May 10, 2006 2 min read

I was recently looking into personal care homes in the Uniontown area. I have to say what I found mortified me. I saw a woman working, trying to look after the people who lived there and watch their own children. The patients were trying to watch TV while the employee’s children were running all over the place. Was it a day care or a personal care home? Shouldn’t there be laws against this? You have 20 elderly people and some mentally challenged people there, and the person responsible for them is also trying to watch their own children. How can they devote 100 percent to their job and the patients, and watch their children at the same time?

I was asking about their protocol on hiring people. I had asked if they did background checks on employees; she said yes, they hire people and wait for the background checks to come in. Am I the only one or does that seem dangerous?

We have laws that protect our children. You have to have Act 34 before you can even work with a child, but our elderly and mentally challenged are not protected. I don’t know if all personal care homes are like this but the one I visited hires people before the background check comes back. To me that’s too little, to late.

I wouldn’t want my loved one to be at risk like that. God only knows who is taking care of your loved one. It takes a couple weeks for a background check to come back. What damage could be done while they wait on the background check?

I think people who are considering or even have a loved one in a personal care home should like into who is taking care of their family member. Don’t be afraid to ask for the background checks or ask questions. We see so many terrible things on the news daily about our elderly and mentally challenged being abused or wandering off. It’s the family members’ responsibility to make sure they place them somewhere safe. Just like a child looks to its patents to keep them safe, so do our elderly and mentally challenged.

Margo Redd

Brownsville