Over 3.2 million adults live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in the U.S. As many as 40 percent of all adults will enter a nursing home at some point during their lives and as the U.S. population ages, the number of nursing home residents is expected to grow. Many of these elders are well-cared for but many may be the victims of abuse.
Nursing home abuse is a horrifying reality happening in our communities and affecting our senior citizens. When we place our elder loved ones in a nursing home, we expect staff members to treat them with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Now, an 87-year-old resident of Solidago Health and Rehabilitation in Texas City was being abused by two workers in the facility. Cornelio Salinas an amputee with arthritis told his family that he was being abused.
A year later, the video shows two employees of Solidago Health and Rehabilitation dragging Salinas across the floor, hitting and kicking him, and then tossing him on the bed. It was because the nursing home called the family to let them know that their elderly loved one had fallen out of bed and was being brought to the hospital. However, when Salinas’s family visited him, they saw bruising, two black eyes, and the need for a neck brace—injuries they didn’t think were consistent with falling out of bed.
The concerned family decided to review the footage from the surveillance camera they had installed in Cornelio Salinas’s room a year before because something didn’t seem to add up. But what they witnessed is both heartbreaking and infuriating.
The two workers were identified as Lisa Jo Cooper, 61, and Kecia Danielle Johnson, 57. The video shows a horrifying incident where the two nursing home workers dragged Salinas across the floor, kicked him, smacked him, and tossed him into bed before the nursing home employees close the curtain.
Now, the family of the 87-year-old is now calling for them to be arrested and charged.
The abused elderly man’s grandson Lizandro Solis said, “You never think it’s going to happen to one of your family members. It’s sad, that’s no way to treat nobody, especially an elderly person with one leg.”
Speaking of the abused referring to his grandfather’s helpless condition, he added, “What is he going to do to you? How can he hurt you?”
After the video went viral, Solidago Health and Rehabilitation issued a statement: “The health and safety of our residents remain our first priority. Our thoughts are with the resident and the family. Solidago Health and Rehabilitation enforces strict policies prohibiting patient abuse. Prompt action has been taken to ensure our residents are safe. Any violations of the abuse policy are reported to the appropriate agencies and legal authorities and the facility works closely with those agencies.”
The nursing home told Fox News, “In parallel to the external investigation, we launched an internal investigation, and the employees were immediately suspended. At the conclusion of the internal investigation, the employees involved in the incident were terminated as a result of violating the company’s policies.”
“We will continue to review our systems and approaches to identify new opportunities to strengthen existing measures to safeguard the health and safety of our residents,” Solidago Health and Rehabilitation added.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Solidago Health and Rehabilitation was cited for 11 violations during an inspection in July 2021.
The nursing home “failed to provide residents with care and services related to activities of daily living” and “failed to attain or maintain the highest practicable level of physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being,” according to the inspection.
In the state records, the Texas City facility was fined $19,800.
Solis is warning everyone who has an elderly loved one residing at a nursing home, “Keep an eye on them. Put a camera on them. You never know when it can happen to y’all.”
Watch the video report below:
Sources: Taphaps, Foxnews, Click2houston