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The Forum > Article Comments > Abuse of elderly people > Comments

Abuse of elderly people : Comments

By Kym Durance, published 15/3/2006

Community and nursing staff attitudes make elderly people soft targets for abuse.

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This is only a short comment. I take Kym's point precisely, especially about the more subtle forms of abuse, this happens every where, not just to the elderly. There are always those who look for a soft target, those without either their own means to stand up for themselves or another to do it for them. But what strikes me, and what Kym left out of the article is the fact ( please correct me if I'm wrong here ) that society's opinion on the matter is well reflected in the wages and conditions of the workers in that industry. I could be wrong but i even detected a slight in Kym's comments about the current pool.
Posted by tillietee, Wednesday, 15 March 2006 2:41:06 PM
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Well in this user pays environment may be the Liberals want a return to the Poor House conditions of the 19th century. They should stop being hypocrites and introduce euthanasia for the non-productive members of society who can't pay their own way. Isn't that what the Nazi's did?

A sad tale, will our government ever again implement a caring social safety net for those members of our society who can no longer care for themselves?
Posted by billie, Wednesday, 15 March 2006 2:54:12 PM
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Tillietee - my thoughts on salary and wages paid in the industry are reflected in article that appeared in OLO last year - 30th March and listed at the bottom of this piece -

if any one read anything like a slight in my scribblings it reflects limitations in my capacity to get my message across more than my opinion of the present pool of workers available to the industry whom I hold in high regard - if I intended any slight at all It would be towards a society that seems to disregard the value their elderly memebers

Kym
Posted by sneekeepete, Wednesday, 15 March 2006 2:59:24 PM
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This article referred mostly to the institution of the elderly and the progress that has been made. There was a small reference made to other living situations where abuse is found. I have worked with the elderly in three types of situations, nursing homes, home care, and my own relatives. What I find the most abhorrent is the family member who manipulates their parent using fear. Manipulation that is clearly nothing but a ploy to part them from their money. The elderly parent spends their savings on some large purchase and expects the son or daughter to fulfill a promise of care in return. I have seen this situation go horribly wrong. It is the elderly parent who suffers. Once the money is spent, it's gone. There is usually no recourse for the elderly parent but to count their blessings that they were not sucked in further.

The next situation that is equally abhorrent is the medical doctor. I've been an advocate for many elderly clients who felt that they were being patronised by their doctors, and never got their questions fully answered.

In fact I've often been patronised by medical professionals myself when I asked to many questions.

Just because you can't see or hear very well anymore doesn't mean you are stupid. This is often the way the elderly are treated. Like they are stupid.

Fred and I can't hear as well as we used to.

I don't look forward to my own not to distant future.
Posted by Patty Jr. Satanic Feminist, Wednesday, 15 March 2006 5:59:11 PM
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This sort of thing makes my blood boil. The elderley are VULNERABLE. Its almost like they become the child and the young become the adult. Unfortunately many just dont embrace that role with responsibility. Sometimes children have much anger and unresolved issues which manifest when they have power and control. Very sad.

Goes to the overall break down of compassion and empathy. The loss of respect. The dog-eat-dog, screw-thy-neighbour, type of opportunism that permeates. An opportunism which transcends political divide.

RESPECT YOUR ELDERS! And teach your kids to do same. We will all be old one day and heaven help the miserable carrier of past malevolence when too old and frail to do anything independently.

Try this... just be nice to the elderly. Say hello, have a conversation, smile when passing one by. And, as corney as it may sound, try and do a good deed for one, regularly.
Posted by trade215, Thursday, 16 March 2006 4:49:22 PM
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Kym

Many thanks for a timely and vital article. As a health professional I concur with all of your assertions.

My last position was in Aged Person's Mental Health. The majority also had severe physical problems. I had moved from another state to take up the position. I was apalled by what I saw and heard (re staff behaviours).

Residents were treated as if they did not have a brain - let alone having emotions and a soul.

Staff talked about residents as if they were not present. Or they talked to them as if they were children. I said to a staff member one day: "Would you talk to your Mother like that if she were in the same position as X?" The reply: "Of course not!" I further asked: "Why then, are you talking to X in derogatory terms?". There was no reply. From thence on, staff treated me as if I was an ogre. I was on the patient team - and the staff were against me. It was heartbreaking.

When I had an accident assisting a very disturbed elderly man from falling and hitting his head, the nursing supervisor told me that I should have let him fall (under Work Health and Safety!).

I did not have to resign. My injury put me out to pasture.

I will never forget working in that horrible place.

Regards
Kay
Posted by kalweb, Thursday, 16 March 2006 9:55:22 PM
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In my last permanent job, at a nursing home as an office administrator I received about 60% higher wage than the Care Staff. There is a lot of talk about paying peanuts and getting monkeys. Well, peanuts is what we pay nursing staff.

At the nursing home I worked at, everyone was employed part-time - so staff would hold other part-time jobs at other nursing homes to make ends meet. Employment conditions were also very poor. Tea room miles away from residence, no private toilet facilities for staff, no-one in place to handle claims by abused staff (abused by other employees) The senior management only gave credence to D.O.N. who was a major culprit in staff bullying.

In spite of this and much more, the care that was given to elderly was very good, however I was only there for 8 months (abused by boss) and already stress levels were getting high.

Our elderly deserve assistance from carers who are in turn treated well and paid value for the contribution they make.

The caring professions are amongst the least respected and lowest paid.

How staff can care adequately for their charges when running two or three jobs at a variety of shifts is impossible in the long term.

I don't see any improvement in the future. I am fortunate, at present, that my mother (82) is fit and independent. However, I at least have knowledge and experience to avail me if I have to seek placement for my mother in a nursing home.
Posted by Scout, Friday, 17 March 2006 9:37:06 AM
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While I think that the abuse of the elderly in nursing homes is despicable, has anyone given any thought that sexual abuse can happen to the young disabled people, who are just as vulnerable as the elderly, that the government shoves into these places because there aren't enough homes for the disabled.
My disabled 30 year old daughter is just one of these young people that has been sexually abused in a nursing home. Thank God, she has been moved to a suppoted accommodation home now. Even though this creep confessed to the police, the investigation is still continuing and I pray that they throw him in gaol and toss the key away.
Posted by tiddles, Friday, 17 March 2006 10:22:35 AM
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Tiddles, I'm so sorry to hear about what your daughter had to experience. It is unconscionable that the police have not done their job properly. Where is the outrage? That anyone, elderly or disabled much less the ambulatory must endure abuse at the hands of those in whom trust is placed, is just a sad commentary on the world we live in today.
Posted by Patty Jr. Satanic Feminist, Friday, 17 March 2006 3:47:09 PM
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Kay wrote:
"Staff talked about residents as if they were not present."

I think that happens everywhere in dementia high-care.
I remember it made me uncomfortable when I first encouintered it, but after a while of seeing everyone do it, it became like background static.
I try not to do it myself, as some people with dementia are much more present then they let on.

I do think that it's funny how everyone gets upset when the odd depraved person rapes or bashes someone(we had an RN who got mad with a resident so she bashed him and broke his skull). Which you can't anticipate or stop beyond police checks, which we already do.

But ignores the forced neglect in aged care.
Like 7:1 ratios. And since you(in theory) work in teams of two, that's 14:2, and they've all gotta be done before 10 AM. It's a quarter past 7 and the clock starts, now!

This, and not the occasional depraved person, is the real shame in aged care IMHO.

Husmusen
Posted by Husmusen, Friday, 17 March 2006 3:50:59 PM
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Husmusen

I was not talking about people with dementia. I was speaking about people with profound mental illness. Even so, so what? People with dementia are not necessarily hearing impaired. That is a myth.

I get the impression that you are not an RN, or an EN. I get the impression that you are an untrained nursing assistant.

Thus, your disgusting views are cognisant of a monkey brought in from the street to carry a bedpan. I bet you have no idea how to analyse the contents of the bedpan as predictors of confusion in elderly persons.

That you think that sexual assault is Ok makes me sick.
Posted by kalweb, Friday, 17 March 2006 7:05:18 PM
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And strawman of the year award goes to Kalweb.

If you bothered to read my post, *which you obviously didn't*, you would have noticed that I never said any such thing.

To make it blatantly clear I did not say I though assaulting people was OK, what I found funny was that there was great outrage about the smaller problem but at the same time, no outrage about the much bigger problem.

Tell me Kay, which do you think does more damage?
One depraved individual, who might assault a score of individuals before they are caught, or (invisable) institutionalised neglect affecting thousands of people, leading to hundreds of pressure ulcers skin tears etc and the attendant pain and suffering?
Moreso as institutionalised neglect is something we CAN stop before it happens.

If you are planning to have a swipe at someone, read their post properly, otherwise you risk giving the impression of being a complete idiot or a troll.

The fact that society focuses on the sensational but relatively small problem, while ignoring the much larger problem is as perverse as it is common.

I'm an RN Div2 I find the PCA's I work with to be poorly trained, but their hearts are in the right place and most of them seek more training because they really care about the patients, your attitude to them is pretty much what I expect from an old school Div 1.

P.S.
You think I don't know about the cognitive effects of UTI's? What has that to do with the price of fish? Waaay off topic.

Husmusen.
Posted by Husmusen, Saturday, 18 March 2006 11:39:26 AM
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Husmussen

Thank you for your clarification post.

I did read your previous post twice before I posted. I have since re-read it, and now your second post - which is a bit clearer.

I still cannot get over the fact that you think that it is more-or-less OK that a few elderly folk are sexually assaulted, or otherwise physically abused.

There are no comparisons for abuse or neglect - as there are no comparisons between apples and orranges. Abuse and neglect are equally evil. Abuse cam lead to neglect. Neglect can lead to abuse.

Bathing people before 10am has been old hat for at least the last 20 years. It is totally outside of national aged care policies and procedures and accreditation. As an RN you have the power to change that in the institution for which you work. If you do not change that cruel scenario, as I see it, you are condoning such regimen and inhumane treatment.

As an RN you have the power to educate and change people's attitudes, vis a vis: personal care assistants. You have the power to insist on appropriate communication with and about elderly people.

Clearly, I have insulted you, and for that I apologise. Perhaps when you re-read your post, you may understand why I responded in such an angry manner.

Clearly, we both care about elderly people.
Cheers
Kay
Posted by kalweb, Saturday, 18 March 2006 7:31:20 PM
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I was a PCA for a nursing agency in MIssoula, Montana. The perception that PCA's are poorly trained is accurate in my case. Yes my heart was in the right place. Yes I did seek more training. I remember an elderly woman who came from Florida out of a rehabilitation facility. She had a bed sore on her tailbone that went right to the spinal column. It was more than tragic. I remember the smell reminded me of a horse hoof with thrush.( I was a horseshoer for a few years until my back gave out. ) She died very soon. Our job was to make her as comfortable as possible. My point is this, God help any of us when we get old or in need of help. And I'm not a God lover.
Posted by Patty Jr. Satanic Feminist, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 9:52:25 AM
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Hmmm why stick to the issue of just PATIENTS who are being abused?? I was assaulted and called a code black.. Police took the man away but the nursing home blamed and dismsissed me and has done to other students/workers who reported assualt.. The DON at Jindalee nursing home even ripped the incident report up in front of a Nurse and fired them.
Jindalee nursing home needs to be publicly shamed and humiliated.. allowing violence against Nurses and firing them for doing the right thing.. I SHOULD POST MY INCIDENT REPORT AGAIN to the stories segment of this website...I now have support from others who had this happen to them.
Also allowing violent male patients to put other residents at risk.
Shame on you JINDALEE of Narrabundah ACT...
Hope ACA turns up for you to slam the doors on them proving you have so much to 'cover up'..
Posted by nononsense, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 6:52:26 PM
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Dear Nononsense,
if what you are saying about being assaulted is true there are some avenues open to you to address this matter. I am assuming from your post that the person who assaulted you was a resident. There are a number of laws which relate to assault both criminal and civil as well as OH&S laws. It is not true that because the assault happened in a nursing home then the Nursing Home is the only organisation which can take care of it. You can report the incident to the police. If the Nursing home won't address it I think you should do that. Assault is a crime. If the resident was not incontraol of what he was doing then the Nursing Home is responsible. I suggest that you seek legal advice. If you are a nurse, you can talk to your Union who may be able to supply free legal advice. If you are a student, there may be free legal advice at your University but also make sure that you University Supervisor knows what happened.

As you know, what you have outlined is very serious. You do have rights. By getting help and prosecuting if neccessary you will help to stop this from happening again. This is important not only for other staff and students but for the residents too.
Bub
Posted by bub, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 9:32:41 AM
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