Abuse at Minnesota Nursing Home Makes "Work Fun"
Verbal, sexual, and emotional abuse makes "work fun". At least, that's the opinion of four teenage girls employed as nursing home aides at the Good Samaritan Society facility in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Residents targeted for the abuse suffered from Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or similar disease. The residents were targeted because "they don't have their minds". To "make work fun or to get a good laugh", the accused aides would close the curtain by the resident's bed to remain unseen. The abuse rendered by these employees ranged from spitting in a resident's mouth, groping of genitals, hitting and/or touching residents in the breast or genital area, sitting on the lap of a female resident in a wheelchair with bare buttocks, sticking fingers in mouths or noses to keep residents from screaming, and taunting them.
The abuse, which went on for months, was revealed to the facility by a fifth employee in her exit interview on May 2, 2008. She stated that she didn't report the abusive behavior sooner due to fear of reprisals by the other employees. The Albert Lea Police Department has conducted a separate investigation and has recommended that Freeborn County Attorney Craid Nelson bring charges against the girls. The girls also face possible inclusion on the state abuse registry for their actions.
