Nursing home abuses: Why?
Unsettling reports inspire broad look for what is amiss
By Jeremy Olson
12/13/2008
Following shocking reports of physical and sexual abuse at Minnesota nursing homes, elder advocates and nursing home providers met Friday with one question on their minds.
What are we missing here?
While the abuse incidents don't reflect the compassion of most caregivers, they have state leaders re-evaluating everything from the "moral compass" of nursing assistants to the training they receive and the laws that regulate them.
Nursing homes must at least comply with a 2003 law to train caregivers on the challenges of caring for dementia patients, said Mark Wandersee, executive director of the Elder Care Rights Alliance. Some are going further by conforming their schedules to residents' quirky habits to make them more comfortable and less likely to lash out.
"Elder abuse is where child abuse or domestic abuse was 30 to 40 years ago," Wandersee said. "Nobody wanted to talk about it."
Abridged
SOURCE: Pioneer Press - St. Paul,MN,USA
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