Report faults Iowa nursing home

COUNCIL BLUFFS — As many as 10 residents at Bethany Lutheran Home may have been abused by an employee who has since been fired, according to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.

The skilled nursing facility at 7 Elliott St. was cited after inspectors surveyed Bethany between Nov. 10 and Dec. 8, according to the department’s Health Facilities Division report.

“It was determined the facility failed to prevent, identify, investigate, protect and report resident abuse for 10 of 26 residents reviewed,” the report stated.

None of the incidents involved serious injury, according to the facility administrator.

“To our understanding, the only actual harm that seemed to have appeared was that people were fearful of this individual,” said administrator Michael Van Sickle.

Allegations included accusations that the employee hit a resident, twisted a resident’s arm, spat on a resident, slapped a resident while giving a shower and directed the water at the resident’s face despite objections, according to the report. An Aug. 4 memo was the first documentation of the alleged abuse.

“We knew there were allegations against him,” Van Sickle said. “We investigated, and there was nothing we could substantiate. There were incidents that were not reported to us; and there were incidents that were reported to us, and we didn’t do a good enough job investigating them.”

In a couple of cases, residents recanted when asked about accusations, he said.

The employee was assigned to a different area of the building after one resident complained of abuse, the report stated. The administration talked to the employee about a complaint that he had pushed someone’s wheelchair fast and wiggled it back and forth, Van Sickle said.

The staff’s response did not satisfy Inspections and Appeals, Van Sickle said.

“We didn’t remove the person from the facility during the investigation, which the state said we should have done,” he said. “They felt there were some incidents that we should have reported to the state — and I do agree with the state on that. Even though we couldn’t find anything, we still had an obligation to report it to the state.”

Van Sickle said a new reporting system is in place.

« Metro/Region

Share