National Nursing Assistant Survey
Results of First National Nursing Assistant Survey were recently published sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The survey was designed to provide information needed to recruit, retain and expand the direct care workforce. Some of the characteristics the survey examined include demographics, career decisions, work experience and training, pay and benefits, work environment, home environment, injuries and vaccinations.
According to the findings almost half of all CNAs are members of a minority group; their median hourly wage was $10.04; almost two-thirds lived on an annual family income of less than $30,000; 16 percent had no health insurance and more than half were injured on the job at least once during the previous year.
The survey represents the data available about CNAs in nursing homes and provides a resource for evidence-based policy, practice, and applied research initiatives to address the CNA workforce shortage and to improve recruitment and retention efforts. National Nursing Assistant Survey can be found here.
Sexual abuse at a North Carolina nursing home
Dunn Police in North Carolina are investigating a nursing home after a 78-year-old patient was sexually assaulted by a male staff member, according to reports. A 43-year-old, male CNA at Magnolia Living Center is under investigation relating to the sexual assault of two female residents. The first incident involves an elderly female resident at Magnolia Living Center who reported that on May 2 around 10 a.m., a CNA at the nursing home touched her inappropriately.
Nursing Home Director Shelley Tinsley reported the incident to police on May 5, three days after the assault allegedly occurred and one day after the victim initially told another CNA what had happened. The second incident involving a 51-year-old resident was reported to police on May 12th. The incidents are currently under investigation as aggravated assaults with sexual motives. The suspected CNA has finally been removed from his position while the investigation continues.
According to other media outlets, the victims remain at Magnolia Living Center for now.
CNA assaults resident after a fall
The Herald Tribune has another tragic story about a nursing home employee assaulting an elderly woman in a nursing home. How can the other staff not know what is going on? What kind of background check do they actually do? Do they ask for references? Do they check references?
A former nursing assistant at Punta Gorda Elderly Care Center was arrested today and charged with felony elder abuse. The woman, Letitia Calderwood kicked a 76-year-old woman in the back and slapped her in the face, according to a press release from the Punta Gorda Police Department.
On May 19, Calderwood and two other employees were helping the elderly woman get up from a fall in the bathroom, police reported. Struggling to help the woman, Calderwood kicked her in the lower back while she was still down and then slapped her in the face when she was lifted to her feet, according to the report.
Calderwood and the two other facility employees had difficulty helping the resident to her feet and Calderwood subsequently kicked in her lower back while using a profanity. Once the resident was helped to her feet, Calderwood struck her in the face with an open hand.
Both employees were interviewed by detectives and provided statements describing the incident and the alleged battery and abuse. Calderwood was interviewed by detectives and admitted to kicking and striking the resident as originally reported. She stated that her actions were done out of frustration although she knew the patient was disabled and had limited ability to stand on her own.
Calderwood is being held without bond at Charlotte County Jail. She faces one charge of battery on the elderly and one charge of abuse of the elderly, both third-degree felonies.
Resident abused by CNA
John Ette, a certified nurse assistant is charged with abusing an 88-year-old bed-ridden resident at Adirondack Medical Center's Mercy Nursing Home. He is accused of hitting, grabbing and punching the visually and dementia-impaired woman last October, leaving her with a broken collarbone and facial bruising. Officials say John Ette hit and pushed an 88-year-old bedridden woman while working at the Adirondack Medical Center and Mercy Nursing Home in Tupper Lake. The woman had multiple bruises and a fractured clavicle in October 2008.
Shortly after midnight on Oct. 20, 2008, Ette struck the bedridden patient in the face, grabbed her arm and pushed her down into her wheelchair, according to the court complaint filed against him. The patient suffered a broken collarbone and some facial bruising. Her condition is now stable, and she still lives at the nursing home, said David Doyle, spokesman for the state Office of the Attorney General.
Ette admitted the act to state investigators on Nov. 12, 2008. Nursing Home staff noticed the woman's severe injuries the next morning and notified administrators and her family. Ette was fired following an internal investigation last October. Ette was charged Wednesday by the Attorney General's Office with second-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and willful violation of health laws.
"Nursing-home care must be administered with the respect and professionalism that New York's seniors deserve," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a news release. "It is appalling when our dependent and vulnerable loved ones are victimized by the very people who are entrusted with their care."
AMC goes through an extensive screening and background check process before it makes a hire.
Ette's estranged wife, Jodi Ette, told the Enterprise John Ette had displayed violent tendencies in the past. She said he had never been violent toward her but had lashed out at inanimate objects. She said that when the incident happened, it took John Ette several days to divulge the details of the alleged abuse. "He wouldn't tell me the full story for quite some time," she said.
"We want to reassure families that we are taking the proper steps to protect the safety and well-being of our residents, patients and staff," AMC's Chief Financial Officer Patrick Facteau said.
He had worked at Mercy since Feb. 21, 2006.
Report on CNAs
A recent report came out on the hourly wages, injuries suffered, and poverty of CNAs. CNAs are certified nurse assistants. They are typically unlicensed health care providers with little education and training. They provide 80-90% percent of the care and treatment given to residents in a nursing home, if not more. It is rare an actual RN examines or assesses residents.
This report summarizes conditions for CNA's. More than 50% received at least one work-related injury last year, and roughly 16% don't have health insurance, mostly because of cost. More than 33% of CNA's are receiving some form of public assistance, such as food stamps or rental subsidies. Their median wage is $10.04 an hour. They provide 8 out of every 10 hours of resident care. Forty-two percent of uninsured CNAs cite not participating in their employer-sponsored insurance plan because they could not afford the plan. Years of experience do not translate into higher wages; CNAs with 10 or more years of experience averaged just $2/hr more than aides who started working in the field less than 1 year ago.
The nursing home industry exploits these workers and then they wonder why their turnover rate is so high and retention is so low? Corporations who own these nursing home chains need to understand that they should train, pay, and provide health care to these front line workers. Provide incentives to become LPNs and RNs. Offer better benefits or paid vacation time.
Dog walkers get paid more than nursing home employees
SunTimes had a great article about the compensation given to employees of nursing homes. Columnist Mary Mitchell does a great job explaining why the lack of good pay for nurses taking care of the sick and elderly proves that we as a country do not take care of the most vulnerable among us. She starts the article with a simple fact: On average, a certified nursing assistant in Illinois makes less than a dog walker. She saw an ad offering $8.50 an hour to work as a certified nursing assistant at a suburban location.
Nationally, the annual median salary for the job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $10.67 an hour, and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who work in community care facilities for the elderly are the lowest paid. After about 20 years or more on the job, these workers earn about $12 to $15 an hour, according to the Nursing Assistant Central Web page.
But with only one year of experience, a dog walker in this state can earn $11 an hour. In New York, the amount jumps to $20.35.
We don't really care about what happens to our elderly. But as a society, we don't care. We think we do, but we don't. What else explains why we put the most vulnerable members of society-- our children and our elderly -- in the hands of the lowest-paid workers. Do you ever think about what that says about the value we put on these human lives?
That won't happen until we are willing to pay those who care for our children, the disabled and our elderly more than those who take care of our dogs.
Another nursing home employee caught molesting residents
Deseret News had an article about the sentencing of a nursing home employee who molested an 85 year old resident where he was employed. This is a tragic and preventable situation. Why didn't anyone supervise this CNA? How could they have hired this guy? Why did they allow him to plea to a lesser crime? How could they give him such a light sentence?
Jacob Mut Bolith was charged in July 2007 with first-degree felony rape, second-degree felony forcible sex abuse and class A misdemeanor lewdness. However, in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony, and the other two charges were dropped. He was only sentenced to serve a one-to-15-year sentence and ordered him to pay restitution.
"To do this to my mother ... is unconscionable," one daughter said. Her other daughter said a medical exam showed that the defendant did more than "what he admitted."
The article doesn't mention if the facility knew or should have known about their employee's tendencies or if they did a background check or if they recieved prior complaints about his behavior or if the State even investigated the nursing home.
Abused resident dies before grand jury could indict
The Fort Worth Star Telegram had an article about a tragic situation where an abused resident died before the grand jury was able to indict his tormentor.
Elaine Doores, a retired biology professor diagnosed two years earlier with Alzheimer’s, struggled to find the right words to describe the abuse she survived. "He has hurt me a lot. Every time he bathes me. He puts things in me. . . . He had sex with me more than once. It’s all the time in the bath."
The 68-year-old woman’s statement led to the arrest of Donald Gene Shelby, a certified nursing assistant at the James L. West Alzheimer’s Center where Doores had been living.
Her daughter says the district attorney’s office stalled in handling the case. "They sat on it while the victim got worse," Pitt said. "That’s the disservice they did to my mom and my family."
She believes that prosecutors dealing with victims who have dementia or Alzheimer’s should try to present the case to a grand jury without delay.
Elaine Doores was placed in a nursing home Jan. 23, 2007, two years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Pitt said Doores had difficulty speaking and performing motor skills but recognized relatives.
Pitt said that on Feb. 18, Shelby told her that her mother was upset the day before because the pajamas that she wanted to wear were dirty. Pitt said she was puzzled because her mother had never seemed to care what she wore. Later, during the same visit, Pitt said that when she suggested getting "Donald" to help Doores go to the bathroom, her mother became agitated. When questioned, Doores told her daughter that Shelby was "bad" and had done something "wrong."
Pitt said she sought the help of a floor nurse, who asked Doores whether Shelby had touched her. Doores answered, "Yes." When the nurse asked where, Doores replied, "Everywhere," Pitt said.
Pitt went home and told her husband, Deven Pitt, a Fort Worth police detective. At his suggestion, the two contacted Detective S.L. Schloeman, the on-duty investigator with the sex crimes unit, and filed a police report.
Afterward, Doores provided a statement to Schloeman, a copy of which Pitt gave to the Star-Telegram. Doores described Shelby as "scary" and said she was afraid of him. She said he made threats and told her not to tell anyone what he had done.
Schloeman, now a sergeant in patrol, said that to determine Doores’ mental state, she had asked Doores questions, including some about her daughter’s birth date, the current year and where she lived. Doores answered every question correctly, Schloeman said.
"She displayed symptoms of having just a minor case of Alzheimer’s," Schloeman said. "She was able to give me a clear, concise description of what had happened to her. She was able to identify the suspect in a photo spread and identify him by first name."
On March 2, 2007, Schloeman obtained an arrest warrant for Shelby on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault. The next day, Shelby surrendered at the Tarrant County Jail and was released after posting $50,000 bail.
Tarrant County court records show that Shelby was indicted in March 1987 on a charge of indecency/fondling. The state dismissed that case in January 1988 after the accuser, a male minor, committed suicide.
How could he get a job at a nursing home when he had been arrested for abusing a vulnerable person? Did the nursing home do a criminal background check?
Another CNA accused of raping residents
Here is a link to an article about a Nashville CNA arrested for raping a 70-year-old resident of a nursing home. Police arrested 44-year-old Harvey Eugene Taylor for allegedly raping a woman in her room at Madison Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center.
Police said the woman suffered from dementia. He was charged with aggravated rape.
In May, the 70-year-old woman told staff members that Taylor sexually assaulted her.
She was taken to the hospital. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation analyzed DNA recovered from her and it matched a sample from Taylor, who denies having any sexual contact with the patient.
Taylor has been a licensed nurse's aid since 2000.
Police said the woman suffered from dementia. He was charged with aggravated rape.
In May, the 70-year-old woman told staff members that Taylor sexually assaulted her.
She was taken to the hospital. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation analyzed DNA recovered from her and it matched a sample from Taylor, who denies having any sexual contact with the patient.
Taylor has been a licensed nurse's aid since 2000.
