A troubling story ran this week in the Santa Barbara Independent about a man named Edmund Finucane, who has been visiting nursing home residents for over 28 years. The story chronicled how Mr. Finucane would bring comfort to the residents of the nursing home formerly known as Central Coast Nursing Center, before it lost its license to operate in August of this year.
But, Mr. Finucane is no longer welcome in the home, ever since he reported to the California Department of Public Health observations of mistreatment and neglect. He was actually arrested for trespassing, and charged by the district attorney. Only after he stood up for himself, and insisted on a trial (without the help of a lawyer) did the D.A. finally drop the charges on July 29, 2011.
What a sad state of affairs when a man who is acting as a good Samaritan, who volunteers his time to bring some measure of companionship to others, is prevented from continuing his good deeds in an effort to shield the facility's misconduct from the public view. The facility was so poorly run, that on August 25, 2011, the state took away its license due to "serious violations related to quality of care and actual harm to patients." Surely, Mr. Finucane witnessed some of those violations first hand.
I recall as a young girl that my grandmother would take me to the local nursing home with several homemade puppets. We would go to the activity room or the dining room and talk to the residents (thought the puppets of course) and it would bring joy to their faces. I also remember my girl scout troop and choral group visiting the local nursing homes. Social interaction and good deeds should be encouraged. Mr. Finucane developed relationships and paid attention to residents who otherwise might only have received obligatory care. A nursing home is just that, a resident's "home" and a resident has the right to visit with whomever they please. Just because Mr. Finucane was not visiting a family member, doesn't mean he was trespassing anymore than I was trespassing when I wandered in unannounced with my puppets and a smile.
The nursing home was not acting in the best interest of its residents by limiting expected and welcome visitors. In fact, the nursing home's restrictions on Mr. Finucane's visitation could very well have violated resident's rights and could give rise to further fines and penalties against the nursing home. Remember: the nursing home resident has the right to visit with whomever he or she pleases. Unless the nursing home residents were the ones complaining about Mr. Finucane, he should have been left to visit with whomever welcomed his company.
