The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigative series “Unprotected” raised troubling questions about elder neglect and abuse in the long term care industry in Georgia.
Members of the public and elder care experts discussed those issues at a town hall meeting last month hosted by Georgia Public Broadcasting. A taped program of that meeting will be aired at 7 p.m., Thursday on GPB.
The meeting took place in GPB’s Midtown studios, and was moderated by Bill Nigut, host of GPB’s “Political Rewind.” Kevin Riley, editor at the AJC, introduced the panel, which included AJC reporters Carrie Teegardin and Brad Schrade, who are part of the team behind the investigative series.
Among those in the audience who spoke up at the Oct. 17 event was Ross Perloe, whose mother was living at Somerby, in Sandy Springs, a high-end assisted living facility that allowed an infestation of ants in her room.
Perloe said that despite his familiarity with assisted living facilities, he was unaware that his mother was getting substandard care, and he believed an infestation of ants in her room led to her death.
“We were one of the families that hired a private aid. Our private aid reported a problem, and a week later she asked if the situation had gotten take care of, and it hadn’t. We are in the industry. I sell long-term care insurance. I was there an average of two or three times a day. And it happened.”
A week after 92-year-old Betty Perloe was repeatedly bitten by ants in her bed, she died.
In articles published over the past two months, the AJC’s investigation into theses facilities found 600 cases of neglect, 90 cases of abuse, assaults, thefts, residents left injured on the floor and 20 deaths that were related to poor care.
See a taped account of the meeting on GPB. The event was also live-streamed at ajc.com.
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