Nursing Home Thefts

By Mike Byrne

It used to be nursing homes were justly criticized as warehouses for the elderly and vulnerable in which neglect and abuse leading to death were troubling problems. Theft is fairly common too.

A woman I know, around 60 years old with multiple health problems, has been in and out of nursing homes for the past seven years. She’s been the victim of many thefts.

She doesn’t wear Prada, she wears Walmart. At her most recent facility, she even had a friend come in and install a locked cabinet to protect her items when she has to leave the room for various types of care or doctors’ appointments.

The other day when she was away from her room they pried open the lock and took her personal items. She called the police to Springhills Acute Care of Wayne on Alps Road. It is the third or fourth owner of the New Jersey facility since she’s been there.

When the police arrived, a nurse told them that she could have the broken the lock herself, but the locksmith who installed it said that is impossible. It would take a crowbar.

My sister lives in Colorado and said a woman she knows who was in a nursing home had her eyeglasses stolen. I have heard of dentures, which are expensive, being stolen as well.

Stealing from the infirm and vulnerable is despicable and savage and vicious.

Woke people will tell you poor people have no choice but to steal since they are oppressed by the affluent. Therefore everyone in poverty has a license to steal.

My friend is staying at the nursing home on the government’s dime, Medicaid. If you’re affluent you do not receive Medicaid.

Nursing homes are profitable enough to install security cameras, or provide a place for patients to store their personal items without fear of theft.

And maybe they could do background checks on their employees as well.

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