Families who make the difficult decision to place an elderly relative in a residential care or assisted living home must then ask: Which home?
Vermonters entrust residents to 133 state-regulated facilities that can accommodate more than 3,000 residents. These places do not provide the level of care available in nursing homes and aren’t regulated as vigorously. Some are mom-and-pop operations; others have out-of-state corporate owners.
They market themselves as offering personalized care and a comfortable lifestyle. And some do.
But “Worse for Care,” a joint investigation by Vermont Public Radio and Seven Days, reveals that some seniors in these facilities live in challenging circumstances. To report our stories, we obtained five and a half years worth of complaints and state inspections, detailed in thousands of pages of documents.
The data show that seniors have wandered from homes, sometimes in the dead of Vermont winter. They’ve been given the wrong dosage of medicine and fed cheap, high-sodium foods. Seniors have been assaulted, exploited and treated in undignified ways by employees at some facilities.
We built a database to help us better understand how often homes are cited and what happens — and doesn’t — when they’re caught violating state regulations. We used it to inform our interviews with state regulators, families, advocates and care-home operators.
To assist consumers, we’re also launching our Vermont Eldercare Navigator. This database, searchable by facility name or location, lists the number of complaints against each home and contains complete inspection reports for both residential care homes and assisted living facilities.
VPR and Seven Days teamed up to share the workload and to make sure the stories reach the widest possible audience.
Look for our stories over the next three weeks.
Stories
- When Elder Homes Stumble, Frail Vermonters Get Hurt [Nov. 27]
- A Residence For Seniors Vexed Regulators For Years [Nov. 27]
- Low Pay, Tough Work And Turnover Bedevil Vermont's Eldercare Workforce [Dec. 4]
- A New American Finds Purpose, And 'Family,' In Caregiving [Dec. 4]
- Vermont Edition: What The VPR/'Seven Days' Investigation Reveals About Vermont's Eldercare Facilities [Dec. 9]
- When Eldercare Homes Flout The Rules, Managers Aren't Held Responsible [Dec. 11]
- Elder Abuse And Neglect Is A Well-Kept Secret In Vermont [Dec. 11]
Resources
- Looking for info about a specific home? Find the Vermont Eldercare Navigator here.
- Got a story to share? Tell us what’s happening at your elder care home at eldercare@sevendaysvt.com.
- Have a complaint about an eldercare home? Alert state regulators at ahs.dailscintake@vermont.gov.
- Want to report elder abuse? In an emergency, call 911. You can also reach Adult Protective Services at aps@vermont.gov or by calling 1-800-564-1612 or by visiting dail.vermont.gov.
The Team
VPR
- Editor: Mark Davis
- Reporter: Emily Corwin
SEVEN DAYS
- Editors: Matthew Roy, Candace Page
- Data Editor: Andrea Suozzo
- Reporter: Derek Brouwer
- Photographer: James Buck
