The upside of having to care for an old person vs a child is that no, I am not concerned much about anything.

Some staff at our facility are wonderful. But some are as mean as the day is long, and the admin is a huge b/tch. I'm worried about things like purposely being a bit rough, not responding to the call button, putting things a bit out of reach, etc. I can absolutely see this happening with this group of people and this admin. How do you check for that?

That is good advice to hide one’s name when donating.

OP

My assumption is this is exceedingly rare, just like the Nancy Guthrie situation of aging in place and being kidnapped is very rare. The one thing they have in common besides being more vulnerable because they are elderly is money-Nancy's daughter makes many millions and the philanthropist was very wealthy. No idea if both are money related.

In terms of keeping my own mother safe, sure everyone has background checks, but I have gently suggested to her to be less flashy with her wealth. While she is miserly with others with the money she inherited from my father and her family which is her prerogative, she has very expensive jewelry, purses, etc. and she makes donations specifically to get her name out there (nothing truly charitable) and she named her donor fund after herself. I suggested to make donations anonymous, so she doesn't end up with her unusual name on plaques and lists and posted all over the internet, but this is the reason she even gives donations-she wants people to know she is rich and give her attention. Basically, it's advertising to criminals that you have a lot of money and it's not hard to look up age, addresses etc. I don't even know if it's related with the other cases, but I do think for safety purposes it's best not to make it easy for people to figure out you are rich and elderly.

From my observation as a spouse of someone who runs elder care facilities, security varies a lot between programs. And that makes sense. Certain areas and certain types of facilities are going to need a higher level.

Background checks are done on all staff but that only catches things the person has been caught at doing.

Facilities are required to allow visitors. Most places require ID and identification of whom you are there to see. Also they give paper ID badges. It’s a lot like visiting a school.

Thing is, none of this would have prevented the death that you are Talking about. The accused is a staff member who passed a background check.

After reading about the medical aid who shot an elderly assisted living resident, I wonder about security.

Are you concerned? Assisted livings have sign ins but seem to let in anyone after they check in…