My mom lives in a MC facility, and we’ve recently had a problem with staff using her room for breaks. Several times we’ve walked in and a staff member will be sitting on her furniture or talking on the phone in her bathroom because it’s “quiet” there. One time Mom and I were in her room for several minutes before a staff member sheepishly came out of the bathroom and made some excuse about checking on Mom (who is very mobile and usually not in her room). We’ve told the facility director, and he says he’s aware that this is a widespread issue. Is this a normal thing? We’re thinking about putting a camera in her room. While I totally understand the staff needing regular breaks, they do have their own break room. I don’t like my mom’s room being used as the place to “hang out” just because it’s cleaner/nicer than other areas in the facility (thanks to me). I guess I’m a little irked about paying thousands of dollars for Mom to have her own space and someone else using it, potentially sleeping there. I hope this doesn’t sound selfish. I’m just wanting to know what others have experienced.
(You likely won't even have to have a camera, just a sign that says there is one😉)
I would strongly encourage you to take this up with the facility director. If the facility director ever feeds you the insulting nonsense about being 'aware that it's a widespread issue' you go higher than him. He has a boss. Or the place had a Board of Directors that he answers to. I worked in a very nice AL for a long time. If I ever saw a staff member sneaking into a client's room to chill or use the phone there would have been trouble.
Install those cameras too. Then show the footage to the facility director and insist that he make a policy that employees in a resident's room who are not assisting them in some way or not the housekeeping staff in there cleaning, will be fired immediatey.
You should make a big fuss about this because it is wrong.
Side note: find a excellent stand alone ER so you can take her if she doesn’t have to be transported. Mom tripped, 911 was called, nothing broken but because she hit her face she was required to be evaluated. I put her in my vehicle and took her to my fav standalone ER and she was evaluated, xrayed and mri’d and released. She was back in 2 hours. The AL staff were shocked. If she was taken to the local hospital they said she would have been there all day and probably admitted according to the staff. Mom was happy to be home and in her own cozy apartment.
I told mom the cameras were speakers and I didn’t ask permission from the facility. There is a sign outside her door that they eventually put up but the cameras are not hidden. I use Blink.
I would be extremely concerned about regularly finding staff members in your mother's room and her bathroom. I would also want the facility director to be more specific about what the widespread issue is, and I hope it isn't that staff aren't prepared to use their own restroom because it's monitored.
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