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- OPINION
Woman in wheelchair escapes nursing home, wanders in traffic
November 5th, 2008, 6:30 am · 7 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
As if sitting in the passenger seat while your teenage son drives home in evening traffic isn’t stressful enough.
Shellee Smith of Santa Ana watched as her son maneuvered toward the left lane on busy Fairview Street last Tuesday, aiming to make a left turn onto Edna Drive so they could get home.
That’s when Smith saw traffic slow, and spied an elderly woman in a wheelchair moving slowly - very slowly - across the busy street. It was about 5:45 p.m. Cars were everywhere.
Stop, Smith told her son. She glanced behind them at a big truck barreling forward, honking its horn impatiently. Smith jumped out of the car - at no small risk to herself and her son - and pushed the woman to the curb. ”Where do you live?” Smith asked. “Los Angeles,” the woman said.
ESCAPES
Smith had lived in the neighborhood long enough to know that the woman must be a patient at the nearby skilled nursing home, St. Edna’s Subacute and Rehabilitation Center. Smith wheeled the woman - who said her name was Francis - all the way to the nursing station, trying to figure out 
who was responsible for her, why she wasn’t wearing an identifying bracelet that could trigger an alarm, and how long she might have been gone.
It was not easy getting answers. Smith grew increasingly upset. “The sense of urgency was definitely not there,” Smith said. “I just pulled her out of the middle of the street where all three of us could have been smashed. I’m saying, ’Francis, do you not know who Francis is? Who’s supposed to be taking care of her?; Blank stares. God knows how long she’d been loose. I was just dumbfounded by the whole situation.”
It wasn’t the first time Smith had encountered an escapee. A few summers ago, Smith and her family were enjoying a warm summer night outside when another patient from St. Edna’s rolled past Smith’s driveway - blocks away - in a wheelchair. That woman wore an ID bracelet, however, so Smith just called St, Edna’s and wheeled the woman half-way back to the facility. A St. Edna’s employee met her and took the woman the rest of the way back.
“I didn’t make a big stink about it then, but when it happened on a 45 mile-an-hour street, I was pissed,” Smith said.
Smith said she has ”no relationship whatsoever” with the facility, and she understands that things happen. “But if it’s happened to me on two occasions, it’s probably happened before,” Smith said. “I want something done. This poor woman could have been dead and my son and I could have been killed getting her out of the street.”
INSPECTIONS
St. Edna’s is owend by Covenant Care and licensed for 144 beds. There have been no enforcement actions - when the state really cracks down - against St. Edna’s in the past five years.
But inspectors have checked into 45 complaints there since March 2004; the overwhelming majority involved “quality of care” issues. Nineteen of those complaints were substantiated.
So far in 2008, according to the California Department of Public Health (which licenses and inspects nursing homes), St. Edna’s has had seven complaints (this complaint will make 
, two facility-reported incidents, and 39 survey deficiencies. .
Most of those deficiencies were “level twos,” which are defined as “noncompliance that results in no more than minimal physical, mental and/or psychosocial discomfort to the resident.”
The state will be investigating the incident, said Suanne Buggy, spokesperson for the Department of Public Health.
Joshua Torres, executive director at St. Edna’s, couldn’t talk too specifically about the incident because of patient privacy laws. “We are looking into the matter,” Torres said. “We are investigating.”
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I have worked in nursing homes for 7 years and there is a lack of simpathy, connection with these patients. Many workers are overwhelmed with their share of patients. If they treated these people as if they were their family things would be very different. Records are falsified, paychecks are denied if rooms aren’t perfect. New blankets are stolen, patients aren’t fed,facilities smell of urine, ect. Facilities hire extra staff when the state is coming in, then let them go. I remember when the nurses would smoke at the nurses station. That wasn’t too long ago. There are staff that care an d make the most of their days with the patients. We take them oustside for a little fresh air, they attend activity sessions, exercise, hear live music from the youth groups in the area. They have church services. Family come to visit. They can be wonderful places if you get staff that care.
We are investigating matters realting to Covenant Care facilities at present. If anyone has relevant information and wishes to speak with us please call at 1-800-281-8515 or contact us at information@lawgarcia.com
Let’s figure something out here. First of all the Shellee Smith is a hero. No question there! However, when did Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNfs or nursing homes) become locked up facilities? Ths headline and Ms. Smith’s perceptions are in error I believe. The woman was NOT being properly cared for. However, how was she an “escapee?” How did she “escape” the nursing home? She left it without being observed. There clearly is not adequate staffing at St. Edna’s or else the adequate staff is not doing their job. However, let’s not turn our elderly frail and disabled population into “inmates” in our thinking. Or into “escapees.”
I don’t believe the message was escape as in a locked up facility. It seems that Frances was trying to leave and go to Los Angeles. She was trying to “escape” a place she felt she didn’t belong. The SNF’s might not be “lock up” facilities, but when patient’s are confused we owe it to them to keep them safe. There are bracelets that signal an alarm to the staff when a patient leaves the building. Fairview is such a busy street, Frances could have been killed. I don’t think that the message was that she was an inmate. I think she was an escapee from a place she didn’t think was her home.
I have worked as a consultant for skilled nursing facilities for close to 20 years now. Sometimes, unfortunately, things happen and situations become exaggerated. There are many rules and regulations regarding patients. They do not “escape” and are not held against their will unless doctor orders state they must be restrained. As scary as this situation could have been, there is a bright side to it. We do still have people that look out for the safety and well being of others. Mrs. Smith should be praised for her thoughtfulness and caring. To stop in the middle of rush hour traffic and help an elderly woman (who may be somewhat confused) to safety is a very respectable thing to do. But we should let it go at that. This is not much different than a parent warning their young child not to ride their bike in the middle of the street and to look both ways when crossing. How many times have we seen children ride their bikes across the street without even looking? Most skilled nursing facilities treat their patients very well. Most workers view the elderly as if their own parents. Skilled nursing facilities are very much needed in our society. When families can no longer take care of the elderly because it becomes too overwhelming or they require constant medical attention, they turn to the skilled nursing home. The patients are not neglected but they are also not “locked down.” Someday, you may be in a skilled facility because your children can no longer take care of you or your medical conditions require it. We, as a society, need to support these homes and their staff especially when an adverse situation arises and be thankful that our elderly are looked after and tried to be made as comfortable as possible away from their homes and their families. Sure there are instances when things happen, but what about the majority of elderly patients that are cared for day and night when their families can no longer do the job? We must also thank Mrs. Smith for her caring also. Sometimes it takes all of us to do our share to help out. I applaud all of the skilled facilities and their staffs for doing a job that most of us could not.
I found myself in a situation very similar to this in 2004.
Driving down Beach Blvd near the indoor stanton swapmeet at nearly 11pm, I spotted an elderly woman in the bike lane, tubes hanging from her nose, in a wheelchair that appeared to belong to a facility, not an individual.
I got out of my boyfriend’s car to help and she had no clue where she was or who she was but she was terrified of me.
I got her onto the curb, called 911, and followed her close enough to keep her safe, but far enough away from her to keep her from feeling threatened.
The police took over the situation and called my cell phone later on to let me know what had happened.
She had indeed escaped from a nursing home, one that was quite aways down the road at that.
No one knew she was missing until the police returned her.
To this day I wonder if anyone ever contacted her family and let them know what happened that night.
ALL of these places should be investigated. What I love is how they bring in the full staff on weekends (when the families visit) and they are friendly and can’t do enough for you. Show up on weekdays (and especially nights), the same people don’t even acknowledge you, the place is a mess, and if you have any questions or requests, forget it. Glad to see that someone has sicked a law firm on one.