By Dave Ranney, KHI News Service, February 10, 2011
TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has done a lousy job of investigating reports of elder abuse, according to several groups that advocate for the elderly.
"When we get calls on this – and we do, regularly – we direct them to the Attorney General’s Office or to the Department on Aging," said Mitzi McFatrich, executive director at Kansas Advocates for Better Care.
"We don’t refer them to Adult Protective Services," she said, referring to the division within SRS that’s charged with investigating reports of elder abuse.
McFatrich, who testified Thursday before the House Committee on Aging and Long-term Care, said SRS’ approach to investigating complaints reminded her of the way child-abuse and domestic-violence reports were dealt with 30 years ago.
"If an investigator goes out and the family says there isn’t any abuse or neglect going on, then it’s considered a family matter," she said. "That’s as far as it goes."
The committee is considering a bill – House Bill 2108 - that would put the Adult Protective Services unit in the Attorney General’s Office.
Reports of caregivers raiding an elder’s savings are commonplace, McFatrich said. So, too, are reports of frail elders with dementia having no one to check on their well-being and consequently being in danger.
State Long-term Care Ombudsman Belinda Vierthaler said her office had been involved in a case in which an elder who had dementia was bitten by snake while sitting in her clutter-filled house.
Earlier, she said, an Adult Protective Services worker had declined to intervene in the woman’s case even though it was clear she was living in a hazardous environment.
After the woman was bitten, she was moved to a nursing home, Vierthaler said.
"It’s time for a change," Vierthaler said. "We’ve had a lot of frustration in working with (Adult Protective Services)."
In Kansas, the Long-term Care Ombudsman’s office investigates complaints involving nursing homes and nursing home residents; Adult Protective Services handles those involving elders in non-institutional settings.
The Department on Aging operates a toll-free hotline for reporting substandard care in nursing homes.
The Attorney General’s Office investigates and, depending on the evidence, prosecutes cases involving criminal activity.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, said he had confirmed reports that SRS had denied nursing home administrators access to a list of persons suspected of abusing or neglecting elders.
Bethell is a licensed, nursing-home administrator.
"Oddly enough, an individual could call and find out if their name was on the list," he said. "But if a nursing home called to find out if someone they were thinking about hiring was on the list, SRS wouldn’t share that information with them. It made absolutely no sense."
Bethell called on Bobbi Mariani, director of economic and employment support at SRS. The department, she said, had since decided to share the list with would-be employers.
Rep. Don Hill, R-Emporia, asked SRS official Gary Haulmark if he thought the department’s protective services unit was adequately funded. Haulmark said he didn’t know, adding that SRS was planning a major review of its operations this summer.
"We may come back to you and asked for additional resources or we may not," Haulmark said. "We just don’t know at this point."
Other groups testifying in support of the bill: