Union members marched with picket signs to protest the low wages in support of United Long Term Care Workers. Long term care workers have diligently picketed in front of the county administration building claiming that the wages are insufficient. Long term care workers assist in caring for the elderly and disabled in their homes so that they will not have to go into nursing homes or other care facilities.

The country’s largest assisted living company has agreed to pay settle claims that it consistently underpaid workers at dozens of its facilities. Two workers who initiated the suit allege that state laws were violated concerning meal time and that they were not paid for training and overtime. A public investigation revealed that the assisted living executives wanted to control labor costs by under staffing at facilities and increased workloads.

A nursing aide was convicted of stealing thousands of dollars from two residents at a nursing home facility where she formerly worked. The charges included credit card fraud, forgery and larceny. The crime was noticed when the son of one of the residents discovered that checks had been written on his mother’s account to someone he did not know.

A former nursing home resident’s estate has filed suit against the nursing that she resided in and some of its employees for failure to detect bed sores that caused infection and resulted in her death. The resident also developed acidosis and sepsis which also contributed to her death. In the suit are claims that the resident was susceptible to cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and that staff members failed to prevent infections and failed to treat and prevent pressure sores.

Under proposed rules by state regulators, some nursing homes that advertise specialized dementia care units will be required to provide eight hours of training for all direct-care workers. Regulators report that some type of dementia is evident in about 60 percent of nursing home residents. Direct care workers usually cover units with staff shortages and emergencies, and for those nursing homes that have traditional and special care units, workers need to be able to fill in as needed while also …

The question of how many workers are needed to efficiently care for nursing home residents remains unanswered. State laws do not specify how many staffers are needed when caring for residents resulting in neglect issues that have become a problem in facilities. It seems one of the bigger issues is lack of workers inside nursing homes which lead to not adequately meeting the resident’s needs.