This was so hard to watch as I worked in a retirement community the last 10 years before I retired from working - I loved those people. Yes, there were cases of abuse, but surprisingly, some of those cases were from family members or private duty care-takers hired by the family to care for their loved one.

Now a days, nursing homes are so sparsely staffed that it is easy for abuse to occur in the form of neglect due to inattentiveness; or put another way, simply not enough staff to see to the basic needs of the patients.

Weekends are the worst days of the week for staffing shortages due to call-offs and no-shows. Many medicine mistakes occur when understaffing exists. Also, staff knows which patient's family pops in frequently and which are safe to ignore. So be proactive and recruit family members, friends, etc., to pop in for a quick visit - tell them to always make a point to talk to staff members by asking them about the patient - just so they are aware that "Ms. Lillian" does have vistiors on a regular basis.

I have to admit, that since I have worked in that industry, my biggest fear is growing old and not having any children to check in on me if I end up in that type of care. By the time I hit my 80s or 90s, I dread to think of the what the nursing shortage will be by then, considering how tough it is to find nurses now.
Chris

We've become a society that - hard to believe but true - looks down on the elderly as though they are somehow a "burden" or a "drain". I'm not so much concerned about institutions. There is more accountability in those places than there is in private homes. That's my focus. I used to have a wonderful friend in her 90s who had been a true Southern Belle as a young woman. She was filthy rich, sweet and generous to a fault, and highly intelligent. I watched her shrink into a frightened woman who seemed confused and intimidated by the nasty little woman who was her caregiver. That woman ended up with a house, 2 new vehicles, and a college education for her son. One of the really big red flags was she isolated Marian from her friends. She used to play Canasta weekly with a number of friends from the community. That stopped. She used to invite me for lunch and we'd sit and drink iced tea and I'd read to her. That stopped. I'd call just to chat and she was never available. I told everyone I could think of and learned I wasn't the only one worried about her, but nothing was ever done - at least to my knowledge. I never spoke to her or saw her again. To this day I wonder what really happened in that house at the end.
Mary

I watched the video. Painful. I worked in long-term care from 1984 to 1997. There are good homes and homes that are not. The not-for-profit home I worked at gave the best care and was better staffed. Each facility I was at worked hard at giving the best care possible with what they had to work with. The state inspectors were thorough and tough when they found a problem. We worked hard at correcting any problems. The greatest issue is the lack of nurses aides and nurses because it is an awesome task that has to be accomplished day after day in as few hours as possible. There is a huge turnover in staff. The CNA's are invaluable to the care delivery system. The work is hard and demanding and unending. If the proper equipment is not available, injuries occur. Untrained staff, because it is an entry level position, have to learn. Supervision has to be constant. Expectation of adequate care to each resident had to be reinforced over and over. And praise, a good job done, has to be extended to those good caregivers, all of them. Teaching or disciplinary action given to those who fell short.

We hold a small Senior Conference every spring. A few years ago we had a group of seniors put on a skit. It was excellent. It dealt with Elder Abuse and how quickly it can become abuse. Like the first enactment of the video when the camera panned up to the bed. Thank you