Life and Death in Assisted Living (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE PBS | Official
2,468,216 views Jul 13, 2022 #AssistedLiving #Documentary
More and more elderly Americans will be faced with the decision as to whether to spend their later years in assisted living facilities, which have sprung up as an alternative to nursing homes. But is this loosely regulated, multi-billion dollar industry putting seniors at risk? (Aired 2013) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: http://www.pbs.org/donate.
In this major 2013 investigation with ProPublica, FRONTLINE examines the operations of the nation’s largest assisted living company, raising questions about the drive for profits and fatal lapses in care. Assisted living started in the 1980s as a reaction to nursing homes, which had become more oriented toward hospitalization, and as a way of offering seniors more choices and more independence in the way they live. But over the years, assisted living has evolved to house seniors who need specialized care, such as those with memory impairments. That means that people have more needs, require more attention — and, some senior advocates argue, more or better regulations to ensure that the residents are safe and getting the quality of care they need.
CHAPTERS: Prologue - 00:00 The Rise of Assisted Living - 01:20 Dementia, Alzheimer's & Memory Care - 10:22 Questionable Deaths in Assisted Living Facilities - 15:55 Assisted Living Employees Speak Out - 24:23 “This is About Everyone who has Alzheimer's or Dementia” - 30:50 A Lawsuit Against Emeritus - 42:15
FRONTLINE PBS | Official
2,468,216 views Jul 13, 2022 #AssistedLiving #Documentary
More and more elderly Americans will be faced with the decision as to whether to spend their later years in assisted living facilities, which have sprung up as an alternative to nursing homes. But is this loosely regulated, multi-billion dollar industry putting seniors at risk? (Aired 2013) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: http://www.pbs.org/donate.
In this major 2013 investigation with ProPublica, FRONTLINE examines the operations of the nation’s largest assisted living company, raising questions about the drive for profits and fatal lapses in care. Assisted living started in the 1980s as a reaction to nursing homes, which had become more oriented toward hospitalization, and as a way of offering seniors more choices and more independence in the way they live. But over the years, assisted living has evolved to house seniors who need specialized care, such as those with memory impairments. That means that people have more needs, require more attention — and, some senior advocates argue, more or better regulations to ensure that the residents are safe and getting the quality of care they need.
CHAPTERS: Prologue - 00:00 The Rise of Assisted Living - 01:20 Dementia, Alzheimer's & Memory Care - 10:22 Questionable Deaths in Assisted Living Facilities - 15:55 Assisted Living Employees Speak Out - 24:23 “This is About Everyone who has Alzheimer's or Dementia” - 30:50 A Lawsuit Against Emeritus - 42:15
===
===
Transcript
Search in video
Prologue
0:05
>>Tonight onFrontline, assisted living is home to almost a million Americanseniors, and it's a billion-dollarbusiness.
0:12
>> When the baby boomers starthitting, we're looking to service thatdemand as it continues to grow.
0:18
>>Seniors are payingsky-high prices out of their own pockets. >> You can charge $5,000,$6,000, $7,000 a month.
0:25
>>Over the last year,Frontlineand ProPublica have been investigating thisgrowing industry.
0:31
>> You don't have to worry aboutfederal government rules and regulations like you have towith a nursing home. >>And the country's largestassisted living company.
0:39
>> They did not have thestate-required training, they didn't have theEmeritus-required training.
0:44
>>And examining the care thisfor-profit chain provides to tens of thousandsof seniors.
0:50
>> The biggest thing I alwaysheard was, "We need 100%. Fill the building, 100%." >>Correspondent A.C. Thompsoninterviews insiders
0:56
who are telling their storiesfor the first time. >> Did you worry, "Hey, I've gotan impossible task here.
1:04
I could do something that leadsto somebody's death"? >> All the time. >>Tonight onFrontline,"Lifeand Death in Assisted Living."
1:11
>> The head of the statelicensing agency told me, "Assisted living is the rock wedon't want to look under." .
The Rise of Assisted Living
1:35
>> A.C. THOMPSON: So this is1940, is that right? >> Yes, this was thechampionship game. >> Oh, look, there he is.
1:43
>> There he is. >> Carrying the ball. That's daddy, number five. >> Right in the middle,with his curly hair, yeah.
1:49
>> THOMPSON: Is that him? Right there? >> Yes, he's got the ballright there. >> There he goes.
1:55
>> Yeah, he just interceptedthat and now is just running and making his way throughand just scored. >> Scored a touchdown.
2:00
>> I believe this is when theyscored... the score was 73 to nothing. >> It was a game that Daddytalked about the most, I think.
2:07
>> THOMPSON: George McAfeehad a remarkable life. In the 1940s and 50s, he was thestar running back for the Chicago Bears.
2:16
He won three NFL championshipsand was inducted into the Pro FootballHall of Fame.
2:22
>> He didn't really talk aboutthat that much. In fact, our mother wanted toplace plaques of his in our den,
2:32
and the only place he would lether put them was behind this door so that when the doorwas open, you couldn't see them.
2:38
>> THOMPSON:I see all these photos and he seems like he's justloving his later years.
2:45
>> He enjoyed being aroundhis family. He would just light upwhen he saw the grandkids,
2:50
the great-grandkids. >> THOMPSON: But in his 70s,
2:56
George became one of the morethan five million Americans suffering from dementia.
3:01
>> I guess we first startednoticing that there were some changes in Daddy'sbehavior.
3:07
He would go to the bank and hecould get there, but once he got there,he couldn't remember
3:12
why he was there. >> THOMPSON: His daughters begansearching for a facility that could care for him.
3:19
They chose Cypress Court,an assisted living home that charged more than$4,000 a month.
3:26
>> When I saw the Court,a couple things impressed me. The residents were freeto access the outside
3:33
and walk or sit. I thought we had just struckgold as far as a home for him.
3:42
>> THOMPSON: But then thefacility was bought by the Emeritus Corporation,a nationwide chain.
3:49
The sisters say they beganto see changes. >> His room would be dirty andhe would just be unkempt,
3:55
like he hadn't showered. >> I know for a fact that hissheets weren't being changed.
4:01
His laundry was not being done. I would come home with hislaundry, do his laundry myself.
4:07
I would clean his room. Many times when I would go over,he looked like a dirty old man.
4:16
. >> THOMPSON: One night, Georgeleft his room
4:22
and went wanderingthrough the facility. Records show that for almosthalf an hour,
4:27
there was no one on duty in hiswing of the building, and workers had failed to lockaway a bottle
4:33
of industrial strengthdishwashing liquid. At some point that night, Georgepicked it up and drank it.
4:40
. It contained a highly causticchemical
4:47
which severely burned his lips,esophagus and lungs. .
4:56
>> When he was in the hospital, his face almost looked likewhat you picture in a horror storyof a death mask.
5:05
And I hope that he wasn't awareof what was going on, but we certainly were afraidthat he was just in
5:13
horrific pain because he wouldalmost try to sit up...
5:18
>> Well, one time he did sit up. >> He did sit up. >> And opened his eyes, yes. >> And we said,"Daddy, we're right here."
5:28
>> THOMPSON: The hospitalcouldn't save George, and on March 4, 2009, he died.
5:33
.
5:41
The state of Georgia foundEmeritus negligent in George's death. The sisters sued the companyand settled with them.
5:50
Now, for the first time,they're speaking publicly. >> He suffered a horrific death,and our children saw it,
5:58
our husbands saw it, we saw it,and...
6:04
>> I remember just sitting byhis bedside praying that God would just go aheadand take him,
6:10
because he wasn't goingto get any better and I just felt like he wassuffering so horribly.
6:18
>> THOMPSON:After your father died, the state did an investigation,and the state said, "We're going to fine thisfacility $601."
6:29
>> Well, in my opinion, I think they just got a slapon the wrist.
6:36
And I've said all along, hadthis been a daycare facility
6:42
that, where a child died, theplace would have been shut down,
6:48
and to only get a fine of $601,I just think is outrageous.
6:55
>> It means nothing. Nothing.
7:00
>> THOMPSON: The EmeritusCorporation is headquartered here in Seattle, Washington.
7:05
We asked the CEO, Granger Cobb,about what happened to George McAfee.
7:11
>> The incident with... The tragedy, I should say, withMr. McAfee was devastating
7:16
for all of us, and it was asituation, it was human error.
7:24
We had a staff member thatfailed to secure a locked cupboard.
7:33
Mr. McAfee got access to thisdishwashing liquid, drank it and had absolutelytragic results,
7:41
and our heart goes outto the family. When you're dealing with thismany residents,
7:47
particularly a population thatcan have unpredictable behavior
7:54
or is frail and is kind of ahigh-risk population
8:01
to begin with, we will havesituations from time to time,
8:07
but they are the vast,you know, minority. I mean, it is reallythe exception to the rule.
8:14
>> Welcome to Emeritus, where you'll find allthe comforts of home.
8:19
>> THOMPSON: Cobb heads acompany that has long been at the forefront of the assistedliving industry.
8:24
>> You can teach the skills,but you can't teach the passion. You have to have a passionfor seniors.
8:31
>> THOMPSON: Assisted living wascreated to offer seniors who could no longer live ontheir own a more home-like environmentthan nursing homes.
8:39
And since most facilitiesoffered little or no medical care,they were loosely regulated.
8:45
>> Seniors can enjoy theirgolden years to the fullest. >> THOMPSON: Assisted livingblew up in the 1990s.
8:51
It grew very rapidly. Do you think that companies wereattracted to this sector
8:56
of senior care because it hadless regulation than nursing homes? >> Oh, I'm sure,
9:03
and particularly the for-profitcompanies. When you look at the system, you don't have to worry aboutfederal government, you don't have to worry aboutrules and regulations
9:10
like you have to with a nursinghome, for example, and you can charge whatever themarket can bear. I mean, if there are people whoare willing to pay $5,000,
9:17
$6,000, $7,000 a month for care,you can charge that, and there's no limitationon fee increases.
9:24
>> THOMPSON:With those kind of prices and the enormous cash flowthey generate,
9:29
Emeritus has been embracedby Wall Street. The company's shares trade onthe New York Stock Exchange.
9:37
Last year, it took in nearly$1.6 billion in revenue. >> (cheering)
9:45
>> THOMPSON: And with the babyboomers starting to retire, Emeritus is looking to groweven bigger. >> So the 75-plus demographicis growing
9:53
by about 400,000 individualsper year, so there's this increasingdemand.
10:00
And frankly, out 15 years whenthe baby boomers start hitting,
10:05
it's going to grow by a milliona year. And so there's this huge demandthat is already here,
10:10
and on the horizon,is going to increase. And I think that, you know, whatwe're looking at
10:19
is to be able to service thatdemand as it continues to grow.
Dementia, Alzheimer's & Memory Care
10:25
>> THOMPSON: But increasingly,that demand has been coming from seniors with complexmedical problems.
10:33
>> When we were trying to figureout what assisted living is or was, I had this image
10:39
that it was apartment-stylebuildings where people had a lotof independence,
10:45
they didn't need a lotof assistance. >> THOMPSON:Catherine Hawes studies the assisted living industry.
10:51
>> Then we did the firstnational study, and of course that wasn't whatassisted living was. People showed up in wheelchairsand walkers.
11:00
It wasn't the well elderly whoare out golfing, you know, on the weekends.
11:05
And, you know, there was thisbig, "Is there a parking placefor every resident?" These are not peoplewho can drive!
11:13
And there were these spiralstaircases, which no one ever uses.
11:19
Because if all you need ishospitality, you don't leave your home.
11:25
Most of us want to stay in ourhome as long as we can. >> THOMPSON:In her study
11:31
for the Department of Health andHuman Services, Hawes found that whileresidents in assisted living didn't have as many physicallimitations
11:38
as people in nursing homes, many suffered from Alzheimer'sand other forms of dementia.
11:45
>> When you go into assistedliving, you see a lot of cognitiveimpairment.
11:51
So there's a lot of early memoryloss, short-term memory loss, a lot of impaireddecision-making.
11:58
>> THOMPSON: Newer researchshows that the number of residents with dementia israpidly increasing.
12:04
>> We found that abouttwo-thirds at any point in time have dementia. So the majority.
12:10
The implications, therefore, areanybody who operates assisted living needs to knowthat dementia is the major player.
12:17
It's the major condition thatleads to people living there. >> THOMPSON: To meet the growingdemand for dementia care,
12:25
Emeritus has been opening memorycare facilities across the country. >> Understanding how Alzheimer'sdisease affects the brain...
12:32
>> THOMPSON: But thoughresidents now need much more care, assisted livingremains loosely regulated.
12:37
>> ...the overall needs of eachresident. >> We pretend assisted livingfacilities are not medical facilities.
12:45
They're non-medical. And yet, the people who are inthese facilities today have acute medical needs.
12:51
The same people who are inassisted living today are the people who were innursing homes ten years ago.
12:58
And this is not to say that allthe facilities aren't prepared to deal with them, but I'd saythe overwhelming majority
13:04
certainly aren't prepared todeal with that. >> THOMPSON: Emeritus invited usto come to one of their facilities in SanDiego.
13:13
It has a "memory care unit"where seniors pay upwards of $5,000 a month to live.
13:18
>> Five, six, seven, eight! >> THOMPSON: So we're in thememory care unit,
13:24
or memory care community. >> We call it the memory careneighborhood. >> THOMPSON: Memory careneighborhood, in Carmel Valley.
13:31
>> THOMPSON: Kelly Scott runsEmeritus's memory care program. >> So this is our program, we call it our Join TheirJourney Program,
13:37
and this is where we're caringfor folks with dementia. And it's really a specializedprogram to meet their needs.
13:44
We find out a lot about who theyare as individuals, and then the day is set uparound what is purposeful
13:49
and meaningful to them asindividuals. >> 10:30, 350...
13:56
>> THOMPSON: But some questionwhether memory care units like this one provide enoughcare. >> Has anyone got a shovel?
14:01
>> You're going to have a memory care unit. That's a good marketing toolfor families.
14:08
A: there's demand and you'retrying to keep occupancy up. B: you can charge morefor memory care.
14:14
I mean, all you've really doneis created rooms around a courtyard, but still,that's nice,
14:20
and it's much safer. But then they say they've gotstaff who are trained to do
14:27
memory care, and that's where itstarts to kind of fall apart, because the staff are generallynot well trained
14:35
to do dementia care. >> THOMPSON: Lay out for me,if we're here in Carmel Valley,
14:40
we're at your facility, what would the typical trainingconsist of for somebody in this facility?
14:48
>> Who's working particularlyin memory care? >> THOMPSON:In the memory care unit. >> For our staff that works inmemory care,
14:54
they're going to go through whatwe call General Orientation, which everybody in thecommunity would go through, and then we have an eight-hourclass
14:59
that's the Join Their Journeyclass, and that's really wherewe cover everything from disease process to how weserve a meal
15:04
slightly differently to folkswho have dementia, to how to engage, how toapproach, how to communicate, you know, overcoming somecommunication barriers at times.
15:13
>> THOMPSON: So the eight-hourintro is sort of the minimum. >> That's our company standardis going to be the eight hour. >> Eight hours? That's nothing!
15:22
Who's going to explain,"This is what the disease is, "this is the impact that it hason people's physical health
15:30
and on their behaviors." You've got to know how tointerpret nonverbal cues
15:35
that something's going on withthis resident, because they can't tell youverbally, you know,
15:44
in the same way that atwo-year-old can't tell you or a one-year-old. I mean, you've got to doa lot of training
15:51
for memory care units. You can do great care. You've just got to know how.
Questionable Deaths in Assisted Living Facilities
15:59
>> THOMPSON: For the past year,ProPublica and Frontline have been examining assistedliving and Emeritus,
16:04
the industry's biggest chain, which is home to more than40,000 seniors.
16:10
"Resident was assaulted byanother resident due to lack of care by facility;substantiated."
16:17
There's no national data onassisted living, so we focused on California, the state with the mostassisted living facilities.
16:25
During the last three years, Emeritus had more substantiatedconsumer complaints per bed than any of its majorcompetitors.
16:33
"Facility has insufficient staffto monitor residents." >> THOMPSON: We foundauthorities in other states
16:40
have cited Emeritus for numerouslegal violations, from a shortage of staff totaking in seniors too sick
16:46
to legally live in theirbuildings. Go to that one. You just have somebodyapparently falling out
16:52
of a second-story window. >> THOMPSON: And we identifiedmore than two dozen questionable deaths, many of which have never beenreported on.
16:59
>> So she froze to death. >> THOMPSON: She froze to death. >> On Christmas day. >> THOMPSON: On Christmas day.
17:05
Her name was Mabel Austin,and she suffered from dementia. One night, she wandered out ofan Emeritus facility in Texas
17:12
and froze to death. In Colorado, Herbert Packard wasbeaten to death by a resident
17:18
with brain damage. In Massachusetts,
17:23
Angenette Stewart was repeatedlysexually assaulted. An investigation found thatEmeritus workers knew about the attacks and didn'tstop them.
17:31
In Florida, Richard Borrack,who had Alzheimer's, slipped out of a facility oneday and was never seen again.
17:39
When we asked Emeritus tocomment on these incidents, the company refused.
17:45
But Granger Cobb did agree tocomment generally on the problems we'd foundat his company.
17:52
>> It's a fact of life and it'snot peculiar to assisted living versus any other business, butfrom time to time,
18:00
human beings will make mistakes. >> THOMPSON: But some thingsare pretty cut and dry.
18:06
In some states, if you havea particular condition, you can't be in a facility. In some states, if you areposing an immediate harm
18:12
to yourself or others,you can't be in an assisted living facility.
18:19
What are the risks of havingsomebody who has a prohibitive condition, something that should keep themout of assisted living,
18:27
living in this kind ofenvironment? >> Well, if we can't adequatelycare for the resident,
18:35
we shouldn't have them. If we cannot care for themsufficiently, we will not jeopardize theirhealth or their condition
18:43
by keeping them in ourcommunity. >> THOMPSON:But in our reporting,
18:49
we came across a revealingincident near Jackson,Mississippi. It involved a woman withdementia named Merle Fall.
18:58
Merle went to live at Emeritusat Ridgeland Pointe at the end of a long,happy life.
19:03
>> She was a lot of funto be around. Our friends all loved her. She said whatever came to mind
19:10
and she was always the lifeof the party. Everybody always loved her.
19:18
>> THOMPSON: In the early stagesof her dementia, Merle lived with Diane's sister,Linda. But when Linda felt she couldno longer keep Merle safe,
19:26
the sisters called Emeritus. The company sent a nurse toevaluate Merle.
19:32
>> She came in, she sat downright there on the couch with Mother, Mother was sittingthere too, she reached over and heldMother's hand, and she never
19:40
asked any questions. As a matter of fact, it was onlylater that I understood she was here to evaluate Mother,
19:45
to find out whether she wassuitable for Ridgeland Pointe, becauseall she did was talk about
19:50
what a great experience it wasgoing to be, Mother was going to get a lotof one-on-one attention,
19:57
she says she's going to get sotired of seeing my face, you know, "We're going to giveher... we're going to take care of herjust like she was our mother,"
20:03
is what they said. >> THOMPSON: And so Merle'sdaughters moved their mom
20:08
in at a cost of about$3,500 a month. >> She went in on Thursdayafternoon, February 25.
20:17
They had suggested that we notcome by for a few days to get her used to it.
20:23
Sunday, I finally said,"We want to see her." We got there, she was drugged,drooling,
20:28
we couldn't wake her up,she had on the same clothes she had on when we took herthere Thursday, she smelled of urine.
20:36
I mean, she looked like she hadjust been drugged the whole time. >> THOMPSON: The sistersdiscussed taking Merle home,
20:42
but in the end decidednot to move her. >> She was miserable where shewas and she wanted to go home. And it was really hardto leave her there.
20:50
But we truly thought it was thebest thing for her,
20:56
we truly thought it was a wayto keep her safe. >> THOMPSON:But just days later, Merle stuffed her clothesinto a suitcase
21:03
and told a caregiverthat she was leaving. Soon after, she pried open anupstairs window
21:10
in the memory care unit andforced herself through it. Then she plunged to the ground.
21:16
. >> I got a call on Saturday,March 6, nine days after she was admitted there,
21:23
about ten till 8:00that morning, said... the lady identified herself andsaid, "Your mother got out."
21:29
I said, "What do you mean shegot out?" She said, "She went outthe window." I said, "She went out a secondstory window?"
21:34
And she said, "Yes." I said, "Is she breathing?Is she alive?" "She's on the ground,crawling around.
21:39
She won't get up." >> We probably got therein less than ten minutes. As a matter of fact, they were still putting herin the ambulance
21:45
when we got there. There was not one living soulfrom Ridgeland Pointe out there with her.
21:53
Nobody from Ridgeland Pointeever came outside and said anything to us,nobody expressed any regret
21:59
because they never walked outthe front door, we never saw them. >> THOMPSON: At the hospital,doctors discovered
22:04
that Merle had bleeding in herbrain. Three days later, she died.
22:10
Soon after, the sisters filed alawsuit against Emeritus. Some cynical people will say,"Diane and Linda,
22:18
"they're suing becausethey want money, "because they wantto enrich themselves.
22:25
They see a big corporationand they want some money." What do you say to that? >> I'd say shut the facilitydown, put the people in jail,
22:30
we'll drop the lawsuit. 'Cause we don't have any... It's not the money.
22:35
It's truly not the money. But the money is all thatmatters to Emeritus.
22:42
And if that's all that mattersto them, it's the only way to hurt them. And believe me,I want to hurt them.
22:49
>> THOMPSON: The daughters'lawsuit against Emeritus is ongoing, but Mississippiregulators decided not to cite
22:55
or fine Emeritusfor Merle's death. >> That was one where weactually followed our policies
23:02
and procedures. They had checked all the windowsin the community to make sure that none of themopened past 12 inches,
23:10
which is the regulation in thestate of Mississippi. But it's so difficult sometimeswith our residents
23:18
that may have some memoryimpairment. Sometimes their behavioris unpredictable
23:24
and catches staff off guard, even when they think they'redoing all the right things.
23:32
>> THOMPSON: But Maggie Carter,who ran the memory care unit at the time and was later firedin a dispute with the company,
23:37
told us that Merle's deathreflected a bigger problem. >> I think that they arebringing nursing home patients
23:45
to an assisted living facility. Most patients that was in thewheelchairs
23:51
or not able to assistthemselves at all should have been in a nursinghome, not assisted care.
23:57
>> THOMPSON: Why do you thinkshe was admitted? >> At the time, this is myopinion, we was low on residents and weneed to keep up our numbers.
24:06
They was very strict aboutnumbers, that we need to keep up ournumbers, and at the time,
24:12
memory care didn't have thecapacity they wanted. So you was under pressureto get people in that building.
24:19
When you get them in thatbuilding, you was under pressure to keepthem in that building at any cost.
Assisted Living Employees Speak Out
24:25
>> THOMPSON: Emeritus insistsit only admits those who are medically suitable. But we talked to more than adozen other former employees
24:33
who described a company focusedon filling its buildings, and some said the company waswilling to put seniors
24:40
at risk to do it. Now, several former Emeritusemployees have agreed to talk
24:48
on camera for the first time. >> It looks like a nice buildingon the outside, but inside,
24:55
you know, everybody's just likescrambling to do the best they can, you know, to take careof all these people.
25:03
>> THOMPSON:In 2007, nurse Mary Kasuba was the resident care directorat Emeritus at Emerald Hills
25:09
in Northern California. She says the facility was sounderstaffed that it couldn't providedecent care
25:16
for the roughly 80 seniorsliving there. >> It was just verydysfunctional
25:22
and not very organized, and the residents were notgetting the care
25:28
that they should be getting andgiven the kind of care that they were paying for, because they paid quite a lotof money to be able to be
25:37
in that facility. >> THOMPSON: Kasuba's biggestworry was the med room.
25:42
It was managed by workers withlittle training who were paid around $10 anhour, like Jenny Hitt.
25:49
>> THOMPSON: So for 80 or moreresidents, how many drugs are we talkingabout?
25:54
I mean, how many prescriptionscould you conceivably be dealing with? >> Oh, my goodness! Thousands.
26:02
Some residents at one time canhave 15 different prescriptions and different pillsthat they get,
26:08
and some of them get pillsfour, five, six times a day.
26:14
There's times where I had to rundown the hallways to make sure that this person isgoing to get their medication,
26:21
and some of these medicationsare life or death. >> THOMPSON: Did you worry, "Hey, I've got an impossibletask here.
26:29
I could mess upand actually do something that leads to somebody'sdeath?" >> All the time.
26:35
>> THOMPSON: Mary Kasuba grew soconcerned by the lack of staff, she sent a registered letter tocorporate headquarters
26:41
saying that unless improvementswere made, she would resign. >> Since I came to work withEmerald Hills,
26:47
there has not been enough staffto cover any part of the day-to-daystaffing needs to give the residents theirquality of care
26:55
that Emerald Hills advertises inits information-- not enough in the kitchen,housekeeping,
27:01
resident assistancesand med techs. My biggest concernis the med room.
27:09
Staff that was in placebefore I was employed were placed in positions thatare beyond their capacity.
27:16
They have been placedin the med room without significant trainingand support for their position.
27:22
A quick fix for a sinking ship. >> THOMPSON: So you send thisletter,
27:28
you send it to your boss at thefacility, you send it to the executivesin Seattle.
27:34
Did any of them ever respond toyou or address these concerns in any way? >> No, nobody responded at all.
27:43
The letters that I sent to thecorporate offices, that I sent, you know, returnreceipt requested,
27:49
and I called and made telephonecalls, nobody responded.
27:54
Nobody. >> THOMPSON:And so Kasuba quit.
28:00
The executive vice presidentfor quality services at Emeritus is Budgie Amparo.
28:06
>> THOMPSON: A nurse named MaryKasuba wrote you a letter. She was concerned that thereweren't enough staff in the med room, that theydidn't have enough training,
28:12
that they weren't paid wellenough, and that something bad couldhappen as a result. >> Right.
28:19
You know, that building overtime had had many changes. I'm not going to,you know, deny that. Now, with Ms. Kasuba's letter,
28:26
it's just too unfortunatethat she felt that way. We have a lot of platforms thatwe have in place to allow
28:35
our staff to express concern. We have this system calledEthics First.
28:42
It's a compliance line where youcould call the 800 number and lodge your complaint.
28:48
If you wanted to be anonymous,you could be anonymous. >> THOMPSON: Jenny Hitt says shecalled Ethics First
28:55
multiple times about what wasgoing on at Emerald Hills. >> Somehow they would find outthat it was me
29:02
and I would get questioned. "Why didn't you bring it to us? Don't call Ethics First."
29:08
>> THOMPSON: So even though thecompany had an ethics hotline, what you're telling me is yourbosses said, "Don't call theethics hotline."
29:15
>> Well, in meetings and stuff,they were like, "Oh, you can always callEthics," but when it came down to youcalling Ethics
29:22
and they found out you calledEthics, it was a big deal, because they were mad. >> THOMPSON:A big deal in a not good way.
29:28
>> No, not a good way. >> THOMPSON: Eventually,Emeritus fired Jenny Hitt. >> THOMPSON:So the company says,
29:35
"You made a medication error,that's why we fired you." >> Yeah. >> THOMPSON: You don't buy that. >> I don't buy it.
29:41
>> THOMPSON: What do you thinkthe real reason is? >> Because I was raisingtoo much trouble. I was calling Ethics andcorporate
29:49
and I was even talkingto family members, like, "Hey, your mom and dadaren't getting this,
29:56
you know, you needto get them out." And they didn't like that.
30:01
>> THOMPSON: Even as Hitt andNurse Kasuba were telling Emeritus the staffcouldn't handle the workload,
30:07
the company was trying to getmore seniors in the building. Melissa Gratiot was the leadsalesperson.
30:14
>> The biggest thing I alwaysheard was 100%, we need 100%, you know, always. Fill the building, 100%.
30:20
It gave me a lot of anxiety because my philosophy wasn't tomove in a warm body just to fill the building.
30:27
My philosophy was to make sureit was the right fit with the person, theprospective resident moving in.
30:33
And that is one thing that washard for me, is because they wanteda hard close
30:38
after every single personI met with. >> THOMPSON: Do you think thecompany ever moved in people
30:45
who were not a good fitfor the building, that they needed services thebuilding couldn't provide? >> I do.
“This is About Everyone who has Alzheimer's or Dementia”
30:52
>> THOMPSON: Joan Boice was onesenior Gratiot regrets moving in. >> These photos are some of myfavorites.
30:59
This one of my mom, this was when she first came outhere in the early '50s.
31:06
Just kind of shows hercare-free, you know, and her adventurous spirit that,you know,
31:12
just to come out hereas a single woman... Yeah, she was just free-spiritedand confident, and I think that, you know,throughout these decades
31:22
of pictures here, I see thattime and time again. >> THOMPSON: Then,when she was in her late 70s,
31:29
Joan began to show signsof dementia. >> You know,there are certain pictures
31:35
where you could almost see it inher eyes that something just wasn't quite right.
31:43
>> THOMPSON: Joan's dementiagot much worse. She had trouble talking,she needed assistance walking,
31:50
and she needed help eating. In 2007, her family moved herinto a facility
31:55
they were happy with,but it was a long drive. Emerald Hills was close,and it promised great care.
32:03
To be able to spend more timewith Joan, they moved her. But some of the staff didn'tthink Emerald Hills could take care of Joan.
32:11
>> She should never have came. >> THOMPSON: You don't thinkshe should have been admitted to your facility? >> Uh-uh.
32:18
>> THOMPSON: Where do you thinkshe should have gone? >> Skilled nursing. >> THOMPSON: Why? >> She couldn't walk. She couldn't feed herself.
32:24
She barely even talked to us. And her health wasn't that good.
32:31
And we told them she needsto go to skilled. >> THOMPSON:So you told the boss,
32:37
"Joan Boyce needs to goto a skilled nursing home." >> Yeah. >> THOMPSON: What happened? >> They said, "We can take careof their needs.
32:45
She doesn't need to move." >> THOMPSON: Eric Boice's fatherspent part of every day
32:51
with his wife. He began to worry that shewasn't getting the care she needed.
32:57
He told his son. >> My dad said, "Hey, you know,they're not treating Mom well."
33:03
And most of it I dismissed. I wanted to believe thatthat couldn't be happening.
33:13
There was a good deal of denial. >> THOMPSON: But after threemonths at Emerald Hills,
33:20
it was clear to everyone that Joan's health had declineddramatically. Finally, she was movedto a nursing home,
33:29
and it was there that doctorsdiscovered that Joan had an array oflife-threatening wounds.
33:35
>> People that go,"How would you not know that, you know, your own mother...weren't you there?"
33:40
Yeah, my wife and I were therefour to five times a week between the two of us, but we didn't make it a habitto strip my mom down.
33:48
You know, most of the time shewas in a bed, blankets, sheets up on her. You know, I didn't pullthe sheet.
33:54
I sat with my mom, I held herhand, but yeah, I didn't take the sheets down and I didn't pull down hernightgown and I didn't inspect.
34:04
I never even thought. I never even... You know, again, we were payingmoney to, number one,
34:11
make sure that wasn't happening,and if it was, that we would know about it,that we would have been told
34:16
that we could have done somethings, that we could have gotten theproper medical care in there.
34:23
And it was shown later that thiswas all covered up, that the people that did knowwere being told not to say anything.
34:30
. >> THOMPSON: On Valentine's Day,2009, Joan Boice died.
34:39
The Boice family decidedto sue Emeritus and hired elder abuse attorneyLesley Clement.
34:46
>> This isn't justabout Joan Boice. This is about everyone who hasAlzheimer's or dementia.
34:52
This is about every senior whohas any type of physical disability and isdependent on staff for help.
34:57
Joan Boice was not unique. Joan Boice is typical of theresident population in assisted living today.
35:07
This is the populationthat they're marketing for. This is the populationthey're going after.
35:12
This is the population that'sgoing to make them a lot of money. >> THOMPSON: Clement subpoenaedthousands of pages of documents
35:18
from Emeritus headquartersin Seattle. She says one of those documentsproves that Emeritus ordered
35:24
facilities to target seriouslyill seniors, such as those with advanceddementia, because they could becharged more.
35:33
>> Everything I look atat the corporate level, all of their records, it's all about a pushfor more money,
35:40
to increase the cash flow, and there's no talk about caringfor the elderly.
35:45
I mean, when you read theirrecords, you think that this is a realestate company.
35:51
>> THOMPSON:Clement uncovered evidence that while Emeritus wastargeting seriously ill seniors,
35:56
it was failing to hire or trainenough staff to care for them. >> The law in California saysyou have to have enough staff
36:05
to meet the needsof your residents, each resident in your building, and it has to be enoughin number and competency,
36:12
and there's trainingthat's required. And when I looked into...
36:18
subpoenaed all of the personnelfiles for the caregivers, I found over and over and overagain
36:23
they did not have the state-required mandated training, they didn't have the Emeritusrequired training.
36:31
Not only did the caregivers nothave it, the directors didn't have it.
36:36
Is it any surprise to you thatwith the staffing that Emeritus hadin this building that Mrs. Boice ended upfalling?
36:46
>> THOMPSON: Clement took whatshe'd uncovered and used it to confrontnumerous current and former Emeritus executivesunder oath.
36:52
>> It is horrible to hear that. >> THOMPSON: Catherine Ratellewas a vice president of operations at Emeritus.
36:59
>> When you were the VPO atEmeritus, did you have an understanding asto what educational background
37:05
you expected of your memory careunit directors?
37:11
>> I don't recallwhat the expectation is. >> How about experience?
37:17
Did you have an expectation asthe VPO as to what the experiencelevel would be
37:22
of the memory care director? >> I don't recall what it was.
37:29
>> THOMPSON:Alicia Parga, the memory care directorat Emerald Hills,
37:34
was on the job for 18 monthswithout the legally required dementia training. >> Did you feel oftentimes thatyou just did not have
37:42
the training that you needed todo that job as the memory care unitdirector? >> Yes.
37:49
>> They were constantly beingtold to cut labor expense. Cut labor, cut labor, cut labor.
37:55
>> THOMPSON: Susan Rotella wasone of the top three Emeritus executivesin California.
38:00
She said facility directors feltthey didn't have enough staff to care for their residents.
38:06
>> So there was a lot offrustration around just these kind of, you know,directions from corporate that said,"Cut labor by ten percent."
38:14
>> THOMPSON: Rotella said sheasked her bosses why they didn't use astaff-to-resident ratio.
38:19
Other companies used themto ensure quality care. >> And who or whom from thesenior executive team responded?
38:29
>> Budgie Amparo, our executivevice president of Quality. He got very agitated and hejumped up and he said,
38:35
"We don't use staffing ratios "because if we did not have theright amount of staffing
38:42
"in place and a resident issueoccurred, or incident,
38:47
"negative resident issue orincident occurred, and we didn't have the rightstaffing, we could be sued."
38:55
>> THOMPSON: Rotella said sheimmediately felt blowback from her question.
39:00
>> All of a sudden I went frombeing everyone's best friend to a troubled child because Iwas bringing up
39:06
labor standards in this meeting. >> THOMPSON: Soon after,Rotella was fired.
39:12
>> What reason did they give foryour termination, if you recall? >> I was not a "fit."
39:18
>> THOMPSON: Rotella is suingEmeritus for wrongful termination.
39:25
At the same time employees atEmerald Hills were complaining about a shortage of staff, theywere reporting dozens
39:30
of seniors falling in thebuilding.
39:36
Some of the residents werehospitalized for broken bones and otherinjuries. Then look at this one.
39:42
"Third fall within ten days." And look at the time. A lot of these things seemto happen when there's not a lot of staffon duty.
39:50
One person who fellwas Joan Boice. >> She was there ten daysand she had a fall
39:57
and she was found face downon the floor. She was taken to the hospitalalone.
40:04
This woman suffered fromdementia. They didn't have enoughcaregiving staff to put someone in the ambulancewith her that could be her voice
40:11
and talk for her at thehospital. She comes back, that's it.
40:17
She's put in bed. She's put in a wheelchair. She doesn't move anymore. And that's what starts herbreakdown.
40:24
She was in the fetal position. She wasn't bathed. She had eight different areasof skin damage.
40:33
Pressure ulcers, dead skin thatgoes through muscle tissue. You can see into her body.
40:42
>> THOMPSON: After consultingwith a doctor, Clement concluded the pressuresores led to Joan's death.
40:49
Under state law, seniors withwounds this serious are not allowed to remain inassisted living,
40:55
but Joan stayed at Emerald Hillsfor weeks with these sores.
41:00
Jenny Hitt testifiedthat she tried to treat the wounds herself,even though she knew she wasn't qualified to.
41:07
She said her boss told her,"Just don't let anybody know." Clement also discovered that itwas an Emeritus policy
41:15
to "Keep the back door shut." Lisa Paglia, a former regionalmanager, testified about what that meant.
41:24
>> What did you understand "Keepthe back door closed" to mean? >> Don't let anybody move outunless they were deceased.
41:34
>> THOMPSON: But Emeritus CEOGranger Cobb testifying under oath disputedthat description
41:39
of the back door policy. >> What does that term mean?
41:45
>> Um, it refers to trying to doeverything we can in situations
41:54
where residents want to staywith us, family want their loved one tostay with us,
41:59
to be able to keep them. Families usually want theirloved ones to stay with us
42:06
as long as possible,as opposed to skilled nursing, very institutional environment.
42:11
So we try to workwith the families and do all we can to, you know,accommodate that.
A Lawsuit Against Emeritus
42:19
>> THOMPSON: In the Boice case,lawyers for Emeritus offered a completely differentcharacterization of the care
42:25
Joan received and why she died. >> The care providers who wereproviding the care made it
42:32
pretty clear that they workedvery hard to take care of Joan Boice.
42:37
We had testimony from witnesseswho said they observed-- outside witnesses-- theyobserved the care staff
42:44
spending hours with Mrs. Boice,you know, taking care of her, repositioning her,keeping her clean.
42:51
So the evidence dictated againstMrs. Boice being neglected. I can understand how a familycould be angry
42:58
about what's happeningto their loved one. That's real.
43:04
Where we go wrong is when wetake that anger that that family has and thatgrief and that suffering
43:10
and we direct it to the peoplewho were there for the resident. They're not the evil.
43:16
It's the diseases of agingthat are the evil. >> THOMPSON: It was Alzheimer'sand a series of strokes
43:21
that led to Joan's death, according to Dr. RichardTindall, an expert witness for Emeritus.
43:28
>> The bedsores or decubiti didnot contribute to her death. She's having more and moredifficulty walking and moving.
43:36
She doesn't want to get upon her leg. They interpreted it as a problemwith the foot.
43:42
In reality, it's paralysisof the leg. This is a stroke syndrome. She died because of herAlzheimer's
43:49
and stroke leading to abedridden status and inability to take adequatenutrition and hydration,
43:57
progressive dehydration,malnutrition, which then you stop breathingand you die.
44:05
And that is, in fact,in a hospice situation how Alzheimer's patients andsevere stroke patients die.
44:13
>> THOMPSON: To counter theEmeritus case, Clement tapped one of thecountry's leading forensic geriatricians.
44:20
>> The key record in thisparticular case is the description of thepressure ulcers that she acquired at Emeritus.
44:28
We have photographic evidenceand we have measurements taken at the nursing homewhere she went, we have a very completedescription
44:35
of what her condition was likewhen she left Emeritus. We also have some records frombefore she went to Emeritus.
44:42
If you didn't know anythingabout Emeritus or the facility and you wouldlook at the condition
44:49
when she went in and thecondition when she left, you would say,"Wow, what happened to her?
44:55
Something, you know, really badmust have happened to her." Then you look at the operationof the facility and you say,
45:00
"She was neglected. That's how she ended uplike that." >> THOMPSON: And you think thatneglect stems
45:06
from there being not enoughtrained staff? >> Exactly, not enough staff,so no one can help her walk,
45:12
to keep her walking. And if you don't help her move, she's going to get a pressureinjury to her skin.
45:19
So those things all shouldhave been done. Instead, nothing was done. >> THOMPSON:Deep into the litigation,
45:25
Emeritus offeredto settle the case. >> So the company came to us andoffered us $3.3 million away,
45:35
to turn our back and not sayany more about this case.
45:41
>> THOMPSON:They offered you $3 million? >> Over three, yeah. And so...
45:48
And that is a substantial amountof money, but that also came withbasically a gag order,
45:55
an order that we wouldn't havebeen able to talk. We would not have been ableto share my mom's story.
46:01
They wanted us to turn over allof our investigative, everything...
46:07
They knew that we had a lot ofstuff that had been uncovered, and they wanted all that. They wanted it all to beshredded, all to be destroyed.
46:15
That was part of the bargainfor the money. And we weren't willingto do that.
46:22
>> THOMPSON: Emeritus says itnever told the family it would shred the documents and that any offer it made wasnot an admission
46:28
of wrongdoing. And so the trial went on,and on March 5, 2013,
46:36
all 12 jurors foundthe Emeritus Corporation liable for recklessness,oppression and fraud
46:42
in the wrongful deathof Joan Boice. And they ruled that Emeritusexecutives were well aware
46:50
of the unfitnessof their employees.
46:55
The jury awarded punitivedamages of nearly $23 million. The amount came from combiningGranger Cobb's
47:03
annual compensation with thatof the company's chairman. And the 81 cents?
47:10
That was to remind Emeritusof Joan's age. >> It's a huge number.
47:16
It's a devastating number. But I think it's just a functionof the size of my client.
47:24
I think they are in some ways avictim of their success and growth, and it's unfortunate that because they're largethat the verdict,
47:32
therefore, is large. >> Last weekend, I was withsome friends and they said,
47:37
"Isn't that... aren't you justecstatic? Aren't you just so overjoyedwith this verdict?"
47:45
And it was... I don't thinkhe thought it was as deep, but for me, I had to sit back,I had to stand back
47:50
from that question,I had to look, and my honest answer was, "I'm not as overjoyedas I thought I would be."
47:59
He was like, and the guys thatI was with were like, "What?" Technically, yeah, we wonand Emeritus lost.
48:05
But to me,it's bigger than that. It's more about right and wrong. And I don't feel that with thisloss,
48:12
Emeritus is doing anythingdifferent. I honestly don't think they'vechanged their practice,
48:18
their business as usual.
48:23
>> THOMPSON: We asked Emeritusexecutives to comment on camera, but they declined.
48:28
Instead, they respondedin writing: "We are extremely disappointedthat this jury found our care
48:35
"of Mrs. Boice unsatisfactoryand we adamantly disagree "with the outcome of this trial.
48:41
"Our dedicated and hard-workingcaregivers provided her "with quality care during thethree months she lived with us."
48:48
The company also wrote that itsviolations have trended down significantly over the lastfive years.
48:56
And Emeritus said it isappealing the jury award. But in response to its initialmotion,
49:01
the judge ruled the Boicefamily had proven their case and upheld the nearly$23 million award.
49:08
>> I would say that today, one of the few remedies thatconsumers have with regard
49:13
to assisted living are lawsuits,and that's what we see. And that's unfortunate becausethe industry
49:20
is always complaining,"Oh, there's too many lawsuits and they are frivolous,"et cetera. I'm shocked that there aren'tmore, to tell you the truth.
49:28
When you have a regulatorysystem that's not doing its job, when you have people who arefiling complaints
49:34
and you might as well file thosecomplaints down a black hole, that's what's going to happen. It's just a horrible systemright now.
49:42
>> The head of a state licensingagency told me assisted living is the rock we don't wantto look under.
49:51
They know there's a problem, butthey don't have the resources. When it's nursing homes, we havefederal support
49:58
for a huge amount of thesurveys and inspections and complaint investigationsthat they do,
50:05
and for the training that thesurveyors get. None of that exists forinspection and regulation
50:11
of assisted living. None of it. We're creating an industry witha million people
50:17
in it who are becomingmore frail, who are poorly regulatedby the state.
50:25
That's why I talk about itas a ticking time bomb, because we're going to see moredeaths, more injuries.
50:34
And families are goingto be so shocked because they think they've madea good decision,
50:40
they think they've madea safe decision. .
50:53
>> I have dreams-- I guess theyborder on nightmares--
50:59
that my mom is with me and she'slucid for a moment, and, um...
51:06
. You know, and I basically usethat time to apologize to her
51:18
for not being the voicethat she needed,
51:26
for not demanding more of thepeople that we trusted,
51:31
um, with her care. But that's, uh...
51:39
That's a fairly common dreamthat I have. So...
51:46
.
Credits
52:24
>>For more on this and otherFrontlineprograms, visit our website atpbs.org/frontline.
52:29
.
52:39
Frontline's"Life and Deathin Assisted Living" is available on DVD. To order, visit shoppbs.orgor call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
52:50
Frontlineis also availablefor download on iTunes. .
===
5,306 Comments
Sejin Lifeforce 生命
Add a comment...
@marystaufenberg
@marystaufenberg
1 year ago (edited)
I became a Power of Attorney for an elderly neighbor of mine in 1991 who was in the early stages of dementia. The first thing I did was hire qualified staff for around the clock care for her. She was fine and very comfortable for the first 5 years. Then one day her primary care physician decided that she was not getting enough care at home and wanted her to leave her mortgage free home and live in an Assisted Living Facility in which he just became a co-owner.
After the first few days, I went to see her. She was wearing someone else's clothes and smelled of urine. She acted drugged and when I asked why she was drugged, I was told that it was the standard treatment for dementia patients. I called the doctor and asked him about why she was sedated. He said that at his facility all dementia patients were administered medication to keep them calm. I visited twice a week for the next two weeks. Then one day, I arrived at the facility to find my neighbor restrained in her bed. The bed was soaked with urine and she was screaming for someone to turn her loose, that she was not a criminal, and that all she wanted was to go home. I immediately started making plans to take her back home.
I hired the staff back again. I found a new doctor for my neighbor. He took her off all the drugs and within a week she was almost back to her old self, but the drugs and trauma of the facility did have a negative effect on her health. She returned home and lived a quiet life for the next 8 years. At the age of 91, she passed away peacefully in her home where she had lived for 63 years.
1.9K
Reply
298 replies
@kimberlypride4046
@kimberlypride4046
1 year ago
I have been a nurse for 42 years. I have NEVER seen a facility with enough staff to provide SAFE care to residents.
124
Reply
10 replies
@arkeshiaarkeshia5234
@arkeshiaarkeshia5234
9 months ago (edited)
My grandmother was in a nursing home by her choice until she passed in August 2022. She knew we had families and jobs. All she asked was that we never forgot about her. So my dad cooked home cooked meals for her 2 to 3 times per week, and I washed her clothes weekly and refreshed her snacks and toiletries monthly. I can say this, when staff knows the family is highly involved, the fewer issues you will have. Because we were on their asses like white on rice, and they fixed them immediately!
132
Reply
12 replies
@cecilappleby5077
@cecilappleby5077
7 months ago (edited)
I'm a nurse and worked at different areas including nursing homes and LTAC. It was a heart breaking experience. The staff are rude treating residents like animals. Though there are a few with good hearts and hardworking but they are burnt out. I picked up a part time on the weekends as a treatment nurse and I was shocked to see wound dressings were not changed, I'll find dressings I did from my last shift which was a week ago. Patients with long-term urinary catheters use tubings were nasty and had not been changed. There are sooo many more....
I'll never forget one day, I sat and clipped one of the residents fingernails and the next thing I heard and saw are residents on their wheelchairs lining up to get their nails clipped as well. 😢 I was told I shouldn't do it coz it has to be a podiatrist but where is he or she? Residents nails are getting too long causing skin tears.
I have sooo many stories...when my father got sick, I quit my job and took care of him at my house, nursing home or assisted living was never an option to me.
129
Reply
6 replies
@richardlong8014
@richardlong8014
1 year ago
When mom died of cancer, dad moved in with my sister. After a few months she put him in assisted living facility without notifying me. He stayed there until his contract was up while I readied my house so he could stay with us. In the meantime I visited him everyday and brought him with me in my work truck to my job sites or wherever else he chose to go, ie golf course, old employer, stores, restaurants. When the house was ready, he moved in with my wife and I and stayed there for 2 more years until he died. I still miss him and that was 31 years ago.
552
Reply
34 replies
@laraclarke3078
@laraclarke3078
1 year ago (edited)
This is how we repay our elderly for their lives of hard work and contributions to our society, to our communities and to our lives? It's heartbreaking how the elderly are treated ... Glad to see some light shining on this topic
492
Reply
35 replies
@Heeter_23
@Heeter_23
1 year ago
Sad but true. This is the reality. As a former nurse working in a LTC facility, this story is 100% accurate. Never enough staff. Too few care aids and nurses, and too many "Managers".
102
Reply
9 replies
@lindamartin8655
@lindamartin8655
1 year ago
I worked in a nursing home years ago, the way people were treated was appalling! I went into private in home care for 11 years.Honestly the best care is one on one or with a trained in home staff.The seniors are precious, their mistreatment is disgusting
218
Reply
14 replies
@neoncat9573
@neoncat9573
1 year ago
I love that the Boice family refused the settlement offer from Emeritus because they absolutely did not want to give up their right to speak about what happened to their mother. I applaud them for that.
648
Reply
25 replies
@myrnajucar3498
@myrnajucar3498
1 year ago
Here in the Philippines, we take care of our parents when they grow old. They stay with us in our own homes until they die. We have a culture of loving and caring for our elders.
366
Reply
50 replies
@sanjuancity9104
@sanjuancity9104
6 months ago (edited)
I can relate to this having Mom in an assisted-living facility for almost two years. Her health rapidly declined, her personal hygiene degraded, she had fallen and broken her hip, she was medically overdosed, and the facility was gravely understaffed. We visited her practically daily and one Sunday, a visiting priest told us to consider placing her in hospice due to her condition. We pulled Mom out immediately and she lived another three fruitful years with us earning her wings at 89.
42
Reply
1 reply
@kayp5828
@kayp5828
1 year ago
This documentary really is an eye opener about this industry. More people need to watch
41
Reply
3 replies
@rr8960
@rr8960
1 year ago
We took my mother in-law into our home In 2012 due to her dementia. I took care of her full time all the way until she died this year (2022). She feared going to a rest home, and hospital, so we kept her with us. She died peacefully in her bedroom surrounded by her loved ones. It wasn’t always easy. But I’m so glad we did.
500
Reply
24 replies
@LeiLei51
@LeiLei51
1 year ago
A word of advice from a former nursing home employee: Visit your loved ones often at any care facility, including the hospital & rehab. If you go every week switch up the days. Show up at different times. Try to go during meal times. Do not be predictable.
Do not be afraid to speak up. Ask questions. Pay attention to them. If they start to decline shortly after admission, something might be amiss. You might not get an answer depending on your relationship to the resident/patient due to HIPAA, but it sends a signal that that person has people who care. That tends to deter abuse.
Some families do have to send loved ones to the nursing home. There are good homes out there. Do your research.
742
Reply
81 replies
@CDNMusicLover
@CDNMusicLover
1 year ago
Thank you to the employees fighting for the residents. You are the heros.
39
Reply
@IamKimsational
@IamKimsational
9 months ago
Coming from a nurse, whose spouse and son are also nurses, this documentary is quite spot on. I applaud you for making these cases known to a wider audience. Many, many people go into healthcare for the wrong reasons; sounds like the big corps who own assisted living as some of those folks. Thank you for taking the time to make this amazing piece of work.
13
Reply
@mattzilla331
@mattzilla331
1 year ago
The way we treat our elderly is truly horrific
338
Reply
7 replies
@sabrinay9430
@sabrinay9430
1 year ago
I was a CNA for awhile. If you have to put your loved one in a home, please be very involved with their care. And make sure the staff knows it. Plus please put cameras in their rooms. It's your right and they can't refuse you. They run on a shoestring budget, even the high end ones. We were so overwhelmed. I loved that job, but I just couldn't take the workload or the low pay
709
Reply
72 replies
@Pink_143_6
@Pink_143_6
1 year ago
I worked as a nurse in an assisted living facility. Please, avoid them. I wouldn’t put my worst enemy in these facilities. The training of CNA’s is substandard and they seem to think they can sleep while on the clock. If you report them to HR, they won’t be fired. I worked hard to ensure my residents were safe while CNA’s took snooze fests. If a resident rang their call bell, it would be a miracle if any staff members got up within 10 minutes to answer the bell. It all depended on what TV show they were hooked on. Good luck from Massachusetts.
17
Reply
2 replies
@carolw32
@carolw32
6 months ago
My Mom was in assistant living for about 2 years then moved to nursing facilities owned by the same group. I felt like she received good care. I visited her a couple of times a week and she seemed happy. After a few months she went to memory care and shortly passed. The staff were smiling and friendly. However the week I was cleaning out her stuff I noticed the staff seemed down and doors were closed and locked for the first time. When I asked why the change. I was told new management. Glad my Mom was under the old management.
8
Reply
@Jen195152
@Jen195152
1 year ago
My mother was adamant about never going into a nursing home!! I was happy to grant her wish!! I found a wonderful person to move in and live with her. She died in her home!! It was the least I could do for her, she took care of me when I was helpless!! I was proud to do the same for her!!
326
Reply
43 replies
@gladismendez6596
@gladismendez6596
1 year ago
Keeping your oldest loved at home it’s the gift you can give to them and the love of theirs family is all they want ❤
67
Reply
4 replies
@kevebutterfield6129
@kevebutterfield6129
1 year ago
After 9 horrific months My Mom passed away this morning; for she was severely injured and spent 30 days in the hospital, where she began to decline quickly. She suffered neglect had a UTI that went sepsis and chronic and severe dehydration and she was hospitalized twice. Just recently we transferred her to a hospice hospital.she was in 3 different facilities and they were all horrible. In addition to skilled nursing staff we had sitters and still she was neglected. The staff stole all her clothes on 3 different occasions. I work full time, I’m not ready to retire, I was there 2-3 times a week. It didn’t matter how much I voiced my concerns, and I found out from a friend that the inside down and dirty that I was labeled ‘a problem’ because I complained. This made it difficult to move her because she was essentially marked. The staff was mostly non English people who hated white people and they had no problem letting us know. The last year has been a horrific nightmare, something has to be done!! 😭
27
Reply
2 replies
@innfield8836
@innfield8836
1 year ago
God be with all those residents in these places who have passed away through negelect or inattention on the part of the staff, and my condolences to the loved ones they leave behind.
35
Reply
1 reply
@ravanne3746
@ravanne3746
1 year ago
After watching this, I can almost be grateful that my mother passed away last year from cancer and never reached the point where assisted living or a nursing home even was an issue. My dad is now nearly 80 and lives with me and I will do everything I can to make sure that he will never leave the home that he loves.
145
Reply
5 replies
@patmanchester8045
@patmanchester8045
1 year ago
I was in assisted living for 6 months. I fell nearly daly, they recorded 8 falls. Had an obstruction that kept me from emptying my stomach and was dropping over 5 lbs a week and vomiting after each meal they bullied me into eating, my hair was falling out. Finally, I found a PA who listened to me and not the employees who said that I was making a big deal out of nothing. I had a precancerous tumor, the size and shape of a cigar removed. They didn't know I was even gone! this was supposed to be a nice place. I'd shoot myself before I go through that again.
340
Reply
19 replies
@cyndytower1263
@cyndytower1263
1 year ago
As a former nurse, I worked opening up some of the first assisted living facilities in Virginia. I know the company I worked for was well aware of the needs of those who needed assisted living. We had a special floor for those will dementia/Alzheimers. The med techs were well trained and we had enough staff to take care of the patients. I don't know if the were sold to another company after I left or not, but it can speak well of the two facilities I worked for. Our goal there was to give the assistance needed for our clients. It was a good place to work for. I'm now at an age that I could go into assisted living, but I don't need to. I have all my faculties and no signs of dementia. I would rather die at home than go to a facility that I need someone to care for me. I pray that never get to that place in my life. God Bless these patients and their families.
22
Reply
3 replies
@willdehne1
@willdehne1
7 months ago
My wife and I are 82. Living in a 3 BR home in central Florida. We have considered to move to an Independent Living Home with attached Assisted Living option. The Independent place cost $6,000/month for one person. Less for the second person. No claim of any assistance except food. Any help from nurses, doctors, etc would be extra and need to be arranged by us. Our only son died (cancer) recently. Other relatives are far away. We are looking at our options and listening to this video is part of that effort.
6
Reply
@catbriggs8362
@catbriggs8362
1 year ago
My Mom had a pressure ulcer. We were caring for her at home, with visits by home health-care aides and nurses. They had a wound-care specialist nurse come in and dress the wound (a complicated process) several times a week. They prescribed a medical cushion to alleviate as much pressure as possible, since she was immobile. The family made sure she walked, changed positions, etc. Any time we were concerned, the nurse came out. She had bath aides and other specialized health care by professionals. Her care was outstanding. The fees were modest. I'm thankful she never ended up in one of these nightmare facilities. I can't even imagine the suffering our vulnerable elders are enduring. In some of these business models, they're victims of parasitic greed.
446
Reply
49 replies
@lisacarden1309
@lisacarden1309
1 year ago
I'm so proud of the workers who brought attention to the horrific issues and especially talking to the families.. the world needs more people like you! God Will Bless You All
🙏❤️🙏
241
Reply
2 replies
@miabutterfly2442
@miabutterfly2442
1 year ago
I payed my respect to my elderly people. I worked in a nursing home in the 90s. I loved my patients.
5
Reply
@lauranglover521
@lauranglover521
1 year ago
Bless Frontline for doing stories like this, allowing us to demand more out of the care of our most loyal generation!
2
Reply
@meechiebaby493
@meechiebaby493
1 year ago
Former assisted living care staff here: When we got too "close" to the residents, when we actually cared for them as if they were our own family, we were reprimanded and eventually fired. We were often told that we were spending too much time with any one resident. I had to leave the care profession because I felt that I wasn't able to properly care for the residents, and it was taking a toll on my mental health. I loved the residents like they were my family, and I was reprimanded for it. I just couldn't do it anymore.
395
Reply
54 replies
@litsazorzou1568
@litsazorzou1568
1 year ago
My mother was my world, my rock and best friend. I never even once thought about pu6her in any nursing home. I kept her home, with watching every move the home health aides did. She was bed bound, and we had aides for 24/7 I had the best doctor's coming to see her, and they all told me, if it wasn't for me she wouldn't be alive.
"A mother is like no other, she gave me life, and it was my turn, to make sure she was alive and well" my mother died in 2013, and my life completely changed. I miss her so much♥️🙏IF I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY I WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN......TO HAVE HER IN MY LIFE AND TAKE CARE OF HER LIKE I DID.♥️🙏♥️🙏♥️🙏♥️🙏♥️
426
Reply
69 replies
@tj921able
@tj921able
11 months ago
It is so tragic that these people were treated this way. It makes me think my brother being at a rehab facility right now is much better than assisted living. Lifting prayers for all these people who lost their loved ones in such a terrible way. Thank you for sharing this documentary. God Bless You & stay safe.
7
Reply
@taralynneethier-southard4735
@taralynneethier-southard4735
6 months ago
This doesn't just happen with the elderly or in assisted living. I spent 6weeks in a skilled nursing facility because of a surgery where I needed 24-hour care as I am also a wheelchair user. This was in my 30s. I saw what went on and how residents were treated. I started to speak up and therefore staff did not like me. When I started to become mobile and able to use my wheelchair again, the staff started shutting doors, so I could not see what they were doing in the rooms while I roamed the halls and socialized. They also got beyond pissed that I asked what each medication was for every dose, rather than being handed a cup and just taking it. The reality is that if residents do not have visitors and cannot advocate for themselves, they will not be alive much longer. It is all about money... if you don't have it, the gov't does not care. Same is happening in homecare as well. I am a disability advocate in MA and it scares me to know that I will be in this situation when I become elderly.
13
Reply
2 replies
@tbolton6156
@tbolton6156
1 year ago
This is still too common. When my mom were in assistants living facility, she said it was worse than prison. Profit over people dignity. We bury our mom one week ago. Lord, I miss mom!
132
Reply
11 replies
@Walter_E_Kurtz
@Walter_E_Kurtz
1 year ago
I had the chance to experience this with my Grandma in Assisted Living, who passed away at 93 after living in 2 different facilities for 7 years. What's strange is the way that the facilities treat the families of residents. The families are looked at as the enemy of the facility. Countless times workers at the facility were accepting cash tips from my Grandma for coming by to do things that are required of them. They got so relaxed with it that when I would be visiting and they would come by, they wouldn't leave until my Grandma fetched the cash to pay them, they didn't even care that I was standing in front of them. It turns out that it was illegal what they were doing, one of the "Nurses" was fired because of it. It didn't skip a beat and it continued to the end. When my Grandma passed away they ransacked her room for valuables, purses and other things that they had their eyes in waiting for her to pass away. It was a disgusting situation.
439
Reply
66 replies
@deenawomack4661
@deenawomack4661
9 months ago
My in laws decided to move into an assisted living once MIL was disgnosed with cancer. They are both in their late 80s and we all felt the assisted living facility would be the best for their care. Had I seen this video about 4 months ago, I would have asked a lot more questions of the facility.
My MIL is on hospice and probably has maybe a day or two left. However, I had to go search for a nurse (for the third time this week) to get them to administer her morphine. Prescibed by hospice to keep her Comfortable not in pain. I don't mind asking the nurses, but then I get attitude from them.
They are billing thousands more dollars for services that is not being done. And it is nowhere near the amount we were told in the beginning. Now they are just gaslighting me when I ask questions about the billing. This was not even close to what I thought was a great facilty with the services needed. Not even close, very sad for all the money paid to these facilities.
12
Reply
3 replies
@robinfrances8409
@robinfrances8409
9 months ago
The guilt some of the families feel is understandable. In several of the stories the elderly person tried to escape the facility but the family didn’t listen. I appreciate the honesty of the son at the end who told of his dream about his apology to his mom. His Dad tried to tell him. Family should listen. Just because we are old doesn’t mean we should be dismissed.
6
Reply
@tulaloo6526
@tulaloo6526
1 year ago
My mother-in-law was incontinent and was having trouble making meals, showers, and getting around generally. They admitted her into assisted living, I expressed concern to my husband and sisters-in-laws to no avail. Three days in the assisted living facility she was found on the floor of her room, ended up in a nursing home and died a week later. Assisted living facilities are more concerned about money and numbers and don't turn away residents that cannot live safely in an assisted living facility. It's a big problem. Thank you addressing this issue.
90
Reply
4 replies
@MoroMoro1
@MoroMoro1
1 year ago
I've worked in assisted living facilities for over 5 years. Everything these caregivers were saying was 100% correct, I've witnessed it first hand as well. Admitting people who have needs that go beyond what assisted living is supposed to do, firing people that make complaints about residents that need too much care, constantly short staffed, and the pay for the increased work load is insulting.
104
Reply
4 replies
@margarethassler5559
@margarethassler5559
6 months ago
This is similar to what happened to my husband. I pray every year he remains safe daily.
1
Reply
@bradbell3744
@bradbell3744
1 year ago
What a great video. I had no idea that “assisted living” was so unregulated, and how little these facilities often do.
7
Reply
1 reply
@imaboygenius
@imaboygenius
1 year ago
I used to be a state nursing home investigator. Independent living is far less regulated but read up on the laws and regulations they operate under. Ask to see state or local inspection reports. Periodically review your loved ones records. Be on a first name basis with the administrator and Director of Nursing. If laws permit it, consider a nanny cam. Know what medications are being given. Connect with family of other residents, and agree to look in on each other’s loved ones when visiting. Most senior living staff are dedicated but are understaffed, ask if there’s anything you can do to help out with your loved one.
54
Reply
1 reply
@norronlee4945
@norronlee4945
1 year ago
So sad, the way our elders with money are treated, IMAGINE what it must be like in a place for assisted living guests who can not afford $3,000 +/monthly.
90
Reply
7 replies
@justsayin5609
@justsayin5609
11 months ago
Excellent report. Factual, compassionate, realistic. Well done!
3
Reply
@kathrineswango
@kathrineswango
7 months ago
Very well made and eye opening documentary! Thanks PBS
3
Reply
@KuroRouge
@KuroRouge
1 year ago
Love Frontline - Keep Doing What You Are Doing!
72
Reply
1 reply
@haysheryl2677
@haysheryl2677
1 year ago
This family is 100 % correct. Every facility my husband was in had the same problems.
I am a retired RN,BSN.with over 40 yrs. Of experience.
Sadly,even after paying thousands each month, the facilities were nightmares.
96
Reply
4 replies
@owoodford
@owoodford
6 months ago
Powerful. We need more exposees like this. This is not just happening in one big company that provides assisted living. It is industry wide
1
Reply
@Samaintbovered
@Samaintbovered
1 year ago
To Joan Boise's son: as I listened to your talk about your nightmares my heart went out to you. I know a little bit about what you're going through, and I sincerely hope things get better...and although it might seem weird and/or overly familiar of me to say this, I have no doubt your mom loves you, and that she's not angry-- she's your mom.
4
Reply
@bodisci
@bodisci
1 year ago
I worked in nursing homes and assisted livings as a maintenance director. The nursing assistants and housekeeping staff are usually overworked, under paid and their work unappreciated. They love and care for their residents as much as any nurse or doctor. The mantra in that industry is "bodies in beds". I worked in 2 Emeritus facilities. In both buildings they completely cut out the housekeeping and laundry staff. The nursing assistants were expected to provide care to their assigned residents, clean the rooms, do their laundry and were expected to vacuum the hallways in front of their residents rooms! It doesn't have to be this way and not all countries are like this. As long as we expect for profits to provide this care or healthcare in general this is what we and our loved ones will get. We all must take some responsibility for this. None of us would be willing to or could pay extra taxes into a system that would provide quality care. It's not just shame on them it's also shame on us.
253
Reply
49 replies
@ScrappinlizziArt
@ScrappinlizziArt
1 year ago
I worked as an activity director in an Assisted living facility for quite a few years. At the beginning of my years there, there were dietary aids that helped in the dining room during meals. There were ladies that did the laundry, there were housekeeping staff and resident assistants. Over time the dietary aids were "no longer needed" because the resident assistants could take care of that. The laundry ladies were "No longer needed" because the resident assistants could take care of the laundry. The house keeping staff was let go because the resident assistants could take care of that too! So now the Resident assistants did their job plus laundry, housekeeping and dietary aids. These girls could not keep up. But like most Assisted livings they are looking at the bottom line in the check register! Nope. I would never put a loved one in one of those horrible places.
121
Reply
6 replies
@jennifermiller7813
@jennifermiller7813
6 months ago
I never realized to the full extent how lucky I was to take care of my Mom at my home til I watched this. I knew I was lucky but not just how lucky I fully was. My Mom had dementia and cancer. Blessings to all these families.
1
Reply
@johnnyringo0506
@johnnyringo0506
1 year ago (edited)
My mother has been in an assiated living home since last May. The home is beautiful, restaurant style food, activities, friends, outing to restaurants, ice cream, shopping, local festivals. They have daily movies in an in house theatre. A beauty salon where she gets a shampoo and blow dry twice a week and a haircut and style every six weeks. They have concerts and family dinners, celebrate all the holidays and celebrate the residents and their lives. The apartments are cleaned weekly, laundry done weekly, 24 hour nursing staff. They give her her meds and everyone wears an emergency necklace. I visit her once or twice a week, just like I visited her in her home. She is much happier there.
5
Reply
3 replies
@TOPOTWO
@TOPOTWO
1 year ago
I worked at a assisted living center for one day. It was awful! The co workers where beyond rude and so rude to the people living there! I worked in the kitchen and I watched a woman sit and yell at a patient because they simply asked what time dinner was and what was for dinner. I couldn’t work there
87
Reply
4 replies
@michellereed5638
@michellereed5638
1 year ago
I am a former CNA--worked in a rehab, nursing home, that had assisted living. It was a nightmare. Chronically understaffed!! Very often I was the ONLY person on the swing shift to take care of 44 patients!!! One night it was 88! Walking off the job, in OREGON even due to understaffing is tantamount to "patient abandonment. I turned in my own employer and still the state did zero!! I secretly encouraged families to make complaints to the state just so that investigators would come out to see for themselves! It was horrifying. I had been in the medical field 23 years, and was studying to get my RN license, and was functioning as a CMA finally in the assisted living side. I had to beg four RN's to allow me to call an ambulance for a patient who was suffering from chest pain and shortness of breath. I knew he was having problems, as I watched his vital signs change and he was going down hill. I knew he was dying on me. He was NOT DNR either. Finally when paramedics did come, he died for 15 seconds according the EKG monitor, then bam, they managed to save him, and rushed him to the hospital. Later this same patient thanked me for saving his life.
In 2018 my own mother passed away from 17 medical errors that were made causing her death. The biggest one, a misdiagnosis of a cyst on her kidney. My mother suffered in pain and felt terrible. She lost her ability to walk, and became incontinent. She wound up falling and going to the hospital ER, she contracted a hospital acquired infection which almost killed her. Then she was shipped off to a nursing home, which had a hoyer accident and tore her rotator cuff in several places. They nearly dehydrated her to death. I had to call 911 and have paramedics rescue her from the nursing home and take her to the ER, where they refused to do any type of scans or MRI to diagnoses her injuries. She was clearly bruised up.
She was shipped off to another nursing home, and they tried to force her to rehabilitate torn rotator cuff until she could no longer voluntarily raise her arm. I heard screams coming from PT, and found that they had secured her arm with weights and were forcing her to raise her arm with the use of a mechanical weight machine. Each time her arm was raised over her head she screamed in pain.
The Floor RN refused to give her prescribed pain medications. He also refused her life saving asthma inhaler, "Maybe I should just let you suffocate, Mrs. ". So now I had to stay by her side on a cot next to her bed. I caught this RN--taunting my mother, holding her medication out of reach, "Do you want something for pain, oh guess not...you cannot reach it, too bad, guess you cannot reach your inhaler either..." I raised up off of that cot, which had been out of his eye sight with the quiet fury of a mama bear protecting her cubs and ordered that nut to give my mother her medications before I called the police and had him arrested for attempted murder. Even though I complained as did my Dad, the facility did zero!!
After my mother collapsed, she was back in the hospital with a basketball sized growth slightly off to the side of her gut. She had a giant tumor! It was cancer of course. She was dying, we could see this of course. She was in total agony. I asked for pain meds, and was told her doctor was worried about her becoming addicted!! I was her health representative, and ordered she be put on pain meds and hospice. She died in another care home, we were forced to put her in, about 6 weeks later.
I am still haunted by the last 3 months of my mother's life and the crappy care she got for all the huge amount of money my Dad paid for insurance premiums, co-pays, and private money paid. There are vet offices who treat pets better than the way my MOM is treated. OUR medical system is broken!
A person has to be smarter than their MD, and have a family member who knows the ins and outs of the insurance system, and medical system to aid their loved one. Do not, do not for one minute leave your loved one unattended in any nursing home, or care facility or rehab center, or Medical foster care home, or hospice center, or hospital. There always needs to be an educated, advocate, who has Power of Attorney, and is legally the medical designated person to make decisions staying with that hospitalized person 24/7/365. I will not to to an ER, I refuse. I have my own BP cuff, oximeter, glucose meter, inhalation machine and meds and epi pens, and the works. I treat myself at home. I have almost died in an ER--twice due to malpractice. My own sister had to use my own EPI pens and inhalers to treat me while I was in the ER bay due to mismanagement of the ER. MY own MD gets this!
I will ONLY go to an ER if one of my limbs is physically amputated, I have been shot and cannot remove the bullet myself, or have a stab wound that has injured an internal organ. I will stitch up my cuts.
I feel for these people, I started crying--and I wanted to tell MY story--so people would understand that I really do understand, and why I got so emotional listening to this program and it caused me to really cry, and almost vomit. I am so sorry for these people! My heart just goes out to them!!! I am praying for them. I did forgive all those who harmed my mother, so that I could have some peace. I did write complaints, however, as a family we did not sue. Instead we asked for a medical records autopsy. The place that cared for her, was a huge Medical HMO--we pleaded with them to educate themselves.
This did generate phones calls of sympathy and absolute shock and horror at what had happened to my mother. It is 2022 now, and it is still spoken of by some of my current physicians, and they tell me, my mother's case is still being used as a teaching case of WHAT NOT to DO to a patient! This is far better than a lawsuit in my eyes. Much better than a fine.
I think this year I finally got over the anger of her death and blaming myself. I still miss my dear mother, and my Mom and Dad were married 56 years! I see my DAD twice a week, he is still in mourning. I love him dearly! My siblings are still in different stages of grief.
God bless you and thanks for this program. thanks for giving a me a forum to share my story!
thanksdoc
98
Reply
9 replies
@RM-pq7vx
@RM-pq7vx
1 year ago
Thank you for sharing this. It is extremely good information to know. We never know of one who will need these places when our elders can no longer live alone or in their homes.
1
Reply
@CK-px7ni
@CK-px7ni
1 year ago
Emeritus is certainly a rock to look under. The last day Mom was at a facility after 3 months, we brought her home. We found my Mom sitting in her own feces. I spoke with Mom each day until we got home. She always said she was fine. We had been out of town to care for my Mom in-law.
5
Reply
1 reply
@cameronfielder4955
@cameronfielder4955
1 year ago
This is gross. Some things should not be turned into business. Schools, healthcare, senior homes.. it’s disgusting. Imagine being ok with getting rich off of this? We as a species need to grow out of this greed or else we surely will disappear and for good reason.
679
Reply
108 replies
@pawshands9706
@pawshands9706
1 year ago
I have been saying this very thing for decades. The U.S. is a country of all things disposable. Even us.
95
Reply
@DuckmanYaHeard
@DuckmanYaHeard
1 year ago
You should travel to other countries. Americentrism is real.
20
Reply
@laraclarke3078
@laraclarke3078
1 year ago
@DuckmanYaHeard what do you mean?
11
Reply
@roseO1984
@roseO1984
1 year ago
I just QUIT a private home last week!!!! I was with these Precious residents, PEOPLE!! Seniors that deserve the Best Level of RESPECT and DIGNITY, they were not giving, I was there 2 days, NEVER RETURNED!! I didn’t bother calling who hired me, although I did make some calls!!!!!
44
Reply
@Clintsessentials
@Clintsessentials
1 year ago
Agree
10
Reply
@blyatman5891
@blyatman5891
1 year ago
Don't forget prisons!
26
Reply
@ZMAN_420
@ZMAN_420
1 year ago
@blyatman5891 There's too many for profit SCAMS too remember 👍🏻
26
Reply
@jacquelynn2051
@jacquelynn2051
1 year ago
I’m a nurse. We had no linen or garbage bags for two hours the other day. Falls are going up.
Viral infections are going up.
Bacterial infections are going up.
Covid + cases: UP
Adequate staffing: DOWN
Nurses LEAVING the profession: UP
All I know is that I have put out to the universe to let me die FREE of any institution. No time soon though…lol.
47
Reply
@blyatman5891
@blyatman5891
1 year ago
@ZMAN_420 Ain't that the fucking truth.
13
Reply
Show more replies
@tandiparent1906
@tandiparent1906
1 year ago
I've worked in several nursing homes over the years until I retired and that's the exact reason I'm now helping take care of my mom who has dementia.
If your loved ones are staying mainly in bed, whether it's at home or in an assisted living center or a nursing home, ALWAYS ALWAYS keep an eye out for pressure sores!!!
58
Reply
5 replies
@dmmchugh3714
@dmmchugh3714
1 year ago (edited)
We also never thought to check my 92 year old mom for the start of bedsores when she was hospitalized for heart problem in 10/2020. And no one told us to be aware for bedsores either.
It was not until she returned home and we had nursing assistance, that the bed sore was discovered. It was right where the spine meets the butt and was the size of a quarter.
As mother was bedridden for a while, the sore got worse over months. The sore grew to the size of my palm and one knuckle deep. I learned and assisted with this wound care as nurse could only come once a week per Medicare rules. There were times when I touched her spine as I did the wound care. Despite best efforts the wound got worse, mother had kidney failure too and died in hospice in October 2021. Mom was also in skilled nursing for 5 weeks prior to hospice (which was in a hospital). The average skill level of the staff at the skilled nursing facility I grade as a C . But I believe her decline was hastened by the bedsore which grew to a large sacral wound.
I'm happy that we cared for our mom mostly at home during her final year as I've never had a good feeling about these human warehouses for the dying and elderly.
**And I agree with the first family that Emeritus got a slap on the wrist for George McCaffey's death. Terrible ineptitude and negligence .
And the monthly fees these places charge are a complete rip-off.
4
Reply
@rosepandaliano907
@rosepandaliano907
3 weeks ago
Caring for seniors,,is a dedication,,empathy and respect for humans...
We need to pray for more
dedicated care givers. ❤😊😊
Reply
@mikeylorene
@mikeylorene
1 year ago
I put my mom in high end assisted living TEMPORARILY, so I could get my apartment ready for her to live with me. She went in on a Friday, late afternoon. They told me not to visit for 3 days so she could get acclimated to their schedule. On Tuesday, I walked in and found her in a coma with blood on her sheets. Saturday night, she was dead. Cause of death- dehydration, pneumonia, sepsis- all from neglect. Bottom line- they are LYING when they tell you they will take care of your loved one. They want your money. They won't sue me for defamation because I have all the proof- even the bloody sheets- and the hospital has photos of the cuts on her feet that were never treated leading to sepsis- and the only way a 92 yr old can die of dehydration is if water is withheld for 3 days.
55
Reply
7 replies
@TheRaindancer10
@TheRaindancer10
1 year ago
I worked for a Emeritus facility. It was the most disorganized experience I encountered in my nursing career. My worst experience was catching a CNA caregiver yelling at a resident. It was the dinner hour and caregiver was frustrated getting residents down to eat. I had zero tolerance for patient abuse. I didn't want her to continue this shift with what I saw. Until she could speak to Administrator and DNS the following day. She was very mad upon leaving. A few hours later her mother appeared with her and began verbally being abusive towards me. Finally ordering both off property or calling police they left. This girl who had just turned 18 and wasn't mature enough for her responsibility. I was taken back that the facility supported this employee. It was the beginning of nursing shortages and there wasn't a line outside to fill these positions. I turned incident over to the state. I was reprimanded and let go. There were so many other instances of poor care I was appaled and soon questioned my remaining in the field of nursing. I hope it's improved.
122
Reply
10 replies
@gerilyntaylor9984
@gerilyntaylor9984
1 year ago
i had become my sister's POA and within 3 years had to move her from a horrible facility of which I demanded and received the $3,000 non-refundable community fee. This place was disgusting and I walked around this Memory Care Facility with my daughter for 15 min videotaping that there was not a single staff member to be found. After bannging on a locked kitchen door...5 employees walked out and I demanded the name of their supervisor. I then moved my sister to Inspired Living in Tampa, FL and it was like a dream come true. They took amazing care of my sister, I would pop in unannounced and never found anything wrong. They have a full staff of which you can find a staff member at any time. if in Florida I would NOT recommend Brookdale Memory Care Facility in Winter Haven, FL or Canterfield of Clay County, Jacksonville, FL as they are horrible and do not want to care for their residents.
4
Reply
@investigator77
@investigator77
4 months ago (edited)
This is one of my biggest fears. I am turning 65 on Oct 30th, 2023, and my husband and daughter are both aware of my wishes. If I can no longer be cared for in my own home, then I will use MAID (medical assistance in dying) that is available here in Canada. I think it's wonderful that we can choose when to go, surrounded by loved ones and friends, peacefully. This would be the most horrifying thing to be subject to, after being an independent, working mother and wife all of my life. The indignity of being dependent on some minimum wage worker who really didn't want to be there, would be more than I could bear.
3
Reply
@nataliemcgovern3087
@nataliemcgovern3087
1 year ago
I was a caregiver for 12 years. Alzheimer's and Dementia was my expertise. I worked with clients(became adopted family) not only in their homes but at facilities. This is so true and yet so heartbreaking!
64
Reply
@bonitadannells3322
@bonitadannells3322
1 year ago
I was a caregiver in assisted living for 6 years, also did in-home care. It was a joy to care for these people.
92
Reply
12 replies
@marybutlin5605
@marybutlin5605
3 months ago
Thank you Frontline
1
Reply
@lizbrown8560
@lizbrown8560
3 months ago
I’m so glad I’m able to be good to the elderly I work with they are everything to me
Reply
@Desaree1
@Desaree1
1 year ago
Couple years ago at age 48 I landed in a nursing home for 2 months for I.v antibiotics. Horrible, horrific nasty terrible things happen to these elderly folks. I landed in tears almost daily feeling so bad for these folks. I told off every single employee for one mistreatment or another. Just really sad.
170
Reply
15 replies
@ruththomas6361
@ruththomas6361
1 year ago
I will never ever regret taking care of mom until her death even though it was very difficult both physically and mentally and financially (I quit my job to be able to care for her full time.) She was 3 months shy of 98 when she died. Her last two days were spent in a hospital on a morphine drip, and she died peacefully of internal bleeding caused by her years aspirin and ibuprophen use. We need to go back to the practice of generational care for our families -- from cradle to grave.
82
Reply
6 replies
@roseinadesert
@roseinadesert
9 months ago
They finally make documentary .thanks to all who make this possible.It’s reality of cooperate run assisted living and memory care:Thankyou for being out in limelight.
Reply
@vixxter3099
@vixxter3099
7 months ago (edited)
I am so glad I came upon this video. It really set off a lot of lightbulbs in my head. I currently work at an assisted living facility and it is anything but assisted living. Originally when it opened up it was, but just like in this video, they started bringing people in to fill the beds no matter what their condition was. My position within this company was grossly misrepresented to me. And the degree to which these residents need care was also misrepresented to me. I was misled into thinking that most of these people could do for themselves. I was told it was a no lift facility. Yeah right, tell that to my shoulders and my neck. I would’ve never taken the job if I would’ve known that I was going to have to be lifting and moving people who cannot help themselves and are basically dead weight. I am usually taking care of at least 23 people every shift and I honestly feel like I can’t provide the necessary care of what they need and it really plays on your conscience. But I am a very compassionate, loving and caring individual and I show that side of myself to all of my residents. They love me. But unfortunately I probably won’t stay long at this job because my body can’t handle that type of abuse. It’s very unfortunate because I would’ve never taken the job if I would’ve known what was really expected of me. On the plus side though I can say that the company I work for and place that I work at is nothing like this company mentioned in this video As far as being so short staffed and people are getting hurt and killed
2
Reply
@asperneto
@asperneto
1 year ago
I took care of my father who had dementia. He never wanted to go to the hospital or be sent away. Our family decided to hire caregivers who would attend to him on a 12-12 hr basis at home. It may be a bit costly, but we all have peace of mind and the welfare of our loved one. It's the least we can do to honor our parents.
54
Reply
5 replies
@LazyDaisysJournals
@LazyDaisysJournals
1 year ago
This is completely accurate. My mom just left the field due to the horrible treatment, understaffing, low wages, etc. The stories she told me were horrible.
53
Reply
2 replies
@loveatree1
@loveatree1
11 months ago
An eye-opening video. I hope it helps many people decide better care for their elders.
Reply
@isasant6926
@isasant6926
6 months ago
God bless the lives of all the brave and amazing people that talked and helped with all the unquestionable proof. And the work of this information made available. It is sickening the avarice and evil.
1
Reply
@devakolb8045
@devakolb8045
1 year ago
I cared for my 90 YO mother with advanced Alzeimer's until she passed. I could never leave her to one of those horrible, for-profit, homes. They could not even compare to the quality of care I could give mom. Yes, it was too much for me and it caused me much physical, emotional, financial and spiritual pain. But I would do it all over again. The quality of life should be everyone right.
142
Reply
22 replies
@PrincessMaryMargaret
@PrincessMaryMargaret
1 year ago
I was a caregiver for twenty five years in California. The facilities that look beautiful have the worst staff. The places you walk into and say to yourself, “I would not let my dog stay here.” Have the best staff. Weird how that works.
39
Reply
2 replies
@kerelindunnells1674
@kerelindunnells1674
10 months ago
I see this on a daily basis it's sad love my job but seeing resistance smile and say hi then on my days off come back to someone has passed away 😢
Reply
@JoelLopez-ur2kb
@JoelLopez-ur2kb
2 months ago
❤❤❤. thank you for the word...PBS. ❤❤❤
1
Reply
@kathythompson5800
@kathythompson5800
1 year ago
I am a Registered Nurse with over 40 years of bedside care during my career. Only about 2 of those were in nursing home/assisted care. I will say that in retrospect I wish I had been braver in my expression of distaste at what was going on. I was solely responsible for 40 patients with the help of maybe 3 CNA's. A lot of time there were only 2. I had to give all the meds including the as needed ones, check all the blood sugars and treat them, do all the lab draws, if anything happened to a resident I had to do an incident report which took 2 hours to complete. Start all the treatments, and help with lunch, and supervise the CNA's. One time the CNA's had not gotten around to changing a resident who had urinated on himself and the bed, he had a visitor come in just then and they went straight to the facility Director who then called me to the office and chewed me out for about 40 minutes. That is when I went back and called a meeting with the CNA"S that were there that day and told them I never wanted to have that experience again, and said a few more choice things for about 25 minutes so they would be well aware of what they were responsible for and that if they didn't want to do it that there was a door that opened both ways. Then all the licensed nursing staff were called into the Chief Nursing Officer's office and told that someone had resigned and that we all were going to have to work extra shifts to cover her shifts. What I should have told her was that there were agency nurses to help with things like that, we already worked 48 hours (12 hr. shifts), and so that would mean that just one extra shift would give us 20 hours of over time that they would somehow get out of paying time and a half for. And I could see them not replacing that nurse and just forcing us to take over those extra shifts. I quit that job before I had to work many of those extra shifts. The situation in the nursing homes and assistive living homes will NOT CHANGE until there is legislation stating that one licensed nurse can only take care of X number of residents (with X = 15) and do all the other things they have to do. And by the way there 7 other licensed nurses in the building that could have taken a couple of those extra shifts. Also they need to state that a CNA can only care for 10-15 residents because they have all the manual labor to do. And they need to hire LPN's to do the blood sugars, and treat them and help with meds and dressing changes and charting and all the endless things that come up during the day or night. Companies/people who own nursing homes should not be there simply to get rich, in fact it ought to be illegal for then to show a profit above X dollars/year/facility. I don't know what that dollar amount should be, but it needs to be regulated and it should be mandated also that the staff have the equipment and materials needed to do their job. I am going to end here, but I could go on longer. It is a horrible way to die-- in a warehouse for old people.
36
Reply
4 replies
@georgiaamanatides4207
@georgiaamanatides4207
1 year ago
I applied to be a home health aide. I was interviwed, asked my experience which was none, immediately given a written test that I guessed at. Questions concerning tbi, etc. I guessed at the answers.
I was immediately hired, given an assignment with no training whatsoever. I declined the job and never went back.
27
Reply
@sharoncrabtree3304
@sharoncrabtree3304
1 year ago
These stories just breaks my heart. I went through this with my mom and dad. I miss them Everday, We only have one nursing home (small town).I seen lots of stuff go on there. Mostly not good.
1
Reply
@thatsixtiesgirl7809
@thatsixtiesgirl7809
1 year ago
We took care of my mom after she broke her hip at our home for almost two years until she passed away per her wish here at home with us. We were blessed to be able to keep her with us but we know most people are not able to do so for their own parents due to work demands or their own health issues. In my opinion home, more accessible health care would help more people stay at home with their families.
2
Reply
@renah2509
@renah2509
1 year ago
My daughter is in a nursing home and I worked there for 3 years...I saw enough to shut that place down...it's been turned into State so many times it's unreal and State does "Nothing "..apparently someone is getting their pockets padded because they always know when State is coming...These stories hurt my heart but it's reality of what is happening not only in assisted living but also nursing home facilities.. People make sure you visit your loved ones so you know what is happening...God bless..
31
Reply
@cindyhughey1153
@cindyhughey1153
1 year ago
Thank you for this documentary. These things happened to my father in two separate assisted living homes. One he fell and broke his hip after only 48 hours. The next he fell and hit his head and went into a 3 day coma. I ended up having to care for him myself 24 hours a day just to make sure he was safe. I was paying several thousands a month. For what? I know he would have died if I hadn't taken this action.
57
Reply
1 reply
@Suddenly_Quinn
@Suddenly_Quinn
4 months ago
It’s honestly cruel what happens to our seniors in assisted livings, hospice, etc.
I watched my grandmother decline so rapidly in one it was beyond heartbreaking.
She was of sound mind, but had breathing difficulties.
I’ll never forgot all she wanted and would ask for is “I just want to go home”
1
Reply
@mignonnelafleur4668
@mignonnelafleur4668
1 year ago
The key is caregiver competency versus number of caregiver personnel employed at a facility. I work as a private hospice/end-of-life caregiver and have worked w patient's in various assisted living facilities. Dealing w any dementia diagnosis (there are several) can be challenging especially as the disease progresses and the patient is less and less able to communicate their needs; there are oft times constant changes to meds/prescriptions, changes in level of assistance needed re ADL's and changes in personality. If a caregiver is not properly trained to recognize and handle such, the patient is at risk. Most caregivers truly care about their patients but a lack of training can impede their desires to provide excellent care leaving the patient in a rough predicament AND leaving well intentioned caregivers with a loss because they simply could not perform as needed. Training, training, training!
3
Reply
@bettyvargo9923
@bettyvargo9923
1 year ago
I am so glad my father didnt end up in one of these..My older sister and I overseed him in his home. He stayed quite mobile in his 90's till he was about 95. He then needed a wheelchair but still was quite mobile, could still walk alittle. He lived to be two months shy of 98 and not taking any meds ever and he was able to live out his life in his own home.. I pray I can too.
43
Reply
@rafascrofa
@rafascrofa
1 year ago
Gosh this hits home for me I lost my mom 3 months ago she as well had dementia. she was starting to wander outside of her home so I had to put her in a memory care facility. she lasted only a month in the facility and then she passed away. my family has requested an autopsy just for our own peace of mind since her death was so unexpected. my mom had visitors everyday for the month she was there because I knew it was hard on her. i miss her everyday not a day has gone by in these last 3 months that I don’t stop to cry and think of her if. you have a loved one in any type of facility please visit them because there lives are so precious.
67
Reply
15 replies
@scorpio85
@scorpio85
3 months ago
Wow that was an eye opener. From a South African.
Reply
@lauranglover521
@lauranglover521
1 year ago
One of the best places I worked was Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth, GA....absolutely outstanding! I pray after 20 years, it's still that way!
Reply
@thepinkyprincesspoetc.a.5767
@thepinkyprincesspoetc.a.5767
1 year ago (edited)
I SPOKE UP and Fired 2 home healthcare agencies that were coming to take care of my father after I moved in with him after taking my husband off life support with stage four liver failure and I could see that they were not giving my father the care that he needed you really have to speak up and be your father‘s voice or your parents voice because there’s just times when they can’t and I want to know that I did everything that I could to keep my father in his home until he dies so he doesn’t have to go to an assisted living or skilled nursing facility and it’s very hard but that’s what you do when you love someone... you just have to put up with some verbal and emotional abuse from you’re aging parent and inconvenience in YOUR LIFE but in the end you know that you took care of them the best you could❤️
39
Reply
4 replies
@patricianoel7782
@patricianoel7782
1 year ago
I have multiple sclerosis and idiopathic osteoporosis. I am 65 and have been living in assisted living for 18 months in Utah. I agree with all of these issues coining on at Emeritus.
15
Reply
@littlezentz
@littlezentz
8 months ago
Got very fortunate with my parents. They went to Holiday Park Plaza in Portland OR and the care was extraordinary. Hoping they are still able to keep the anazing staff they had in the early 2000's today when its so hard to keep workers.
Reply
@savannah58
@savannah58
1 year ago
Heartless
1
Reply
@jeremystark3350
@jeremystark3350
1 year ago
I watched my great grandfather die basically alone, unhappy & uncared for at an assisted living facility after his wife of 82 years died. He was such a strong man & it was heartbreaking to watch him wither away in such a place. I was a kid and didnt quite understand but now as an adult I can see how badly they mistreated him & others in this assisted living facility. I remember seeing people walking in circles, standing in puddles of urine or some liquid, people in wheelchairs against the wall with nobody helping them. I wish I was old enough at the time. I would have done anything to get him out of that place or report it to someone. I can only imagine how bad it was when patients families were not there. I mean this was on family visit days when I saw all that madness happening to people.
104
Reply
4 replies
