Friday, March 02, 2012

Nurse at Nursing Home charged with neglect

A Cumberland County grand jury has indicted a former nurse at a Burkesville nursing home on charges of elder neglect and theft of a controlled substance, according to Attorney General Jack Conway.Jinger Butler, 41, is accused of replacing and retaining the medications of 10 adult residents from May to November of 2010, when she was acting as a caretaker at Cumberland Valley Manor Nursing Home in Burkesville, a statement from Conway's office said. Butler was indicted on 11 counts of neglect, a Class C felony with a penalty of five to 10 years.Butler's conduct, according to the indictment, deprived each resident of services necessary to maintain the health and welfare of the patient, constituting knowing neglect of an adult.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/24/2040039/ex-burkesville-nursing-home-nurse.html#storylink=cpy
Nurse who worked at Burkesville facility charged with neglect, theft Voiceless & Vulnerable: Nursing Home Abuse Kentucky.com

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Home health industry fights proposal to require minimum wage

Home health care companies are leading the fight against an Obama administration proposal to require them to pay their workers the minimum wage, despite data showing that the industry was one of the few nationally to maintain profits during the worst of the recession.
One of the industry's leading companies, Home Instead Senior Care, spent at least $362,000 in 2011 fighting the proposal while it also touts an 18.8 yield ratio of investment to revenue, which was the highest in the group reviewed by the magazine Franchise Business Review.
A spokesman for Home Instead sent a news release from the Private Duty Homecare Association stating that the proposed rules would cut employees' hours and, ultimately, hurt caregivers.
Home health companies have been more profitable in the past two years, even as other businesses have been hit hard by the economy,
"In home health care, you can't even tell you had a recession," Lubansky said.
The minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour.
A Labor Department proposal issued in December would require home health care companies to follow federal wage and hour laws regarding their workers.
Changing the rules, industry officials say, would damage the quality of care.
Most home health care payments come from private insurance or the family of the person needing care, said Gale Bohling, director of government relations for the National Private Duty Association. Requiring them to pay minimum wage and overtime could hurt a population that would rather stay home than go to nursing home care, he said.
Many workers also have advanced training, such as certified nursing assistants."It does differ from a kid working at McDonald's for minimum wage," Smith said.
Home health industry fights proposal to require minimum wage – USATODAY.com

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Nursing Home patients in 'immediate jeopardy' |

Saying they have found nursing home violations that constituted "immediate jeopardy" to elderly nursing home patients at the Hebert Nursing Home on Log Road, federal and state health officials have given the 133-bed facility until Feb. 1 to make corrections or they will terminate it as a Medicare and Medicaid provider for skilled nursing care.
Additionally, the U.S. agency dealing with Medicare and Medicaid services has been fining the facility $5,500 a day since Dec. 22 and has imposed a denial of payments for any new admissions after Jan. 23.

Hebert Nursing Home patients in 'immediate jeopardy' The Valley Breeze

Monday, February 27, 2012

care giver facing abuse charges

A CARE home worker has been accused of abuse against elderly patients.Janice Glover faces eight separate charges covering a two year period when she worked at Ayr’s Claremont Nursing Home.She denies the charges, however, has been sacked from her job at plush Bupa run Claremont, which specializes in the care of dementia patients.It is alleged that between May 1, 2010 and November 30 that year, Glover assaulted an elderly nursing home patient by handling her chest.It is further alleged that between July 2, 2009 and February 1, 2011, Glover ill-treated an elder patient by repeatedly striking him on the ears with her fingers, inserting a pen into his ears, repeatedly instructing staff not to care for him when he had fallen, making him sleep in a chair overnight when there was no medical need to do so and repeatedly swearing and making offensive remarks towards him.The third charge states that Glover ill-treated another male patient by repeatedly swearing and making remarks of a sexual nature towards him between July 2, 2009 and February 18 2011.
Claremont carer facing catalogue of abuse charges.