CNA or not?

WHO IS THAT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR?

A gaping hole in our security came to my attention recently.

There are many home health aides ,certified nursing assistants , registered nurses and other health care workers visiting our village on a regular basis. For the most part these aides do a wonderful job in assisting the elderly in coping with their daily lives. They are licensed by the state and undergo a security screening or a background check before being issued a licence.

A Century Village gate pass is issued without question to aides on the assumption that in order to possess a license they have been screened and vetted by the state. An assumption that is wrong!

There is a mechanism in the nurses registry in Talahassee that permits individuals who have been convicted of crimes to make an appeal to a committee who may decide to issue a license regardless of their criminal past. Is this known by the issuers of passes or are they simply unaware ?

In an attempt to find an aide to assist an elderly resident who suffers from dementia I searched for and found a young lady who possessed a license as a CNA and appeared to be just what I was looking for. I conducted my own background check and discovered that she had been convicted of domestic violence and fraud. The fraud involved the theft of checks from friends. The domestic violence was related to repeated assaults on her younger brother.

She was definitely not the sort of person who I would trust to look after an elder suffering from dementia. She had obtained a license by making an appeal after she was initially denied due to her criminal record.

In light of all this I have to question the efficiency of the security procedures here in the village. In order to perform an effective security screening the subject, be it a nurses aide or any other contractor , should be checked by our own security.

Why is this not being done ? There are other issues where the security in the village is lacking. Keep an eye on thiswebsite , I will be posting them in the near future.

Neil J Moore