Senior care communities are places where residents are well cared for and safe. Residents can live their lives knowing that their needs will be attended to and families can rest assured that their loved ones are in a good place. Some residents have complex health problems and others are more memory impaired than others. Either way, elderly residents are vulnerable to a whole host of issues, including theft. This is not a happy topic, but one that must be addressed.
Is Theft Really an Issue in Senior Care Facilities?
Yes, unfortunately it is, and in some communities, it’s a chronic problem that goes largely unnoticed or unreported. Sadly, some employees working in care centers, take advantage of seniors who have memory problems or who have health problems that cause them to sleep a lot. One study by the American Society on Aging reported that 25% of employees reported they believed their coworkers were stealing from residents or they actually witnessed theft. When family members were asked if theft was occurring in the care facility, 20% reported that they believed it was happening – their elderly family members were being robbed in the place that was supposed to care for them. Unreplaceable items like wedding rings were missing, never to be recovered. Theft is sometimes called financial exploitation in senior care, but regardless of its name, its illegal and a serious criminal act of senior abuse.
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Preventing Theft in Senior Care
Preventing theft in a senior care community is no easy task, but it does require leadership’s attention and intervention. It starts with the employees being hired. Employing the most honest, committed and genuine staff is important in developing a culture of dignity and honesty. This can be the foundation of a healthy work environment that maintains a zero tolerance of any form of abuse including theft. Leaders also need to develop and schedule ongoing training that reminds staff how illegal senior financial exploitation is and its consequences. Leadership can also remind residents and families that highly valuable and irreplaceable personal items like wedding rings and expensive jewelry should be safely stored or kept elsewhere.
Leadership can also create processes to prevent loss and theft including performing criminal background checks on all prospective employees during the application process. They can make it mandatory that all employees must report any suspicious behavior of others and report theft immediately. Leaders will then report any theft or loss to local authorities who will conduct an investigation. If regular training sessions are held stressing the importance of this issue, some employees simply will not take the chance. If they are regularly reminded of the negative consequences of theft, they may be deterred. Employees should be reminded of the emotional pain that theft causes their residents and how horrible it is to steal from elderly people who are dependent on them. Stealing from the memory and cognitively impaired senior is truly disgusting and employees should be reminded of this routinely.
All staff can be involved in anti-loss and theft interventions. Dietary staff, for instance, can make sure that residents don’t take their dentures out, wrap them in paper towels, leave them on the tray and then they get tossed in the trash. Nursing assistants can do the same by keeping an eye on hearing aids, glasses, jewelry and other personal items. Social workers or someone in leadership can take a detailed inventory of items the resident is bringing into the facility upon admission. All staff can also monitor for confused residents entering rooms and taking items not belonging to them. If this does occur, it’s best to return those items to the right resident promptly.
Office staff can also take photographs of personal and valuable items and keep them in the resident’s records. All items should be labeled or marked by laundry for safe keeping. Having a locked drawer or closet in the resident’s room may also deter theft of certain items. If particular items such as glasses, dentures or hearing aids are lost frequently, procedures should be put in place and documentation concerning where these items are stored overnight should be routinely performed. And last, communities can have a lost and found storage area in the main office where families and residents can go to inquire about misplaced items.
Final Thoughts on Theft in Senior Care
Senior care communities are places that residents and families can rely on for good care, food, and quality of life. Regardless of the level of care, acute or chronic conditions, or severity of memory loss, no resident should be the target of theft. While most employees are honest and have integrity, there will also be those who will take advantage of seniors who are soft targets and easily exploited. It is therefore imperative, that leadership keep anti-theft procedures at the forefront of their minds and those of the staff.
(NOTE: Interested in CEUs for Nursing Home Administrators? Checkout my Nursing Home Administrator CEUs on CEU Academy and try a FREE CEU today!)