State Steps In After Second Episode Involving Patient Elopmement At Same Facility
I think its downright scary when facilities fail to learn from their mistakes. Of course, --- any person, --- any facility can make a mistake one time, but when the same errors are repeatedly made I feel there is well deserved cause for concern.
An episode of a patient wandering from Brentwood Assisted Living facility, would normally not be a particularly noteworthy event--- especially since the eloping woman will hopefully recover from her injuries. What deservedly brings more attention to this incident is the fact that this was the second patient to wander from this facility this year!
In the most recent occurrence, the Michigan Department of Human Services is investigating the incident in which a 91-year-old woman wandered from the assisted living facility with her walker. Three days later, the woman was discovered by neighbors in the area at the bottom of a heavily wooded ravine.
As DHS investigates this incident, just months before the agency investigated a similar incident in which a patients eloped from the facility. After the agencies investigation, it was revealed that Brentwood: 1) failed to monitor the patient in accordance with their care plan that identified them as being at high risk for eloping and 2) failed to timely notify the patients family of the occurrence.
Patterns of poor care
Of course, episodes of poor care should give rise to concern. However patterns of poor care really should give rise to alarm both on the part of families who have loved ones at this facility and on the part of the state.
Even though it appears that neither patient involved in these elopement events was injured seriously, I hope that the state recognizes the severity of these lapses in patient care and reprimands the facility accordingly.
Episodes involving patient elopement and wandering rarely end as well as it did for these patients. Unfortunately, when patients wander from a nursing home or assisted living facility they are ill-equipped to deal with the world around them. In our nursing home abuse practice, we have worked on several cases where patients received severe injuries or were killed after they left the safe confines of their facility.
Read more about this case of elopement from an assisted living facility here.
Elopement
Assisted living and nursing home patients with dementia and Alzheimer's are commonly known to elope from their facilities. On admission, the facility should conduct an assessment of the patient (with family if possible) and determine the persons risk level for eloping from the facility.
Once an assessment has been completed, the implementation of simple preventative measures implemented by a facility to assure the patient remains safely at the facility. Assisted living facilities and nursing homes that care for patients who are at risk for eloping should have the following safeguards in place:
- Door alarms
- Window locks
- Door locks
- Bracelets that track each resident's location
- Hire adequate staff to look after residents
- Have contingent plan to locate patients in the event a resident elopes from the facility
Related Nursing Homes Abuse Blog Entries
Assisted Living Facilities Need To Re-Evaluate If They Are Capable Of Caring For Dementia Patients
What Can Nursing Homes Learn From Jails?
Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Filed After Man Wandered From West Virginia Facility
I'll never get accustomed to the fact that many elderly will suffer an injury or die due to the carelessness of people who are intended to care for them. It seems that every few weeks we hear about an elderly person who mysteriously goes missing from a facility and wanders to his or her death. Despite the frequency, it still outrages me when I hear about such completely preventable situations..png)
Is it fair to expect an assisted living facility-- loosely regulated entities that help residents with daily living activities to care for a person with Alzheimer's? Assisted living facilities (ALF's) are intended to provide a semi-structured environment to (primarily) elderly group. Meals are prepared and staff are intended to provide residents with daily living activities. Unlike nursing homes, ALF's are not intended to provide skilled nursing care..png)
Why in the world would I suggest the the people who are responsible for the care of our most vulnerable take a lesson from those responsible for most violent? The answer has to do with how nursing homes keep track of their residents. .png)
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