Elder abuse and neglect in Sacramento nursing homes is a systemic problem. But the problem often is not the folks trying their best to provide as much care as possible to residents.  Yet, RNs and CNAs are often “rewarded” with having to watch residents they care about die, lose limbs from amputations, develop horrible life-threatening wounds and more.  Nurses and CNAs experience the victimization of corporate elder neglect at nursing homes firsthand.   Oftentimes, try as hard as they might, there are just not enough hours in the day, supervision and support around them, and/or resources available to them to allow these genuinely caring individuals to provide quality care to the frail elderly residents relying on them.  Corporations systematically tie the hands of nurses, LVNs and CNAs, setting them up for failure, and then fire or criticize them when the inevitable consequences of the corporate thirst for profits come true.

It ruins good nurses.  It sucks the life out of hard-working, caring people.  To be a caregiver, you have to be empathetic.  You have to be sympathetic.  I’ve seen large numbers of nurses and caregivers ruined because they were put in this position to fail and, though truly not their fault, these empathetic, sympathetic workers carry the guilt of seeing what happens at an understaffed, unsupervised, unsupported facility – frail elderly, kind, sweet people unnecessarily die, get horrific pressure sores, repeatedly fall, and more.  There are a lot more victims than just the resident when a nursing home corporation attempts to maximize profits at the expense of resident care – nurses and those working with residents also suffer.