Nursing homes give their side of the story on elder abuse

Having already heard about the scandal surrounding elder abuse reporting, the House Subcommittee on Aging and Long-Term Care heard Wednesday from trade groups representing Minnesota’s vulnerable adult care providers, whose actions may be the subject of those reports.

Gayle Kvenvold, president and CEO of LeadingAge MN, said she began her career as a nursing assistant and later a nursing home social worker.

“We offer our apologies and our sympathy … and our heartfelt pledge to do all that we can to prevent abuse and maltreatment before it occurs,” Kvenvold said.

Patti Cullen, president/CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota, also apologized for maltreatment.

However, she pointed out there was a workforce shortage among senior care facilities. What Cullen called “negative stories that come in the press” forced workers to defend careers and had a chilling effect on hiring new people, she said.  

It would be impossible to completely eliminate maltreatment, she said.

“We’re not going to get to zero, because accidents do happen,” Cullen said. “We have a very fragile population that we serve each and every day.”

Rep. Liz Olson (DFL-Duluth) said she sensed some reluctance in the providers’ testimony.

“I did hear a little bit of hesitancy on that ‘going fast’ part,” she said.

Kvenvold responded by saying there were things that could be done this legislative session, but providers were also “anxious” for a broad working group to further discuss the issue. She said providers were not part of earlier reform discussions on elder abuse.

In response to questions from Rep. Tama Theis (R-St. Cloud) on what to do in certain cases of maltreatment, Cullen pointed out the Minnesota Elder Justice Center is available to walk families through how to respond to maltreatment.

The committee also heard from individual facilities in Minnesota.

Emily Straw of LifeCare Greenbush Manor in Greenbush said the facility she administrates received a failure-to-report citation from the Department of Health. It was fear of receiving such a citation that drove providers to over-report, contributing to the backlog of pending cases at the Health Department’s Office of Health Facility Complaints, she said.