"The rats sensed she was going to pass away" [View all]
Elderly often face neglect in California care homes that exploit workers
In her final months, Elaine Geslicki, a bedridden dementia resident at a home for seniors in the Los Angeles area, had difficulty communicating. But by the time the owner of Court Yard Estates sent her to the hospital in an ambulance, the severe pressure sores and bite marks from rats gnawing on her flesh spoke for themselves.
It was negligent and preventable, said Jasper Muñoz, a former caregiver who worked at the home for eight months through May 2017. When he complained that the number of rats in the home was out of control about a year before Geslicki died he said the care homes operator, Dimitri Zafiris, just laughed and said: Why dont you just feed the rats?
Zafiris later would face elder abuse charges related to Geslickis case and would be accused of wage theft by some of his care-home employees, who say they are owed more than $221,000. Zafiris is not the only care-home owner cited for mistreating seniors as well as workers.
An investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that some operators of senior board-and-care homes that violate labor laws and steal workers wages previously exposed by Reveal often also endanger or neglect their residents, sometimes with dire consequences.
Read more:
https://www.revealnews.org/article/elderly-often-face-neglect-in-california-care-homes-that-exploit-workers/