We have posted numerous blogs on this website about elopement. As we have said many times, elopement typically refers to two people who have decided to travel to some location and get married, usually alone or with a small group of people, as opposed to having a large wedding.

Elopement in the nursing home industry means when a resident leaves the facility unattended. There are numerous residents who cannot leave the nursing home unattended. Some are confused. They have dementia. Some have other issues. Some have physical limitations.

There was a tragic case just recently where a woman at a nursing home in Warrensville, OH walked out the door and sat down on the patio and tragically froze to death. The nurse who was supposed to be taking care of her is now being criminally charged for her death.

The purpose of this blog is to give you a checklist of things that you can do if someone you love is in a nursing home and they are at risk for elopement. What do you do if your loved one is in a nursing home and they cannot leave that nursing home safely on their own?

1) Ask the nursing home to show you the individualized care plan for your resident.
Every nursing home is supposed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each resident, and based on that comprehensive assessment, develop an individualized care plan that addresses all of the resident’s needs. Nursing homes are legally obligated to create an individualized care plan with measurable objectives and timetables for each resident. Ask the nursing home to show you your loved one's individualized care plan and ask them to point out to you the interventions that are in place to prevent your loved one from leaving the facility unattended.

2) Know where your loved one's room is located within the nursing home.
Where is your loved one's room? Is it close to the nursing station? Is it at the end of the hallway? Is it near a door? Talk with the nursing home about the location of your loved one's room. The closer to the nurses' station, the closer to the interior of the nursing home and the farther away from the exit doors, the safer your loved one will be.

3) Test the doors of their room.
Test the doors. Can your loved one simply leave the nursing home? If you walk out of your loved one's room, where is the closest door that leads to the outside? Is that door locked? Can you just open that door and find yourself outside. If you do open that door and find yourself outside, does the door lock behind you? Can you get back in? If the door is not locked on the inside but does lock once it is closed, it presents a grave risk to your loved one that they could go through that door and find themselves locked out of the nursing home. If that happens in the inclement weather, this could be a fatal danger to your loved one. The temperature is supposed to be -4 degrees tomorrow. No one can be outside in that weather. Further, your loved one will likely wander outside not dressed appropriately. They will likely simply have on what they wear in the nursing home. They certainly will not have a heavy coat and boots on. They may be in their slippers. They may be barefoot. This increases their risk when they are outside in cold weather.

4) Does the nursing home have enough staff to properly take care of its residents?
Ensure that the nursing home always has enough staff to monitor the residents and keep them safe. Nursing homes are legally obligated to provide their residents with adequate supervision. They are legally obligated to provide their residents with a safe environment. They absolutely cannot do that if they do not have enough staff. Does the nursing home where your loved one is a resident have enough staff? When you walk through the halls of the nursing home to get to your loved one's room, do you see nurses and aides walking through the hallways, in the residents' rooms? Do you see nurses at the nurses' station? If you are in your loved one's room and you push the call light, does someone come promptly? Does someone respond to that light? How long does it take for someone to respond? When you are visiting for your loved one, particularly if you are visiting with them for an extended period of time, do staff come in the room to check on your loved one? If you visit your loved one during meal time, is someone helping them eat? Is someone monitoring them?

5) Do the doors that lead outside stay locked or have alarms on them?
With respect to the doors, if the doors do open and they are not locked, do they have alarms on them? If they do have alarms and you open the door and the alarm goes off, does the staff attend to that door? Do they come running? An alarm is not of much value if nobody responds to it. So you need to check and see if the staff is responding to the call light when it is pushed and if they are responding to the door alarms.

6) Does the nursing home have a video monitoring system?
Ask the nursing home if they have a video monitoring system on the exterior doors that can be monitored from a central location? This is a very simple and very inexpensive system. We have a camera system in our office. We can see who is outside the door, we can see who is in our lobby. There is no reason for a nursing home not to have a simple system of cameras to keep an eye on all of their doors.

7) Does the nursing home have a system of regular bed checks and room checks?
Ask the nursing home if they have a system of regular bed checks and room checks? How often do they check on the residents in their rooms? How often are they supposed to check on the residents? How often are they actually checking on the residents? Ask the nursing home to show you documentation of how often your loved one was checked on over the course of the past week. They should have clear documentation of every time they checked on them.

8) Have there been incidents of wandering?
Ask the nursing home if they document incidents of wandering. What happens if your loved one is found wandering the hallways? What happens if your loved one is found in the dining room at 2:00 in the morning? What happens if your loved one goes out the door? Do they document the incident? Do they update the care plan? Do they contact the family members? Ask them what their policies are. Ask them to show you their policies.

9) Does the staff receive regular training about the risks of elopement?
Ask the nursing home if they provide the staff with regular training relative to the risks associated with elopement. Is the staff being trained? Do they offer training programs? Does the staff who is taking care of your loved one attend those training programs?

10) Does the nursing home have care policies related to the risks of elopement?
Ask the nursing home to show you their patient care policies relative to elopement. Do they have patient care policies relative to elopement? Ask them to show you. Elopement can be fatal. We get calls on a regular basis from family members who are heartbroken because their loved one has eloped out of the facility and died as a result. They have fallen down and suffered a fracture. They have succumbed to the elements. They have wandered into traffic. They have drowned in a nearby pool or pond. We have heard many tragic stories involving elopement.

Elopement can be prevented. With some simple safety measures and some proper staffing, elopement can be prevented. If someone you love is in a nursing home, you need to find out from the nursing home what they are doing to keep your loved one safe. If they do not have answers to your questions, move your loved one to a safer facility.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1-800-OHIO LAW, as we would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.