Should Residents at Kentucky’s Personal Care Homes be Assessed for Brain Injuries?
Posted in General on February 9, 2012Last August, a tragedy occurred in Pendleton County, Kentucky: Larry Lee, a 32-year-old resident at Falmouth Nursing Home, a personal care home in Falmouth, disappeared. A few weeks later, his body was found near the banks of the Licking River. Lee had had a brain injury since childhood; he also suffered from schizophrenia and diabetes and had been diagnosed as bipolar.
Advocates for people with brain injuries say that someone like Lee should never have been permitted to live in a personal care home. Personal care homes are facilities that provide some assistance to people who don’t need fulltime nursing care but who do need some help with daily life. Mary Hass, the advocacy director of the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky, said that a qualified professional should determine an individual’s level of disability before he or she enters a personal care home. Other advocates have pointed out that Lee should have been placed at a special facility that offered specialized services for people with brain injuries.
Last week, lawmakers introduced bills in the state legislature designed to prevent the tragedy from happening again. State Representative Terry Mills, a Democrat, introduced a bill known as “Larry’s Law” that would require individuals to be examined and assessed by a medical professional before they could be admitted to a personal care home, as well as requiring further assessments for individuals with brain injuries. In addition, no one under the age of 18 would be allowed to live at a personal care home, under the bill.
State Senator Jimmy Higdon, a Republican, introduced Senate Bill 115, which would require every individual to be evaluated by a mental health professional before entering a personal care home. Higdon said that, under his bill, the state would be required to pay for the evaluation, although at this point it’s not clear what that would cost.
Both Mills and Higdon are from Lebanon, Larry Lee’s hometown.
Many people with brain injuries need careful supervision, and nursing homes and personal care homes are responsible for ensuring that these individuals live in a safe and healthy atmosphere. Wandering can be a serious issue for people with brain injuries and/or cognition-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Long-term care facilities must make every effort to ensure that these people are protected.
