Letter: Pay assistants more to improve nursing home care

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 12:04 p.m.

In recent news a number of local nursing homes have been cited for abuse, such as patients being hit and smacked to the floor, bones broken and verbal abuse, just to name a few.

This type of abuse in nursing homes gives my job a bad name. It's gotten so bad that families are afraid to put their loved ones into nursing homes.

Something should be done about the care they receive. I feel that if they paid staff more then it would take care of part of the problem. Certified nursing assistants barely make more than minimum wage.

I feel that nursing assistants would probably value their job more if they got paid for the work they do.

Even with all the bad things being said about nursing homes, please take to heart that they are not all bad.

We can get quality care for our loved ones.

JAN PATTERSON

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