Finding ways to care for our elderly parents is a difficult situation that millions of people face each year. Sadly, when many elderly adults reach a certain age, they no longer have the capabilities to care for themselves. This could be due to a mental and/or physical ailment that prevents them from functioning on the same level they used to. And since so many people work and have full lives with children and other responsibilities, they often choose to trust the lives of their beloved parents in the hands of nursing homes. This arrangement works out just fine in most cases, as family members can visit their loved ones anytime they wish.
However, life can get busy, and many nursing home patients have family members who rarely visit, and there are some whose family never visits at all! One pastor decided to call attention to the issue of families not visiting their loved ones in nursing homes after taking a shocking photo of what appears to be an older adult in a wheelchair abandoned slumped over a desk with a pillow under her head.
The picture above is Esther Brown, age 80, whose concerned son, James, went to visit her at the Altercare of Nobles Pond facility while accompanied by his pastor.
When they walked toward one area, they noticed a woman slumped over a desk; upon recognizing the woman in the wheelchair, Brown shouted out:
Brown’s pastor, Julia Wiggins, documented the heart-breaking sight with photos, while Brown went to find someone who worked at the facility for help. He said it took him between five and ten minutes, in which he knocked on doors and cried out for someone to come to the aid of his mother. The horrific ordeal led to the man contacting the Ohio Department of Health with a formal complaint.
Meanwhile, Wiggins shared details about the incident on Facebook, where her post soon went viral, catching the attention of several news outlets. The pastor strongly encourages families to stop in unannounced to check up on family members in nursing homes so they can detect any signs of abuse or neglect.
Since then, the story has made international news, and Brown’s received a huge outpouring of public support.
However, after a “preliminary report from the ODH, Aftercare Integrated Health Services (the operator of the nursing facility) reported that the state agency found the accusations of neglect “to be unsubstantiated” despite the very clear photo evidence to the contrary.
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