back in 2009 I was working with a teacher from my sister's school to get hours I needed to get my cna certification back. I was assigned to help with a few residents in what was supposed to be a very nice nursing home. One of the residents I was helping with was unaware and unresponsive at all times. She could not move nor speak and while we were sure she could hear she did not have any way of communicating.
So imagine my confusion when I showed up for my shift to see the other person assigned to her packing up this woman's belongings.
I asked what was going on and got that they were kicking the woman out. I wondered if they had said where she was going to go and the other aid explained that she hadn't been told anything but that it was very strange.
I helped pack this woman's belongings and went to help in another room.
About an hour later I checked up on the unresponsive resident only to see the aid back with her looking extremely distressed.
She let me know that they were sending the woman back to her previous address as the prices for the nursing home had risen and her social security checks no longer covered the costs. Since they hadn't been able to get ahold of her family the woman's payments hadn't been covering the full amount and eventually she missed several payments as the money coming in was ate up by late fees and such.
Thing is her previous home had been sold and her family had moved out of state. So they were taking her to the house of a stranger.
I went and reported this to my instructor and told her we needed to call the state board to report this. While I was doing that they packed the woman into a transport vehicle and drove her away.
They left her in a stretcher in the street.
My instructor didn't want to rock the boat because the school needed to keep working with this facility so that her students would be able to get their credit hours.
We got into an argument because I pointed out that if she didn't report it she was also breaking the law as this was a clear case of endangerment.
Our argument attracted the attention of other residents and nursing aids. When they asked what was going on I told them exactly what happened.
Unsurprisingly everyone was upset that the facility has just abandoned a woman who could not move or speak on a street in the middle of summer. It was around 90f out side!
My phone was locked up at the time so I kept badgering the instructor and made it clear I would be reporting the situation first chance I got and I would be naming her too as someone who chose to let this happen.(She kicked me out of her program for this but I did report her to her principal and school board.)
During this a bunch of the residents heard me point out how extremely illegal this was and how dangerous it was. All of the aids were talking to each other. And because they heard me loudly state I was going to report it once I had a phone people started slipping away.
And hour later transport returns with the resident and she is soaked in sweat and red all over. Her aid and I rushed over to clean her and put medicated cream on her skin. While we tried to get fluid in her aid proudly let me know that I reminded everyone that they had the power to help and people started calling the owners, state board, child services even. Two residents proudly told me that they called the police for a wellness check. So many people called and made a scene that the owners scrambled to get the woman back.
A few neighbors who saw the woman dumped even reported them to the police!
The absolute deluge of calls spooked the owners so bad they rushed to get the woman back to the facility before the news found out.
An investigation was started after that. I was told by the instructor that she didn't feel comfortable having me around even though I was right and that she wouldn't vouch that I preformed the hours I worked. I would have to start over with another instructor.
I asked her if she thought the part of the course that says you legally have to report neglect and abuse was optional.
Then I got my money back.
My sister let me know that the Owners of the facility decided to follow the law and got a case worker for that woman who found her family and was able to properly move her into a cheaper facility instead of dumping her on the street at a strangers door.
Which they should have done in the first place.
But packing her up and throwing out in the street was far quicker and cheaper. So that's what they did. Had so many people not fought for her they might have gotten away with that.
I'm not surprised another facility resorted to having that 93 year old arrested. Majority of care facilities are all about money first and the actual residents well being last.
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