Nursing home cited for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse
The Via of Des Moines nursing home, formerly known as the Fleur Heights Center for Wellness and Rehabilitation. (Photo via Google Earth)
A central Iowa nursing home that has been cited six times in one year for insufficient staffing has now been cited for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse.
The state has proposed, but held in suspension, a $15,000 fine against Via of Des Moines, formerly known as the Fleur Heights Center for Wellness and Rehabilitation.
According to state inspectors, a male resident of the home with Alzheimer’s disease is known by the staff to wander the hallways, become physically and verbally abusive, and to exhibit inappropriate sexual behavior. “He will attempt to punch, kick and slap staff and other residents,” the care facility’s records stated, according to inspectors.
The staff recently failed to implement new interventions for residents’ safety or increase their supervision of the man after an April 23 incident of sexual abuse and a May 23 incident of physical abuse, inspectors allege.
The sexual abuse is not detailed in the inspectors’ report and is referred to only as “the 4/23/24 sexual abuse incident.” The May 23 incident involved a situation in which the man was propelling his wheelchair toward a female resident, then reaching out and slapping her on the right side of the face.
The home’s director of nursing told inspectors the staff was aware that they were to do frequent visual checks on the man and that the staff was also aware the man was not permitted to be close to any women.
However, when state inspectors were at the facility in June, they reported seeing the man sitting at the nurse’s station with no staff present. They also reported seeing him, with no alarm device in place and no staff present, sitting at a table within four feet of a female resident.
‘That man was in here and touched me.’
According to the inspectors, the man was found in a female resident’s room last October. The home’s records allegedly state: “Resident found by CNA in a female resident room, with his pants around his ankles and exposing his penis to the females in the room. Resident was made aware that it was inappropriate, assisted in pulling his pants, up, and was walked out of the room to a safe location.”
Months later, in April, the home was cited for having placed residents in immediate jeopardy by failing to protect them from the man’s advances. A female resident had complained to the staff that the man had entered her room and touched her private areas, adding that she was scared and did not know what to do.
“That man was in here and touched me,” the woman allegedly told the staff. “I am OK, I just want (him) to stay out of my room.”
According to inspectors, the director of nursing “confirmed and verified that (the woman) did not come out of her room for a week after the incident and wanted the door shut due to being scared.”
On April 23, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing notified the facility that a serious “immediate jeopardy situation” existed at the facility. Within 24 hours, the facility claimed to have fixed the situation by promising to increase supervision of the man, and so the state agency reduced the scope of the violation.
According to inspectors, two certified nurse aides and a registered nurse told them that while the staff was instructed to keep an eye on the man, that wasn’t always done due to the home’s staffing levels.
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals cited the facility for insufficient staffing in June 2023, November 2023, December 2023, January 2024, February 2024 and April 2024.
The director of nursing allegedly told inspectors this spring that she had previously warned “upper management” about some of the man’s sexual comments to the staff and to residents, but that “upper management responded with the comment that it was just (him) and he had not acted on those comments.”
The post Nursing home cited for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
