North Carolina assisted living facility staff allegedly ran a dementia fight club, filmed residents and failed to give them medication
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA: The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has barred an assisted living and memory care facility from taking in any more people after a complaint that its employees made residents with dementia fight one another and filmed the incidents.
One employee is also said to have assaulted a resident by shoving her into a room, according to a Winston Salem Journal report.
Three employees, 32-year-old Marilyn Latish McKey, 20-year-old Tonacia Yvonne Tyson and 26-year-old Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, have been charged by the Winston-Salem police for doing nothing while two residents, aged 70 and 73 respectively, fought at the Danby House facility located at Burke Mill Road.
They are also accused of filming the fight and egging them on. The facility fired the three employees after the complaint surfaced in June. They have now been charged with assaulting disabled persons, according to the report.
Legal documents also stated that in one of the fights that were filmed, a resident in the fight screamed “let go, help me, help me, let go" but the three women did nothing. A staff member also told one of the women "punched her in the face".
The employees also failed to give the residents their medication as prescribed. According to the news outlet, documents say that six out of 7 residents who had their records reviewed had not received their medications.
Some of the drugs were for "fluid build up, thyroid hormone deficiencies, neuropathic pain, depression, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia", the paper stated.
One resident who had schizoaffective bipolar disorder was not given medication for 17 days in the month of June. In a statement, Affinity Living LLC, which owns the facility, said that they had zero tolerance for mistreatment.
"Administrators have been working closely with the Winston-Salem Police Department throughout its investigation to ensure justice is served. Additional staff training and a more rigorous vetting process for all new and existing employees at Danby House has been implemented."
The statement added, "Danby House has undergone leadership changes in recent months, and we look at situations like these as opportunities to improve upon the high standard of care we provide for our residents."