I’m grumpy…and here’s why

grump old men -2

Living in a bubble
Some people call me Crabby. It is not my favorite nickname….I prefer “wonder man.” Not that anyone calls me that, but it would be nice! So what’s my point? Well the old saying is you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear and today you can’t make a government program something that it isn’t.
I’m upset, confused and extremely concerned about not only the care our elderly receive in this country but especially upset with the abuse, the injuries, the theft of money or medicine that they need. It is outrageous. It makes me crabby!

How can this happen? Who are these people that we allowed to be put in a position of looking after our vulnerable adults? How did they get there? Who let this happen? Why hasn’t anything been done to change the system?
Who else but our government would think they have the answers. That another study is needed. That they can implement a program or throw money at the problem and therefore they have a solution. Currently they have a “new” program called the Net Study. Net Study is supposed to allow them to access the FBI database of records, the criminal records in what is called NCIC, which stands for National Crime Information Center.
So maybe you think well who better than to run a criminal records check than the FBI? I mean on paper it’s the FBI. They are the top dogs; the head honchos…the BIG CHEESE. Let’s be real here now….the FBI isn’t knocking on doors, making phone calls or doing anything except entering a name and a date of birth into their national criminal information center database. Is that sufficient? I think not!!
Even if it gives them the quickest results and if the results are accurate, so what do the results prove? One thing…that the FBI system has no record for the individual with that name and date of birth. The other problem is that the records system is only as good as what has been both reported and entered correctly. Not every record gets entered or reported.
Now I hate to be a naysayer but you do not have to look very far to find a story about an incident at a nursing home. Almost every story will have some language or reference to the fact that the facility did the “State required” background check. Great. What didn’t they do? A lot.
They did not do a state check, a county record search, they did not verify prior employment, contact references, conduct a pre-employment physical screening for drugs. Does it cost more to do all of that stuff? Yes it does. Does it guarantee that all of the abuse will stop? Certainly not.
I think and believe that what it does can be very far reaching. First is MIGHT prevent some of the so called “care givers” from even attempting to get a job that allows them to be in a position to take advantage. So we scare them away before they even try to work with our parents.
Next we weed out more by contacting prior employers. Those employers sometimes let someone go without reporting the specific issues or filing any paperwork….but they hopefully will share issues and concerns that allow us to eliminate that person as a viable candidate. I know that I have read about employees at Eldercare facilities that were fired for abuse at one facility but hired at another. We cannot continue to let that happen. It is horrible that it happened once…that’s the fool me once shame on you…fool me twice shame on me analogy. In my opinion there need to be stronger reporting requirements for the facilities and penalties if they don’t cooperate.
The final measure that should be considered would be pre-employment drug testing and mandatory continued periodic random testing. This works as a deterrent first by stopping drug users from applying and second as a way to keep them straight or weed them out with the random checks if they sneak through the first time.
As I read what I just wrote it scares me still. I am scared because the big dark fact is that we cannot ever create a program, a search or a technic that is going to stop all of criminals or bad actors from getting into positions where they can do harm…no we cannot guarantee we will get them all…….I just know that we can do better. We have to do better. After all we are talking about the reasons we are even here!
These places sometimes charge as much for one meal as it would cost to do a full, diligent, complete background check. Doesn’t it make sense to let the private sector be involved? I know my folks are worth a few plates of mushy peas, slimy green salad, cold potatoes and Salisbury steak.
Now I’m really Crabby.
——–
McDowell Agency is a licensed private investigation firm
specializing in background investigation and pre-employment screening services
.
Offering:
Criminal Background Screening Services
Additional Verification Services
Industry Specific Searches
(877) 644-3880
mcdowellagency.com

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