ADAMS, MN - A Southern Minnesota nursing home is being accused of neglect after a resident was left unsupervised, choked and died while eating dinner.
The Minnesota Department of Health is filing the complaint against Adams Health Care Center. The resident was supposed to be supervised while eating because of past trouble swallowing his food.
But after an investigation, the Department of Health determined he had not been supervised, and the staff wasn't sure who was responsible for the man that night.
This isn't the first time we've heard about mistreatment at an area nursing home. You may recall the case of two young women who were charged with elderly abuse at Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea.
After what happened at the Good Samaritan Society, the families of the victims have banded together and formed the group Families Against Nursing Home Abuse. They're determined to keep advocating for the rights of nursing home residents, and hope to prevent more cases like this from happening.
When Jan Reshatar entrusted her mother-in-law to the care of the Good Samaritan Society nursing home, she never imagined what would happen next.
"My mother in law suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of caregivers in a nursing home," said Reshatar.
Since then, it's been an uphill battle for Reshatar and other family members of the victims.
"We all believed that justice would be swift and righteous. What we found out was that senior citizens are not in the same league as other people," Reshatar said.
In what may be the silver lining of this very dark cloud, Reshatar co-founded the group Families Against Nursing Home Abuse. The group's goal is to prevent what Reshatar said could easily be a growing problem in the coming years.
"We are at a time where the baby boomers are becoming of retirement age. Soon they're going to become of nursing home age. And if we don't change things, the same things that are happening now are going to happen to us," she said.
She said she will continue to fight for the rights of those who aren't able to stand up for themselves.
"We cannot afford to let this happen to our parents, to our loved ones, to ourselves and later on to our children," said Reshatar.
Families Against Nursing Home Abuse tackles the issue in a variety of ways. They advocate for families facing abuse situations, they push for tougher legislation, and now they're working on coordinating classes to educate future care providers about the issue.
