Why Long Term Care Facilities Are Not Safe - Two Reasons

I heard a statistic the other day that made me cringe. We've known this day was coming for a long, long time. But when it gets here, reality sets in. Nearly 30,000 baby boomers a week are reaching retirement age.

When Social Security was put into effect, the average lifespan of an American was 65. Today it is closer to 85. As people live longer and more people enter the golden years of their life, they are looking for a place that they can go and live out their final years.

Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities are the two most common such places. They are not cheap. For that reason another alternative has sprung up and that is home healthcare assisted-living provided by a professional in the home. But for the sake of this article we're talking about nursing homes and assisted-living facilities-long term care facilities.

Because the increased demand for these services for seniors staffing issues come into play. There is a shortage of nurses, nursing assistants and others in this field. As a nurse told me the other day when we are talking about this issue there is not only a shortage of nurses and others in the field, but they are overworked, underpaid and a certain form of lethargy sets in because of the industry in general.

That makes it a prime breeding ground for elder abuse. Employees who feel undervalued, who are overworked and underpaid tend to feel that whatever else they can grab is dutifully theirs no matter whom the source is. So if they have an opportunity to steal they'll do it.

Is a well documented fact that one out of every six people in a long-term care facility suffers some kind of abuse-physical, emotional, verbal or just about any kind of abuse you can imagine. It is a crying shame that our seniors aren't better cared for, but like so many other things in life it's an issue of money.

So that's one reason why long-term care facilities aren't safe. The second reason is that in a Health and Human Services report just recently issued the Inspector General of that agency he found that 90 percent of all long-term care facilities employed someone with criminal record. Sixty percent of the facilities had two or more convicted employees.

The only way that you as a parent can keep an eye on your loved ones in a long-term care facility is to install a hidden camera. A hidden camera will enable used to detect any abuse on your loved ones.

When are you getting one?