The News

Angie Szumlinski
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July 21, 2023
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“Assisted living center sued over elopement and death of 85-year-old resident. The wife alerted the staff about the resident’s strong feelings of wanting to go home, however, about an hour after her visit, the man was able to leave the facility through the front door after a visitor opened it for him. The resident’s body was found 3 weeks later in the backyard of a residence about a mile from the assisted living center.” 

“Female resident tells nurse’s aide she was going home, went through a door into a courtyard even though she was wearing a monitor that should have set off alarms. The resident was found in the courtyard about 30 feet from its doors the morning of January 7. The coroner determined that she likely died an hour or two after she went outside. Two aides told investigators that they did not do scheduled checks that night even though they were marked as completed.” 

The National Institute for Elopement Prevention defines elopement as: “When a patient or resident who is cognitively, physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or chemically impaired, escapes or otherwise leaves a caregiving facility or environment unsupervised, unnoticed, and/or prior to their scheduled discharge.” Resident elopement is a dangerous and sometimes deadly situation. Education is essential for elopement prevention and response plan. HealthCap has the resources you need to assist in educating your caregivers, assessing residents for risk of elopement, and guidance on addressing areas of risk. Please don’t let these headlines be yours! Let’s work together, our residents depend on it. Please refer to our Elopement Toolkit and additional resources at the links below.  Stay well and stay informed!

Additional Resources:

Elopement Assessment and Prevention

HealthCap Elopement Toolkit

HealthCap Elopement Policy and Procedure

HealthCap Admission Elopement Assessment

HealthCap Elopement Response Guidelines