Yet these same bureaucrats insist we need unionized daycare so they can better enforce the rule that a sleeping child be visually watched every second! What a bleeping joke! Babies sleep w/o being watched through the night ALL THE TIME, elderly in assisted care don't. It's all about creating more union dues for the DFL campaign coffers. Bill G.

Thank heavens families are speaking out and trying to correct deplorable conditions in our nursing homes and a deplorable failure by state government to protect our elderly. We need more folks who are willing to speak the truth about nursing homes and the way statement government operates. The conditions in nursing homes should have been addressed long, long ago.

Maybe families should take their elderly into their own homes and care for them.

Is Ms Van Pelt a coroner? Seizures and strokes come on very rapidly. Does this women think someone should be at the bedside 24/7? Another person with a relative in a nursing home who seems to think filing complaints is the same thing as actively being in her care.

Instead of writing complaints, please volunteer to assist your family member. The amt of time it takes a nursing home and a state investigator to investigate and respond to a complaint is a waste of tax dollars. The complaint Deb Holtz filed is an example of a waste of tax dollars and nursing home staff time.

This is a poor job of reporting. Of course there are cases of neglect in long-term care facilities. In an industry so huge, and unfortunately implemented many times by people who in many cases are tremendously motivated but at the same time poorly trained and paid, it will happen. But that is not the fault of the investigators and the procedure for reporting, investigating and resolving abuse and neglect is, far from what Mr. Schrade's article implies, is actually quite good. Here's how it works. Procedures vary slightly from County to County but follow generally the same pattern. If abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult (long-term care residents) is suspected, the person witnessing it can make a call to the County CEP (Common Entry Point) which anyone can get by calling their County's Social Service agency and asking for it. If it is after hours the voice message will always give a number where the report can be made. Anyone can make this call. Family members are encouraged, but the direct-care workers are obligated UNDER LAW,to make a report. If they don't, and if it turns out that abuse or neglect was happening that resulted in actual harm to the vulnerable adult, they can be held as guilty as the perpetrator. Reporters' names are held strictly confidential and a facility is prevented under law from taking action against any employee who makes a good-faith report. The county agency will screen the reports. If immediate intervention is required, that is done--usually by a peace officer and/or social worker, often with a public health nurse if needed. If immediate intervention is not needed, then the reports are forwarded to the Office of Health Facilities Complaints (if in the case of a Nursing Home) or it is investigated at the County level (if in the case of a private board-and-care, PCA, or foster home). All deaths are automatically reported and investigated. Ditto for significant injury (broken bones, falls, etc.) and blatant neglect--though "neglect" as defined in law may not be what a family member perceives it to be. In cases where abuse or neglect is substantiated a correction order is issued, the facility can be required to pay a fine and, if warranted, criminal charges can be brought against the perpetrator(s). Substantiated instances of abuse and neglect occurring at Nursing Homes in Minnesota are available online, as is the Minnesota Vulnerable Adults Protection Act (VAPA) which is the governing statute in cases of abuse or neglect. All investigations undertaken, once completed, are judged either as substantiated, inconclusive, or false, and the reporter has the option of asking for that determination. Names (unless criminal action is undertaken) are confidential by law. The system works, folks, regardless of what you might see in sensationalist tug-at-the-heartstrings "journalism".

Will someone please send this woman a United Way pamphlet so she can do something productive with her time instead of wasting my tax dollars on filing complaints with the state.

A couple of good comments- taxifour & lallyw particularly!

owatanabill, a very well informed posting! Thanks.

I am sorry that Ms Van Pelt's mother passed away. However, if she were in an assisted living facility, it is not their job to keep an eye on her mother all day long. Those kind of facilities are for people who can still live independently for the most part. Community meals are offered each day and the resident checks in each morning with the staff. Sometimes other services are purchased by the resident. We may not know the whole story here but in this case, I don't know if the assisted living facility is responsible for not being aware her mom had had a stroke. I believe there are many incidences in nursing homes where better care can and should be given but in this case, knowing what we have been told in the article, I don't know if they can be faulted for their care.