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The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) is here to protect your interests, and to offer an alternative perspective on how to best solve the problems seniors face today. We need you. America needs you.
Isn’t it a shame that this question even has to be asked?! It’s a disturbing sign of what our society has become. You can’t trust the schools/teachers/principals; you can’t trust the nursing homes; you can’t trust the government. I would hate to think I had parent in a nursing home. I have no children, but I would shudder to think what kind of perversion, filth and deviancy they would be exposed to in school — by adults who should know better. Standards for hiring/employment have gone out the door. It seems that “substandard” is the new standard. D+ is the new A+. Everyday it’s something else and very little surprises me. The sooner the Lord returns, the better.
Have a blessed day.
YES. My father-in-law was in 2 different memory care facilities, and we had cameras in both. My wife was very diligent about checking on him even though she visited several times each day. The things she saw proved that cameras are a must. One stands out. Visitors during the night were very common, not staff but other patients. (lack of staff visits are another good reason). A very frail lady came in one night while an aide was in the room, a large male. She walked over to him like she was going to hug him. He shoved her and she fell down. Fortunately, she was hurt, however, that was totally out of line. Wife showed this to management, and the guy was immediately fired. Without the camera he would have gone on and who knows what he was capable of.
We hear more every day about abuse in care facilities – not only in senior living facilities, but child care & schools. Staff members aren’t always properly vetted, companies don’t want to invest in surveillance. We need to do everything possible to protect our loved ones who aren’t able to protect themselves.
I am glad this is being discussed. Why? I know someone whose mother was in a nursing home that had a good reputation. Sadly, her mother passed away in the nursing home (this happened a few years ago). Her mother was found outside one morning only in her pajamas and the autopsy found she had been dead for a few hours (the cold winter played a part – this wasn’t Miami, Houston, or Los Angeles) prior to being found nearby.
Somehow her mother was able to sneak out even though corridors are supposed to have alarms and regulations require bed checks every few hours during the night. This is a sad case – possibly due to laziness, understaffing, poor maintenance, other factors, etc.
Suggestion: if you have a loved one (or if yourself) enters a nursing home, it would be a good idea to ask questions like this and see where state guidelines for nursing homes can be found.
The survey is not talking cameras, it is talking rights. Cameras should definitely be an option for insuring expected standards of care and treatment are observed.
C’mon…it is only common sense one should be able to protect those they love.
Since the family or guardian of the person cannot be there 24/7 and if abuse is suspected than I am inclined to agree with installing a camera in the patient’s room as long as it does not violate anyone else’s privacy. Back in 2002, my maternal grandmother was in a rehab/rest home after suffering from a mild stroke. She had also developed dementia. My siblings and I used to take turns going to visit her and on one occasion when I went to see her I noticed a large bruise on the side of her face with the image of a hand print clearly visible on her cheek. The facility claimed she had fallen out of her wheelchair but I did not believe them. I know someone hit my grandmother. I was so upset because I had no legal rights in the situation regarding her care, and she was begging me to take her out of there that night. It is very painful for me to write this because my grandmother was very dear to me. She was later moved to another facility where she was given better care and where she eventually died. I miss her and I always regret not being able to help her.
Apparently, the customer and patient cannot rely upon management to ensure the safety of the patient. This solution is an extreme but needed.
I think it should be mandatory in care homes. I think all city busses have them to protect the riders and the drivers.
What a disaster! The reason for the need of camera surveillance applies to other situations as someone else suggested. For instance rehab centers. My mother recovering from a broken hip and arm was placed in the highest rated rehab center in the area that Medicare would pay for. The facility was understaffed. Most of the staff were from other countries with questionable training. There were at least 5 African nations represented. Nice people but struggling to keep up with the needs. Mom was left on the toilet for 2 hours despite pulling the emergency notification switch. After using the toilet she had to be cleaned twice because the first person did not do it properly. I was in her room when she was served raw chicken. I could go on. Yes – camera’s can be helpful but not a solution. If you cannot afford private care or solutions beyond Medicare, we are really in a pickle concerning care for loved ones and eventually ourselves.
We installed one for my 94 year old father and thank God we did or we would never have known he was struggling and we would never have seen him fall down. We could also see no one was helping him get dressed. It’s an absolute must and I wish we would have done it sooner
It had to come to this? Unbelievable.
If able, I think the resident should know and agree to it. In my mother’s case with severe dementia, it had to be our decision. We had to post outside her door that there was a surveillance camera in use. It kept abuse from happening in her room.
If cameras in child care facilities are the standard, cameras in senior care facilities should also be standard.
What prompted AMAC to ask this question?
I’d have the same criteria for hospital room stays! Cameras with patient’s / resident’s consent!
Part of the reason care facilities are understaffed or have employees with hidden problems is the pay, especially on Medicare facilities. First, this country has never had the respect for the elderly, or for the sanctity of life, that some other societies have. Another part is the physical, mental & emotional toll it takes to work in a place where death is so common. The good workers are human & care about their charges, then those they care about & for die–again & again. That takes a toll not all can continue experiencing. The bad ones? Some are burnout issues or stress, but they shouldn’t be near patients until they get help. The others? Sadly, criminals go where the victims are. So yes, again, any protective measures family or guardians can use should be. Cameras included.
It’s a proven fact, residents of nursing homes get better treatment when visited regularly. There will always be evil in society in all walks of life, care facilities are no exception. Surveillance, like locks keep honest people honest.
Privacy laws would vary by state regarding privately owned versus publicly owned nursing homes not to mention the opinions of each resident of each nursing home.
If allowed by state law, a good option could be nursing homes allowing families to set up security cameras in individual/single rooms of certain wings of the facility based on the demand for such additional security.
I have worked as a maintenance professional in several nursing facilities over the years, so I have been privy to much of what happens behind the scenes. Like others, I have concerns over privacy issues. However, I have seen in each of those facilities the type of staff they hire. They are usually bottom-shelf aides that watch a few videos and are put to work. The turnover rate is high and many have bounced from one facility to another.
The facilities in which I worked had aides who obviously had emotional problems were less than kind to the residents. When reported, administrators would ignore the concerns or reassign the offending individual. A few times they were fired, but quietly. They tend to keep abuse reports hushed up because it hurts business.
It’s unfortunate that cameras need to be considered, but if I had a loved one in such a facility, I’d want cameras installed so I could keep track. There have been instances where family/caregivers secretly hid cameras in their loved one’s room and caught them being abused.
I just checked online and the average hourly rate, nationwide, for a caregiver in a nursing home is $16/hr. For the level of responsibility these people have, I’d say you’re not going to attract the best employees for that kind of wage. The average cost, annually, for a nursing home can run anywhere from $96K-$123K depending on level of care and location of the facility.
My mother was in a nursing home and installing a camera would have been a great asset to us. We visited my mom often since we lived close by but here’s one example: I found my mom gasping for breath and barely conscious. I immediately checked her oxygen line and found it crimped shut. No one was checking it when the did room checks – they just popped their head or signed off without bothering to go to her room at the end of the hall. That was testimony was from one of the good caregivers that actually did watch out for her. She almost died then. More than once her emergency push button alert did not work (battery was low and the “technician” had not bothered to check it) and she had fallen. She spent several hours on the floor in the bathroom before anyone came to check on her. We would have transferred her but the reputations at the other homes were actually worse. Yes I had many conferences with the head nurse, director at the home, and the regional director but after all their fine words nothing changed.
common sense indicates that paying for a nursing home room is no different than renting an apartment or hotel room. As a resident paying for the room you should have the same rights as any renter / tenant. That we even consider this question is a sad commentary on the state of our nation’s culture.
I think you need to have a camera in their rooms, I worked in senior care for 20+ years I know what can happen
If your paying for the family member, who is in the facility, or if the family is paying out of their investments, their should be some supervision. The cost of inpatient facilities are outrageous and the patient deserves nothing but the best of care living out their final years.
Broad use of the term “nursing home”. Assisted living generally means that residents are able to care for themselves and have sound mind. I have a loved one in memory care in his own room. In his case, the room will never be shared. If the caregiver wants to, they can install a camera but there must be a sign on the door or next to it that there is a camera. Caregivers don’t need permission from the a resident that has dementia or Alzheimer’s.
My mother was in a top rated skilled nursing facility run by a Christian organization. She had frequent complaints from the beginning, about people coming in to turn off the call light, saying someone would come. Many times it took 30 minutes or more; I witnessed that.
When she was 107 there were two incidents that caused me to move her to a different facility. I went there every day at noon to feed her lunch. One Saturday I had a meeting and couldn’t go until dinner time. I arrived at 4 pm and she was up in her wheelchair waiting for me. I fed her dinner, and at 6 pm took her back. She wasn’t ready for bed yet, so I left her at the “Hub”, near the nurses station. She was always in bed by 6:30 or so. The next day, Sunday, I came in the afternoon and she was sleeping; hadn’t been up at all; hadn’t had anything to eat or drink. I was told that they couldn’t wake her.
Thinking she was going to die, I went to the magazine rack by the dining room to get something to read. One of the ladies came out and asked me where my mother was, since they hadn’t seen her all day. I told her, and she said that at 9pm the night before, she had gone out to get more water and my mother was still sitting at the Hub! She’d been sitting in her wheelchair for at least 5 hours!! I asked the nurse about it and her reply was that it wasn’t 9pm, it was 8pm, as though that was any better!
A few weeks later, my sister in law, after leaving at 6:30pm and asking that mother be put to bed, came back at 8pm and found her still in her wheelchair, dangerously close to falling out!! Mother’s roommate’s daughter told her that people had come in and looked at her a couple of times, but no one did anything for her.
Those are the two times we KNOW about!! Two days before mother’s 108th birthday, I moved her to the other facility, and they treated her very well for the three months that she lived there before her graduation to heaven.
If we’d had a camera in her room, it would have helped to know what’s going on. I was there every day and so was my sister in law, but even then, I’m certain that we didn’t catch everything.
Back iny day when I was young you didn’t need cameras in a nursing home the quality of care was there, jyst lije the liberals up in VA are screaming about 30 kids in one classroom allowing some to slip through the cracks, when I started school we had 33 kids, the only reason he graduated with 32 is one was killed in a card crash at 16, but backbthen if you did wrong in class, you went out in the hallway and got paddled yoo
My mother broke her hip during covid, and the only place she could do rehab was a nursing home. I took off work and stayed with her every day.What I saw in that nursing home was shocking. These elderly were all being ignored.If I wouldn’t have been with my mom, she would have never recovered.She would have died there.
This is a very sad commentary on our times when anyone would even have to THINK about having to do such a thing. Also, I’m concerned about people who don’t have anyone to watch out for them if they do go into a nursing home facility. I’m paying for long-term care if I have to go into a nursing home OR need nursing care at home, but I truly hope I die before a claim has to be filed.
Unfortunately, most caregivers cannot be on hand to monitor the lives of their loved ones while in assisted living or rest homes. We have other duties to our job, families, etc., that must also be taken care of in the same time frame. My mother was in assisted living and she told me of a caregiver there who slapped her. I wasn’t sure if this really happened or not since my mother was an Alzheimer’s/Dementia case but, I reported it anyway with that caveat. The caregiver was gone within a month so I can only assume that it was a true statement. After breaking her leg there years later, she was sent to a nursing home for rehabilitation for a month. The day after her operation for pins in her leg and placement in the home, she was put into a wheelchair with no medication and left there all day long. I had to alert someone that she had been there all day with no medication for pain. Meanwhile, they lost her clothing in the laundry and made it seem like I hadn’t provided any clothing for her. After I hit the ceiling, things got a little better but I was certainly relieved when she was able to go back to assisted living. Now I’m elderly but still in my right mind so I hope when it’s my time I can just croak at my cabin in the woods or something rather than be placed in any such situations.
Several hard options here! My mom was in a nursing home for 5 months before passing away. Her home appeared to be run properly and the staff were caring. I’m sure some facilities aren’t at their best. It’s hard to maintain staff because good employees would work hard for not the best pay. I’m hoping I go quickly and won’t need a nursing home; at least if I’m in the shape my mother was.
After spending 3+ years helping with a TBI patient, I think cameras should be allowed. His family planned to put one in the room without telling the staff. IDK if that ever happened. I can tell you I saw enough in every facility we were in that made me sick at the way people were treated. Some of the CNAs were wonderful, some, not so much. We had to ban certain of them from coming in the room.
I pray I die suddenly rather than needing care. I don’t want to live in a place like that.
It’s easy to say, Yes! Get cameras. But “bad guys” can always commit violent acts out of camera range or in the bathrooms. This gives relatives a false sense of safety.
As a career medical professional, my question to those who have done this, what about the privacy of the your loved one when dressing, undressing or being bathed (if it’s a bed bath)… Otherwise I’d be all in favor of it. It’s called accountability.
This one treads a fine line legally. You should be able to set up CCV devices anywhere you wish in a patient’s room, with proper legal consent. Otherwise, the video is inadmissible as evidence against the nursing home. The video could be used in other ways, but that exposes the user to legal liability of their own.
The best bet if you suspect abuse is to find a different facility. I know in most cases there are Medicare restrictions, but a little research into the matter goes a long way.
Absolutely put a camera in your loved ones nursing home room. My mother had dementia. Three times she fell trying to get out of her chair and because of understaffed no one was there when it happened. I was able to call them and alert them that mom had fallen. It’s crucial to be able to check on your loved one if you can’t be there.
There are wonderful nursing homes where every patient is treated like somebody’s grandparent. There are dreadful, neglectful and or/abusive ones at the other end of the spectrum. I’ve worked in both kinds. If your loved one is no longer able to advocate for themselves, eyes on 24/7 is the only way to know for sure if they are being cared for properly. It really should be a last resort to put someone in a nursing home. If the family has to do that, it needs to be close enough to get there multiple times a week. Knowing family is visiting often helps in patients getting better care. I personally would rather die sooner at home than risk being in a nursing home.
You will most likely find out you’re NOT getting what you pay for.
I responded to this question, as I have extremely strong feelings about this topic. I think the same mentality of letting a television babysit children is used in putting a relative in nursing care. If it is a must do … absolutely no other way, then a camera should be a requirement. But Nursing homes, and the ilk are nasty. I worked many years ago, as an electrician, installer of intercom systems in a nursing home … though it was rated highly, it was disgusting.
My son recently was in an accident, and his back was broken. For rehabilitation, he was told he could hire a private nurse / person to come to his home (the cost was prohibitive), or go to a nursing care home, where the rehab costs were 1/10 the cost of a private nurse for his home. Even though there would be an insurance settlement, because lawyers are involved, and payment had to be made up front for a private nurse, he decided to do the nursing care home.
Three days in that place, and he checked himself out, moved back home, and replicated the minimal rehab he got at the nursing home, himself, forgoing a nurse. The nursing care facility was disgusting, elderly, waiting till a late dinner time for lunch … laying in their own filth, and the adequate staff, stood around, like it was a holiday.
Put a bullet in my head, if the only alternative is a nursing home for me.
If I thought my person was being abused it is for certain I would install invisible cameras to monitor what was going on–and I wouldn’t ask anyone’s permission since that gives the abuser[s] a heads-up on how to do a workaround.
The big drawback to any surveillance policy or possible law would give the Democrats (Marxist) an open door when in power to some how start to push this into places were it would go against our privacy rights.
Dont forget to turn your clocks back.
Time for shock to your body clock.
I understand the need for the camera’s for safety, but the first thing I thought of was if the family would use the camera’s to replace the visits since they visit many times a day through the video.
Yes! Cameras in the room of a care home resident would help identify poor quality care and or abuse I had to spend some ti me in a care home after a back surgery until I was able to care for my-self. In the care home were some very elderly folks that were there pretty much for the duration. My experience was OK because I had my wits about me and was able to get up and move about. There was a woman un the room next to mine that slipped in and out of reality. The care team were obviously indifferent to her calling out for help and interrupting their busy work especially at night. One night I was awakened by scraping noise in my room. I thought a Racoon or some animal had got into my room from the big sliding door that I had opened during the evening, I did close it before I went to sleep. Anyway, I sat up in bed and turned o the light only to find the woman from across the hall slithering like a snake or something on the floor under a bed. Apparently, she had slipped out of her bed (No bed exit alarm) and being unable to walk or in slath mode she had crawled or slithered across the hall and entered my room. I asked he if she was OK and what she was doing in my room. She said she was looking for the door and wanted to leave and go home. I felt very sorry for her and thought of her predicament of being old and losing her mental faculties. What a way to be, reduced to crawling about in a care home. I rand my Nurse Call and after several tries no one showed up. I then managed to get up grab the Walker I’d been issued and went in search of the care home staff. I found them siting at the central nurse station all wrapped in blankets. It was night and staffing was low presumably because all of us patients were supposed to be sleeping. I informed the staff what was going on and two of them interrupted their ‘REST BREAK’ and came down to my room to find the poor old gal on the floor under the bed. They managed to get her out and put her in a wheelchair and took her back to her room. I overheard them talking about her and what they were going to do. The woman was obviously demented and was in and out of reality, but she still deserved proper care and safety consideration. She could have fallen out of the hospital bed and hurt herself. With no bed exit alert system, she was able to do what she did. She should have had the bed exit system and been watched more closely and cared for. She also, when awake yelled a lot of Help, Help Me.! This event unnerved me and the next day I reported it to the day shift nurse who had not heard anything about the incident. obviously, the night crew had left the incident out of their shift report, ( I wonder why). I called my wife and told her about my experience that night, I told her I was going to demand I be discharged and would not spend another night in the place. I. I did see that the old gal did have family and they came to visit her before I checked out. I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to them. I think a camera in the room that could be viewed by the family would have been a benefit to the lady’s safety and quality of care. The staff at night wouldn’t like it though. Also note that this was no low budget place, it was/is a state licensed facility and gets paid well to care for the patients there. Cameras in the patient’s room, Heck Yes!
Absolutely need a trusted friend or trusted law enforcement friend to be able to observe safety of someone in a nursing home! Family, is not always best here and sometimes the worst. Just like cops have bodycams, a person in a nursing home should have the right to hit the button at any moment to ensure that someone outside is able to see. Far too much abuse has gone on in Nursing Homes! Especially places who claim to have perfect records. Take one look at the people running them. I’m a mix of many races. I’m talking about when you look into a person’s face. Body language, etc. Someone trained can tell pretty fast. Yes, some can get through those cracks. Person admitted needs safety!
As a young person who grew up with a abusive father in the 60s 70s and 80s,I feel if we had the technology today I would not have suffered the abuse and I would not still be effected with ptsd 50 years later.
My sister was in the nursing home with Parkinson’s disease.. She was very intelligent and kept her faculties until she died there. One night, because she had restless leg syndrome, and the nursing home was not permitted to put up full-bed guard rails, Doris fell out of bed at 2:30am and was not found until 5:30 am. She could not reach her call-button nor could she holler for help because she could no longer speak loudly….she was in the last bedroom in a hallway. So she laid there without covering for 3 hours. When I went to see her, and heard her story, I was shocked that they did not have hourly checks for each room. I made some angry remarks, but when her daughter found out she took the complaint to the supervisor.
My grandmother got an abuser fired. I go to court soon against abuse against my best friends mom in a facility. Yes surveillance should be allowed WITHOUT the facility knowing. Like a teddy bear cam- absolutely!
Absolutely. My dad was in an assisted living center. He wore a gold medical alert medallion on a gold rope chain for several years and never took it off. I noticed one day that he wasn’t wearing it. I asked him where it was. He said that a male assistant had removed it when he helped him shower. When my dad passed away, I found the medallion but the chain was never found. I have a friend who’s mother-in-law fell in her room in an assisted living center. She laid on the floor for three days before my friend found her. She was severely dehydrated. Newspapers were outside of her door and nobody had checked on her. She passed away in the hospital a week later. Things like that happen everyday in assisted living centers and nursing homes.
My Grandma was in a local nursing home many years ago. It had a good reputation. But the staff would turn her oxygen down while she was sleeping. My Mom fought them on this and her doctor was very adamant that they leave her oxygen levels alone. In another incident, for days she would tell them her stomach hurt. They ignored her. She finally called 911. Her colon was blocked. She needed surgery. She almost died. When she came back after her hospital stay, they took away her phone. My Mom and her sisters fought and got it back. But the staff was cruel to her after that. So they moved her to a different nursing home. Where she absolutely loved the staff. They were very good to her.
So yes I feel cameras are a good thing for the safety of your loved ones
Is it going to be necessary that all who work being physically involved with other people will have to wear body cams?