March 10, 2015
I was in your facility for the first time on March 9, 2015 visiting a dear friend of mine who had
recently become a resident there. During my visit I observed some very disturbing treatment of another resident by one of your staff members.
The following is what I witnessed.
I arrived at your facility at approximately 6:15 p.m. and was escorted to the Alzheimer’s unit by a very friendly staff member. During my visit I encountered a very nice LPN that was working the hall where my friend was located. (She was wearing a name tag however, I’m sorry I do not remember her name, but she was very sweet to all the residents that I saw here dealing with.) My friend became quite weak from walking the hall so we were in her room where she fell asleep in her bed. (This was approximately 6:45 p.m.) At around 7:00 p.m. or so, another staff member came in and removed my friends meal tray and pulled the privacy curtain a little so the light from the hallway was not shining in my friends eyes, she also told me I could turn the heat up if I needed to. (She was very nice) I remained sitting with my friend in the recliner that was located between her bed and the privacy curtain that separated the room, while she slept. At approximately 7:45 p.m. a male came into the room and took my friends roommate (xxxxx, I believe her name was) into the bathroom for her PM care and proceeded to get her into bed. (He was obviously unaware I was sitting on the other side of the curtain) A female resident from the adjoining room opened the door to the bathroom on her side and said to the male staff member “I need to go to the bathroom” . The male staff member stated to this resident…“I’m in here, you’re just gonna have to wait!” The resident then replied… “I can’t wait, I really have to go!” the male then said quite harshly…“I’ll be done in a few minutes and YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN, you can use it when I’m done!” (From what I heard, the resident was not out of
control at all.) The resident then said…“Then would you PLEASE hurry, I really have to go bad.” The staff member replied… “I gotta get xxxxx's crap out of here and then you can come in” He then exited the bathroom and upon exiting, he slammed the door with such force that it shook the chair that I was sitting in and would have certainly broken anyone’s hand had they been unfortunate enough to have it in the way. He then went into the adjoining room (which was were the resident that need to use the bathroom came from) and I heard & felt the door on that side of the bathroom slam shut with equal force. The resident in the bathroom was yelling something by this time, which I was unable to make out…more because I think I was in shock than anything else. This male staff member then came back into the room where I was still unknowingly sitting and opened the bathroom door and proceeded to say to the resident, “ I have a bunch of people out here…we are all gonna watch you go to the bathroom…come on everyone…come on in…let’s watch.” I could not take
anymore… I got up and walked to the end of the curtain where I saw this poor woman sitting on the toilet and the staff member standing with his back to me…he still was unaware of my presence. The staff member then took a step into the bathroom and there was a package of wipes on the railing next to toilet, the staff member grabbed the package of wipes and yanked them away and started to back out of the bathroom reaching for the door as he backed out. I grabbed a hold of the door and when this staff member tried to slam the door again…I stopped it. That is when he realized he was not alone. He turned around and looked at me and said, very surprised…”Oh…Hi…” I looked at him and said… “Why…would…you…do…that?” His
Reply…“She can’t have these she will flush them all” I said “Really…?” He then shut the bathroom door and left the room. The resident was in the bathroom yelling…“I need those”. I heard the male open the door of the adjoining room and say…“Here…you can have one”. I sat in my friends room in shock for several more minutes before exiting. I immediately went to the same LPN that I had mentioned earlier and asked her what the male staff members name was and I believe she said “xxxxx”. I then proceeded down the hall to leave and realized that I needed assistance to leave. I returned back to the LPN and said to her… “How do I get out?” She said, “Oh, we have to let you out.” At that time, “xxxxx” was coming out of the room right next to where we were and he said… “I’ll let you out.” As we proceeded down the hall toward the exit, I looked at him and said, “Why would you do that?…he did not answer. I then said…“Why would you try to embarrass her by telling her you were bringing in people to watch her go to the bathroom?”. Still no reply…I then said…“That is not how you to treat people” … “ I want you to know that I fully intend on reporting you.” He then decided to respond by saying…“I’ll probably loose my job.” I then looked and him and replied… “So be it…You don‘t treat people like that.” I then asked him “Would you want to be treated that way?” He replied…“yes”. Surprised, I said…“ You Would?!” and he said…“No.” I replied… “ I didn’t think so.“ Lastly, I looked at him and said “Well as I said…I am going to report you.” He had no response and I left the unit. (Never once did he say he was sorry for his behavior.) As I was leaving I saw a girl in the area that residents were playing bingo in when I arrived and asked her if there were any supervisors or administrators in the building that I could speak with and she said that she thought that there was only a nurse that oversaw things at night. I told her I would call back over in the morning… thanked her and left. (It was approximately 8:00 p.m. by this time.)
My times may be off slightly but my account of what happened is completely accurate.
It horrifies me that my friend will be staying in a facility with staff members that behave in such a manner. I do not know what your mission statement says, but I am sure it says something about treating residents with dignity and respect. This was clearly not enforced by this staff member.
In my opinion “xxxxx” has no business working in this profession and poses a very real threat to the well being of the residents in your facility.
The fact that the he never once said he was sorry for his behavior and his only concern was that he may lose his job, leads me to believe that this is common practice for this staff member.