealum more than ever, both as her daughter and as her medical advocate.

“I understand the need to protect the elderly. I understand what COVID is. I understand they’re a vulnerable population. There has to be some kind of measure that we take to protect them,” she said.

But that measure should include access to loved ones.

“If they can screen workers and vendors that come and go every day, family members can do the same thing. If our parents are possibly going to get sick and, God forbid, die then what good has it done to protect them behind closed doors?”

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Woman whose mom died of COVID-19 in Crestview assisted living center: ‘What good did it do to keep me out?’

‘I’m Really Isolated Now’: When Elders Have to Fight Coronavirus Alone

“I started crying when I told the seniors we were closing down,” said Judy Zangwill, executive director of Sunnyside Community Services, which closed its senior center except for pickup food service last Friday, ahead of instructions from the city. “I heard audible moans.”

It is a terrible irony of the virus: that for older adults, steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 increase the risks of social isolation, which carries its own devastating health effects. A study by the AARP compared the effects of prolonged isolation to those of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Normally programs for elders aim to increase human contact. Now that contact is potentially deadly.

Nursing homes and assisted-living buildings, by order of the city’s health department, banned visitors — including, in many cases, residents’ private aides. Public libraries, houses of worship, neighborhood cafes — all social spots for elders — are also closed, pushing older people back into what are often lonely apartments: 30 percent of New Yorkers over 65, and 43 percent of those over 85, live alone, according to the Department for the Aging.

Sarah Arico, a regular at Sunnyside’s senior center, said the closing was “very hard to deal with emotionally.” She goes to the center for photography, for exercise classes, for the mental health group and “a good lunch.”

Last Friday, all of that came to a halt. “It is more isolating,” she said. Without the center, she was turning her attention to her dog and to phone calls with friends.

When she picked up food at the center, she said, the staff instructed everyone on line to stand six feet apart.

“Everybody was freaking out.”

But Ms. Arico said that she was making sure she walked outside, using physical activity to bolster her mental health.

“It’s a completely different way of living,” she said. “But I know we are going to get through this. I try to say, nothing is forever, not the good times, not the bad times. We all try to get through.”

As much as the activities and the hot meals, senior centers provide structure in lives that may not otherwise have it, said Ruth Finkelstein, executive director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College. “The way we remember to do something is that it’s tied to something else,” Ms. Finkelstein said. “When that gets disrupted, it disrupts when we eat, which disrupts our sleep, which disrupts whether we take our medications.

“We see this with the way older people experience delirium in the hospital after just a few days of disruption. I’m not saying the current disruption will come to that, but once the disruption starts, it’s very difficult to dam it.”

At JASA’s Club 76 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, run by the Jewish Association Serving the Aging, Stu Lahn said, “My family is being very hard on me because I’m not being as careful as they would want me to be.” Mr. Lahn said he was most disturbed by not knowing what would happen next. He could replace his social activities at the center using the telephone, but the uncertainty made him feel a loss of control, which in older people can be particularly damaging.

“What’s hard is thinking about how long it’s going to last,” he said. “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow — it’s the unknown that’s scary.”

Mr. Lanz, who is 79, normally runs the center’s Monday bingo program with an older woman who survived the Holocaust (she did not feel up to being interviewed for this article). Since the center closed last week, he has been checking up on her by telephone. “I’m wondering at times whether the Holocaust survivors are better prepared than we are for this,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

Stephanie Cacioppo, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, who studies loneliness and social isolation, said that the sense of losing control in the pandemic was both harmful and treatable. Social distance need not lead to social isolation, she said. “You can train your brain like you train your body,” she said.

Caregivers and family members should try to help elders feel in control of the precautions they are being told to take, so that they feel involved rather than punished by the new rules, she said. She also recommended asking about public health crises they lived through in the past, including polio or tuberculosis, even SARS or the H1N1 flu.

Clear information helps; alarmist news programs, on the other hand, can make people feel helpless. In a nursing home or assisted-living building, rumors run wild. “Just having someone giving you an update every three hours, saying I’ll see you later, gives people a sense that there is a future,” Ms. Cacioppo said. “It makes seniors not feel abandoned. They see themselves not as objects, but as contributing.”

Lujira Cooper, 72, said she felt this control slipping away. She goes three or four days a week to the Edie Windsor SAGE Center in Midtown Manhattan, the first full-time senior center for LGBT older adults. The center’s closing was a reversal of the common aging experience: she was staying healthy but the social world around her was unraveling.

Also, she missed the arguing and the birthday celebrations — hers was scheduled for later this month.

“I can clean my house and work on a book I’m supposed to be writing,” she said, “but it’s the missing of talking to people in another setting. I don’t mind being by myself. I mind being forced to be by myself. You can’t go anywhere, you can’t be around people.”

She liked to eavesdrop on people in museums and restaurants — gone. She wondered whether, when the virus receded, people would hug again, or if the practice would disappear. She felt a loss of herself as much as other people, she said. “When you can’t be around people altogether, and people are afraid of catching something, it creates a self-imposed prison.”

Alex Vadukul contributed reporting.

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‘I’m Really Isolated Now’: When Elders Have to Fight Coronavirus Alone

Federal Judge Denies Plea to Release Mom from Guardianship

• The elder Ms. Bush resides in a care center where the Plaintiff Daughter says she is only allowed one paid visit per month for one hour.
• “This legal form of kidnapping is happening in communities across the country, in many cases with little or no recourse available."
• Ms. Bush has appealed Judge Savage’s decision to dismiss and the case is currently pending before the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a forlorn daughter’s pleas for the release of her aging parent from court appointed guardianship. In filing a petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Mary Bush was seeking redress for the right of communication and association with her 89-year old mother Genevieve Bush.

The elder Ms. Bush resides in a care center where the Plaintiff Daughter says she is only allowed one paid visit per month for one hour, which is court ordered to be monitored by a Sheriff and an Adult Protective Services (APS) supervisor.

“The petitioner [Mary Bush] seeks to end her harassment and terminate her mother’s guardianship arrangement,” wrote U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage in his Nov. 18 Memorandum. “Because the petitioner [Mary Bush] is not in custody, she is not entitled to habeas relief. The petitioner, as a non-attorney, cannot proceed with this action on behalf of Genevieve.” 

A Writ of Habeas Corpus is typically reserved for prisoners incarcerated in a penitentiary but in her Oct. 15 Motion for Reconsideration of the federal judge’s dismissal, the Plaintiff Daughter Ms. Bush stated that the goal of her petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus is not just for the release of her mother but to ensure due process under the US Constitution.

“Petitioner Mary Bush filed as next friend on behalf of her mother Genevieve, clearly telling this court that her mother is isolated and has no means to communicate out of her incarcerated situation,” she said.

Ms. Bush’s federal complaint is one of many filed by adult children under various causes of action across the country that are highlighting the emerging downsides of adult guardianship programs, which are designed to help the elderly and people with disabilities to manage their lives. Instead, these programs have been plagued with allegations of neglect, abuse, starvation, over medication, wrongful isolation and financial exploitation.

In response to the increased number of adult children who are crying for federal authorities to intervene, members of Congress introduced HR 4174 on August 7, which is currently pending before the House Committee on the Judiciary.

“H.R. 4174 is definitely a step in the right direction,” said Richard Green, author of Agents of Deceit: The True Story of Life Inside Today’s Chaotic and Dysfunctional IRS, who rescued his own mother from court appointed guardianship in Tennessee. “It provides online resources for guardianships and makes grants for state oversight program that are independent of state courts, which are often corrupt.”

If enacted, HR 4174 would activate protections against elder abuse, exploitation and neglect under court appointed guardianship.

“This legal form of kidnapping is happening in communities across the country, in many cases with little or no recourse available, and recently in Florida directly resulting in a death,” said Florida Congressman Charlie Crist in a joint statement.

 In most American states, it is not uncommon for the elderly and people with disabilities to lose their individual rights around residence, visitation, choice of meals, health insurance, marital status, medical care, assets and property once they become a ward of the State under a guardianship ordered by a state or county Judge.

The plaintiff daughter in this case named Chester County Court of Common Pleas Judge Katherine B.L. Platt as a defendant, alleging that her mother has been allowed to suffer neglect, abuse, improper medical care and treatment.

“Defendant Judge Katherine B.L. Platt cannot provide any legitimate reasons or grounds for the restraint and detention of Genevieve Bush and Mary Bush,” wrote the Plaintiff Daughter in her petition. “This writ thus stands as a safeguard against ongoing imprisonment, loss of rights and liberties of both mother and daughter being targeted in violation of the law and guaranteed rights.”

When asked for comment, Stacy Witalec, spokesperson for Pennsylvania courts and judges, said that no information can be provided.

“Defendant [Judge Platt] has been maliciously inciting public hatred towards petitioner that has resulted in physical attacks, injury, further identity thefts, financial destitution and continued irreparable harm,” stated Ms. Bush in her brief.  “Petitioner can prove that she and her mother have been intentionally targeted by defendant, Judge Katherine B.L. Platt, for cash and property.”

However, the Honorable federal judge Savage ruled that even legal or factual error, personal malice or the performance of an act in excess of jurisdiction will not remove the cloak of the Honorable Judge Platt’s judicial immunity.

“The Defendant [Judge Platt] is protected by judicial immunity,” Judge Savage wrote. “Only when a judge performs a non-judicial act or acts in a “clear absence of all jurisdiction” is the protection of judicial immunity lost.”

Ms. Bush has appealed Judge Savage’s decision to dismiss and the case is currently pending before the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

“Convicted felons have more rights, freedoms and protections,” she said. “Mary and Genevieve Bush have committed no crimes.”

Full Article & Source:
Federal Judge Denies Plea to Release Mom from Guardianship

See Also:
Daughter names Pennsylvania judge in federal suit over elderly mom's guardianship

This is what happened when a lonely 90-year-old wrote a letter to a stranger

This letter came to Marleen Brooks from a 90-year-old neighbor in search of a friend (Marleen Brooks)

This past spring, Marleen Brooks, a 37-year-old property manager in the small town of Park Hills, Mo., came home to find a handwritten letter from a 90-year-old woman she had never met.

It was just a few lines:

Would you consider to become my friend. I'm 90 years old — live alone and all my friends have passed away. I am so lonesome and scared. Please — I pray for some one.

As Brooks read the letter, her eyes teared up. Her own grandmother, who had raised her, had died alone in hospice, which still bothered her. The letter-writer, Wanda Mills, had left an address — a house across the street and a couple of doors down. "I literally, honestly didn't know anybody lived there," said Brooks, who has lived on the street for a year and a half.

The next day, she and a friend brought cupcakes to Mills.

"She was excited that we came over there, and we sat and talked for about an hour," Brooks recalled. Mills, who has trouble walking and uses oxygen, told her that she hadn't left her house in seven years and relies on caregivers who come daily. But they weren't the same as having friends.

Mills had lived in the house for 51 years. Her husband and sister had died, as had one of her sons. Another son lived out of state. It turned out that a third son lived next door but didn't visit often, she told Brooks.

Loneliness and isolation have been shown to have detrimental effects on health, leaving people more vulnerable to infection, cognitive decline and depression. An AARP survey found more than one third of older Americans to be lonely.

Brooks wondered how many others out there were living like Mills, unknown to their neighbors. She took a picture of the letter and posted it on Facebook, urging people to make sure to check on their neighbors  and inviting them to send letters to Mills, and opened a post office box for her.

Marleen Brooks visits Wanda Mills in the nursing home where she moved recently (James Brooks)

Then she had an idea: Why not invite people to write to more people than just Mills? In late April, she started a Facebook group called Pen Pals for Seniors, offering to match participants with older people who want to correspond by mail.

In a little more than a month, around 6,000 people had responded — far more than she had older people for them to write to. "We're still actively trying to find seniors," she said, adding that she has posted fliers and sent letters to churches, senior centers, home health agencies  and nursing homes to let them know about the service. "That's been the hardest part."

So far, around 500 letters have been exchanged. Members include a mail carrier in Ohio who had isolated seniors on her route. Brooks said high school classmates that she hadn't heard from for years have contacted her. Employees at her local post office call her "Pen Pal Girl."

Rosina Ragusa of Hawthorne, N.J., saw the service on Facebook and signed up after her own mother died in July. "It kind of just broke my heart, because I thought, 'What if I hadn't been there for my mother?' " she said. "You just never know who needs a friend."

The act of writing a letter on a piece of paper has brought Ragusa back to her childhood, when she had a pen pal in Japan. "I love it, I love having to sit down and think about what I'm writing instead of the quick responses with a cellphone and a computer."

Georgia Parker, 40, of Dittmer, Mo., corresponds with a woman in her late 60s in Windsor, Canada. Her own mother died two years ago, but "as you go through life and things happen, I want to call my mother and I want to tell her about it. I can write Faye and tell her," she said. "It's good to still have that connection with the older generation."

Another member, D'Linda Wallace of Munsing, Mich., said that in the store where she works, older customers often want to linger and talk. Seeing Mills's letter on Facebook made her wonder how many of them suffered from loneliness and isolation.

"I don't think people are going to always say, 'I'm lonely,' " said Wallace, who has exchanged a dozen letters with her pen pal since she signed up three months ago. "I don't think it's going to be revealed, due to people's pride and stuff, but I think it's more widespread than you would ever know."

Marleen Brooks with letters from members of Pen Pals for Seniors (James Brooks)

A couple of weeks ago, Mills moved to a nursing home; Brooks and her husband and sons  visit regularly. Speaking on the phone from her room there, Mills told The Washington Post that hardly anyone had visited her at home in recent years.

"Neighbors don't neighbor like people used to. Neighbors used to visit each other. But they don't do that there, I don't guess they do anywhere."

In fact, when Brooks initially showed up at her door in response to the letter,  she was surprised.

"I needed friends," she said, adding, "I thought it was nice, to want to help somebody."

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This is what happened when a lonely 90-year-old wrote a letter to a stranger