Frontline Tackles Emeritus Assisted Living

Did anyone else see the incredible news story from PBS's Frontline that exposed Emeritus?

Wow! I mean, really!

Frontline, with the assistance of ProPublica, exposed Emeritus Assisted Living, exposing example after example about the company's systematic tendency to put profits over people. The problems that result were revealed, and time and again, proved to be to the detriment of the very people that Emeritus claims that they are serving.

Emeritus is the largest assisted living company in the United States, with $1.6 billion in revenues. There are nearly 500 facilities across the nation, with 42,000 residents within them. And the company is constantly looking to expand, to grow even more.

The question is, should it? Has the focus on growth, or more specifically, on financial growth, gotten so much attention that it now outweighs the emphasis for providing care for the residents?

If you watched the Frontline report, the answer to that question seems quite clear: a resounding yes.

There were numerous examples of the company simply being negligible in case after case, and most of the time, these failures at least appear to be attributable to the corporate focus of Emeritus on the bottom line, which is and always has been making as much profits as possible. This has become the focus so exclusively, that the quality of the care that the facilities tend to provide for those who live there has been compromised.

It is not the fault of the staff, who generally receive what can hardly be considered an enormous salary at allows them to live in largess. Far from it, in fact. It was mentioned on the show that many of the employees make around $10 an hour. Given the skill requirements to provide such care, it hardly seems fair.

Some of the specific examples that Frontline used were truly shocking and horrifying.  The first example, which the story opened to, was that of former Chicago Bears star George McAfee. He had won three championships with the Bears back in his day, and was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But towards the end of his life, he found himself at an Emeritus Assisted Living facility in Georgia. He had developed dementia, and one night, he wondered away from his room, and found a cleaning room unlocked. Not knowing what he was doing, he wound up drinking some powerful detergent, which burned his lips, esophagus, and lungs. He was taken to the hospital, but they knew that his case would be terminal. The family described the horror, and mentioned how, at one point, George opened his eyes and sat up, and seemed aware of what was happening to him. It was a terrible way to die.

The case made news, of course. It was a horrific way to die, but it had also happened to a famous client. Emeritus had to take responsibility. But the penalty that they had to pay was a joke - just around $600.

That was the first story, but there was no shortage of others.

Another example was that of Joan Boice. She had come in to an Emeritus facility, and had seemed in relatively decent health. But that did not last long, as she became bed-ridden, and eventually had bed sores that grew to incredible proportions. They were on her body, though, and so when the family came to visit her, these were not in evidence, as she was always in bed, with a blanket over her body. The family had trusted Emeritus to take good care of their mother, but her condition continued to deteriorate at a rapid rate, until she died.

The family was shocked, and it began to be clear that these symptoms were allowed to fester and grow completely out of proportion specifically because Emeritus staff not only did not do anything to take care of it, but outright tried to cover it up.

They built a case against Emeritus. Emeritus offered the family a settlement of over $3 million to walk away, with one of the conditions being that the family would need to hand over all the documents and evidence that they had against Emeritus over to the company. The family refused, and the trial went on. Eventually, all twelve jurors found Emeritus guilty. Here, according to the transcripts of the show (click on the link at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/life-and-death-in-assisted-living/transcript-48/):

The jury awarded punitive damages of nearly $23 million. The amount came from combining Granger Cobb’s annual compensation with that of the company’s chairman. And the 81 cents? That was to remind Emeritus of Joan’s age.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is that the Emeritus facilities look very nice from the outside. I can attest to this myself, having seen one of their facilities up close, and even having been in one once. From the outside, it does indeed look like a peaceful and pleasant place. But inside, the facility is understaffed, and there is such a huge workload, that those employees that are there hardly ever get a chance to catch their breath. There is just far too much to do, and it is unrealistic to assume that a couple of staff members can take care of such a tremendous volume of people. According to Mary Kasuba, a former nurse and resident care director of an Emeritus facility at Emerald Hills in northern California:

It looks like a nice building on the outside. But inside, you know, everybody’s just, like, scrambling to do the best they can, you know, to take care of all these people.

There was this horrifying story from an Emeritus facility in Ridgeland Pointe, in Mississippi, where another patient with dementia, Merle Fall, came to the facility. The family had liked the place, even though it cost $3500 a month, as it seemed friendly and professional. But it became clear very quickly that this impression was mistaken.

Days after her entry, the family visited their mother. She was drugged, and was still in the same clothes that she had been brought in. She smelled of urine. And she desperately wanted to leave.

They entertained the thought of possibly getting her out, but in the end, decided against it. They thought it would be best for her to remain there.

Days later, she packed her suitcase and told the caregiver that she was leaving. Somehow or other, she managed to open the window from the second floor, and dropped to the ground.

When the family was told about the accident, they came immediately. One of the daughters, Linda, said this about it:

We probably got there in less than 10 minutes. As a matter of fact, they were still putting her in the ambulance when we got there. There was not one living soul from Ridgeland Pointe out there with her. Nobody from Ridgeland Pointe ever came outside and said anything to us. Nobody expressed any regret because they never walked out the front door. We never saw them.


These, and quite a few other cases, continue to pop up in relation to Emeritus, which again, it should be reiterated, has become the largest assisted living company in the United States. The cases that I mentioned specifically were basically the tip of the iceberg. The general gist was that what Emeritus wanted more than anything else were profits. To that end, they took shortcuts. They wanted one hundred percent occupancy in their facilities.They wanted to fill up beds. They also tend to be understaffed, not wanting to pay the extra expenses involved with more employees. And finally, a huge portion, even a majority, of those people who they take in are beyond their ability to help. They are not equipped to deal with people with overpowering disabilities, or with severe dementia. Yet, a huge portion of their residents can be described as numbering among these.

Now, this particular Frontline expose about Emeritus was something that I took note of, because there is someone in my life, personally, who works there. And the stories that this person has to tell, and the complaints that the staff has, rung so similar to all the problems so prominently exposed on Frontline's show, that it was simply amazing!

Earlier this summer, the air conditioning broke down, and the temperatures inside the facility simply soared. Now, I was told that the seniors living there did not actually seem all that bothered by it, most likely because they have bad circulation, and thus are more often cold than not. At least, this was the theory of this employee of Emeritus.

Still, it took them weeks to fix the problem, and whether or not it bothered the residents, make no mistake: it was a problem. Everyone working there was drenched in sweat following the eight hour shifts.

Some of the other problems? The staff are generally treated like crap, as replaceable parts, almost. Qualified people, particularly nurses, have lost their positions entirely, and the responsibilities have fallen on the remaining staff, whether they are technically qualified or not. In other words, there is no less money, but a whole lot more work for the remaining staff, because they do not hire people to replace certain positions. They simply get rid of the position. And keep in mind, that the problem really stems from the singular focus of filling up every room, every bed. The patients often have dementia, as well as other ailments that make them in need of more than merely "assisted living". They need much more monitoring, which an understaffed facility like the one my friend works at simply cannot provide, or even come close to providing. The medications are involved and take time to prepare, as well as time to actually deliver.

Also, they have been cutting the hours of the staff, and generally take a hard line against them, to assure that it does not cost the company any extra money. To that end, they have a policy (I can't say if this is official policy, or de facto policy) that requires employees to punch in no more than five minutes early to work, and no more than five minutes late. If the employee happens to punch in or out longer than that, they are pressured and held accountable.

Another thing that I was informed of was that the staff there got a whopping $40 holiday bonus last year, and that was not even from the company, but rather money pooled from families as a token of appreciation. From the company itself? Nothing. So, $40 is a generous amount, given that it comes from regular family members of the seniors living there. But it still comes out to more or less a tank of gas, which will not help a classically underpaid and overworked staff. Emeritus itself does virtually nothing for them. Maybe other facilities are different, although I hardly see why they would be. Then again, the CEO apparently receives nice bonuses to supplement his salary, so we can all take comfort in that, right? Always nice to know that the rich get richer. And that is apparently what Emeritus is all about.





These are the websites that I used to complete this blog entry. Also, please go on PBS's Frontline website itself, where you can watch the program for yourself in it's entirety, free of charge.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/assisted-living-facilities-loosely-regulated-understaffed/story?id=19808799&.tsrc=mobifone?_device=full


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/pressroom/frontline-propublica-investigate-assisted-living-in-america/

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/11/141225823/seattle-based-venture-opens-facility-in-shanghai

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/life-and-death-in-assisted-living/life-death-in-assisted-living-a-sinking-ship/


Frontline's Facebook Address:

https://www.facebook.com/frontline?fref=ts

Leaked note to Emeritus employees, urging them to respond to the criticism likely from the Frontline show by making positive statements and reaffirming the community spirit of Emeritus employees:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/life-and-death-in-assisted-living/emeritus-note-to-staff-send-forward-oops/

http://www.mcknights.com/frontline-propublica-slam-assisted-living-sector-in-documentary-airing-tonight/article/305063/