California volunteer group targets nursing home abuse
July 12 , 2005
After a registered nurse in Oakland, California witnessed severe nursing home abuse while working as interim director of a nursing home eleven years ago, she made a personal promise to prevent as much abuse as she could at Bay Area nursing homes, later creating the Care Advocate Program to help carry out her mission.
Her program teaches volunteers how to spot elder abuse, and the first group of volunteers has recently completed their training. Once a week, volunteers visit people in nursing homes and lobby for their interests. More than just friendly visitors, the group is also able to report nursing home abuse, which they learned to identify in their three-day training program.
On the first day of training, social service agencies talked to volunteers about elder abuse and nursing home neglect. On the second day, physicians and internists visited volunteers to teach them how elders can be medically abused in a nursing home, and by the third day, volunteers visited a nursing home. By sending in regular visitors as watchdogs on behalf of the seniors, the group hopes it will ward off potential instances of nursing home abuse by keeping employees aware.
Nursing home abuse can occur on many levels, though most people associate abuse to physical acts. Neglect is one of the most common forms of nursing home abuse, but it can be more difficult to identify since there is usually an absence of physical signs. Because many nursing home facilities are understaffed, residents in need of constant care and attention can be overlooked.
For more information on California's nursing homes, contact us to confer with a California nursing home abuse lawyer.
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