Ask Nursing Homes the Hard Questions

Nursing homes will provide you with the grand tour and a beautiful brochure but that is never enough.

People need to ask the hard questions and the questions that nobody ever thinks about until after the fact and then it could be too late.

This is an interesting website that asks the unusual questions but as you read through them, you'll note that they are not so unusual after all. Rather, they are just born from experience.

For instance:
Does the nursing home help residents wash their face every morning?
Does the nursing home help residents to brush their teeth?
What do the residents do between scheduled activities?
What is the procedure during a fire?

These are just a few of the questions that probably are not mentioned in that fancy brochure.

Relatives Can Abuse the Elderly

This is sad: More than 50 percent of family members looking after relatives with dementia admit they have behaved abusively toward their relative.

Although physical abuse was rare, most say they have sworn or screamed at their relatives with dementia who can also be abusive or aggressive toward them. Nobody is proud about their bad behavior. All are frustrated care givers assigned their roles without any training.

The most common form of abuse was screaming or yelling at the person with dementia, then came insults or swearing and then threats of sending the person to a nursing home.

The British study is aimed at reducing abusive behavior in such families. The incidence of such abuse in the United States is not known, since comparable studies have not been done here although there are hotlines for Alzheimer's care givers.

Nursing Home Victim Dies from Peanut Butter Poisoning

A 72-year-old woman living in a nursing home died and her death in linked to the nationwide peanut butter salmonella outbreak. The victim's family is filing a lawsuit against the peanut butter manufacturer.

A 78-year-old male victim also died but it's still under investigation as to the tainted peanut butter was the cause since he had other health problems.

The peanut butter salmonella outbreak is focused on the peanut processing plant of Peanut Corporation of America's Georgia arm. It affects numerous products far and wide that are sold to consumers.

Consumers with questions should view the FDA website for the latest recall information.

Nursing Home Risks: Bed Rails

The elderly are at risk for many bad and inhumane conditions at nursing homes.

A risk that you not be aware of is bed rails. You would think this device of sorts would help them by not falling out of the bed but since 1985, more than 700 elderly people have been seriously hurt or killed from bed rails.

What occurs?

Bed rail hazards are considered entrapment.

Entrapment occurs when a person's head or other body part gets caught between the bars on the side rail.

Entrapment happens in the space between the rail and the mattress. An elderly or disoriented person may get his or her head stuck in this space which can be fatal.

Entrapment occurs between the mattress and the bed rail. So, when a person rolls over, she does not fall out of bed but instead gets stuck in the space between the mattress and bed rail. An elderly or sick person may lack the strength to free herself and her cries for help may be muffled if her head is face down in the gap between the mattress and the bed rail.

Entrapment occurs under the end of the rail because of a design defect that has the bed side rail raised off of the mattress.

Entrapment happens when bed rails are not continuous on the same side of the bed. Instead, the rail has two or more distinct parts and there is a gap where they come together.

There is often a significant gap between where the rail ends and where the headboard or footboard begins. This is another area where people become trapped. Mattresses that do not properly fit a given bed can create gaps where a person may become trapped resulting in injuries that are similar to those created by bed rails.

In conclusion, there are too many different ways for a elderly person to become entrapped in a bed with a side rail.

Nursing Home Abuse in Pennsylvania

Oh, to be old and mentally unstable in a Pennsylvania nursing home.

A 94 year old woman with Alzheimers Disease was physically and mentally and routinely abused by five employees in a Pittsburgh Pennsylvania nursing home.

According to a criminal complaint, five former employees have been charged with abuse and assault. At least one of the former employees has a prior record for assault. One employee stomped on the victim's foot. The suspect returned a few minutes later and struck the victim with her hand.

The five employees were immediately suspended without pay, and the County Police launched a full investigation. As soon as they were arrested and charged, the employees were terminated.

Blogger's note: Is there some kind of state database that would collect the names of these five employees and store them so when they go to apply for a similar job of taking care of the elderly or people in need, they are not hired. Once an abuser, always an abuser.