Edna Stewart
March 15, 2011
Is Our Seafood Safe?
March 17, 2011
The U.S. Department of Health and Human services issued a report that found 92 percent of senior care facilities currently have personnel on their payrolls that carry records of criminal conviction.
According to the government investigation, while most states require senior care facilities to conduct criminal background checks, many only check for the state in which a given facility does business and not national data banks.
Some allegedly let misdemeanor cases slide, particularly if the employee will have no direct contact with residents while at work – this would include kitchen or laundry staff.
Rules vary state-to-state as to what crimes disqualify workers. The DHH report said that 44 percent of the noted cases were on charges of theft, vandalism or check fraud. Almost 16 percent were drug related crimes, but 13 percent were crimes against persons including sexual assault.
According to Chateau Terrebonne Administrator Steven Boulware, senior care facilities in Louisiana are required to perform both state and national background checks before approving a person for hire.
Federal regulations prohibit senior care facilities from knowingly employing persons convicted of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents. Nurses, certified nursing assistants and other medical professional may be stripped of their licenses of found guilty of such offenses.
“Even in the system some an fall under the radar,” Chateau Terrebonne corporate nurse Patt Tounten said. “You call for a reference and sometimes [an applicant’s former employer] will give them a good reference when actually they couldn’t wait to get them out the door.”
Area retirement care administrators asked about hiring practices said that they are restricted from hiring an individual with a criminal background or a suspended professional license.
Bernard Bergeron takes a coffee refill while at Chateau Terrebonne for rehabilitative care. Louisiana nursing homes require staff to undergo state and federal background checks prior to being hired. MIKE NIXON
