Nursing Home Ends Working Resident Program

A nursing home in Marshalltown, Iowa that catered to veterans recently ended a program in which residents who were capable were paid to move other wheelchair bound patients around. After a resident fell out of her wheelchair face-first onto a concrete ramp, home officials decided the program was too dangerous to continue.

According to JD Supra.com, a resident employee was transporting a woman back from the on-site beauty parlor when she attempted to stand. She fell, breaking her nose and cutting her forehead. It required fourteen stitches to close the wound on her head. The resident employee reported he had no training in wheelchair handling and had been working there for three months. The woman's injuries could have been prevented and are the result of nursing home neglect.

With reductions in Medicare payments and subsequent layoffs, more nursing homes may turn to this kind of program where residents are paid to help care for other residents. But without proper training or supervision, resident employee programs may be more dangerous than helpful. Residents could be injured if untrained employees attempt to move them to prevent pressure sores. Additionally, resident employees would not face the same screening as traditional employees. This could leave the more vulnerable residents in danger of various kinds of nursing home abuse; sexual, physical, or emotional.

Relying on residents to care for each other is not an appropriate solution to understaffing. Training requirements and background checks for employees exist for a reason.