Or just bad actions?
My mother went to visit my aunt a few weeks ago. My aunt has mental issues, possible brain damage, and often has seizures. She had just been moved from one assisted living home to another. At the first home, for mentally-ill patients, they caught her smoking cigarettes in her closet. As punishment (I suppose), they moved her to this new "assisted living home," without notifying immediate family.
When my mother saw her at the new home, she became understandably distressed. She got my aunt out of there immediately. We went back together later to pick up my aunt's things. It was a horrible place. I took photos while I was there.
This "assisted living" facility had no security, no locks on the doors, no air / no heat, no counseling services, no bedding (sheets, blankets), no kitchen area, no transportation I could see, no doctors. There were at least four people to a room, co-ed (all mentally ill people); mattresses on the floor. Giant holes in the wall of the single bathroom. Trash everywhere.
My aunt said there was prostitution there and drugs (she mentioned crack a lot afterward: we think someone may have given her some). She also seemed like she had been hurt -- perhaps molested there.
Someone from the first, seemingly-reputable assisted living home, threw my aunt out to a garbage dump like this.
There were other mentally-disabled and ill people I met there, and they knew the conditions were horrible. They had no other choice. No one is looking out for them.
I live in a supposed "retirement city" where this happened. I expected regular inspections were the rule, but apparently this shack has thrived. The people that run it take the welfare and disability and personal checks of those inside and provide nothing, except (barely) four walls, in return.
I've contacted the state health department, the mayor and city hall, the state attorney general, and other assisted living homes to warn them and to see if this place can't be shut down.
In the meantime, my mother is trying to take care of my aunt until we can find her a safe, professional place to stay. My mother is getting old herself, and is not in the best shape to care for the mentally ill. It is a trying time.
My diary is a word of warning. The mentally-ill and elderly are abused because the perpetrators think no one cares, that no one is watching them. Whatever it is - bad people, bad actions - the abuse goes on right in front of us, just out of sight.
Be careful where you put your family, and watch out for your neighbors.
Jackson, Mississippi (January 14, 2010) - A Preliminary Report issued today by Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) indicates that abuse and exploitation of residents of personal care homes is widespread throughout the state. State agencies are aware of the problems, but have failed to remedy them. According to Ann Maclaine, Executive Director of DRMS, a non-profit organization charged with protection of individuals with disabilities, a fragmented and unresponsive system has failed to protect these individuals.
[...] The situation for other personal care residents is bleak – many continue to sleep on cardboard boxes, in unfinished shacks or sheds with exposed wiring, in rooms invaded by bugs and animals. They often receive no hot meals and very little, if any, medical attention, despite the fact that the home operators, many of whom are unlicensed and all of whom are inadequately monitored, take virtually all the residents’ income plus food stamps to allow them to stay.
[...] “These homes are located throughout the state” stated Tony Sheppard, Lead Personal Care Home Investigator for DRMS. “They generally house from three to 15 people but can have over 50. In most all the homes, the operator acts as the representative payee for the residents. This means they have control over the residents’ monies with little or no oversight. They can charge whatever they want for rent, and usually this means it costs the residents every penny of their disability checks including food stamps.” Sheppard said. Some homes are subjected to licensing by the Health Department while others operate with complete impunity, Sheppard stated.
H/T, dKos member Just Saying.
Because of the complexity of reporting complaints and the bureaucracy involved, I am unsure of how the community can help here. I'm doing all I can personally: I've contacted local and state agencies, as well as papers and TV. So as a community, for now I'll just ask -- be vigilant about mental health providers in your area.