King urges you to examine your loved one for bedsores and bruises, and ask questions. King says there are behavioral clues, too.
“If they’re agitated, if they’re restless, if they don’t seem themselves, then that might be a clue to a family member or a non-professional that they need to do a little more investigation,” she says.
And report problems or even suspicions to authorities.
“Things like rape, sexual assault, physical assault, abuse need to be reported immediately to law enforcement,” explains Wes Bledsoe with
A Perfect Cause advocacy group, “then they would need to report to the state Department of Health.”
Bledsoe says reform in longterm care and oversight for the elderly is desperately needed.
His organization,
A Perfect Cause, investigates and documents cases of elder abuse in residential facilities and has a mission to reform how the industry operates and how oversight is administered.
A large problem, Bledsoe says, is inadequate staffing, both in nursing homes and in the agencies that oversee them.
