Security Risks while at Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities

ID 89566710 © Ocskay Mark | Dreamstime.com

Among the reasons suggesting Aging in Place as a discreet objective of any estate and financial plan is security. Most people find their homes well secured and safe. Further, home invasions are rare, and security threats easily and inexpensively managed.

Security while at any institution is always an additional concern, and the risk is out of your control.  Of course security from other residents and even from staff, is a concern of which most are aware.  Violence is visited on residents from both staff and other residents, and this violence is entirely avoidable if non-institutional care is an option.  One research study concluded:

"Common violence encountered in the long-term care service industry is residents assaulting staff or each other. Maintaining adequate security in these facilities can be challenging for a variety of reasons including campus design, residents who may suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairments, the potential for criminal activity due to patient valuables and residents’ inability to recall details."

Most aren't aware, however, that there are existential security threats to any institution, simply because it is a place where people and things of value are aggregated.  Whether from the possibility of terrorism, or robbery, institutions must consider, confront, and protect against unique security risks, risks that are distinct from those you face at home.  

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities also present unique security challenges in confronting the risk:

The armed intruder or active shooter is an external threat that has occurred in assisted living and skilled nursing facilities in multiple geographic locations. Of concern in this type of incident is the limitations of the traditional response of Run, Hide, Fight, when considering the resident population of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Aside from the ethical issues of many nurses and other healthcare providers not wanting to leave their patients or residents, the residents themselves will be vulnerable due to conditions such as mobility issues and cognitive functioning. Numerous types of violence should be considered from a security perspective when examining the threat of an armed intruder or active shooter such as; violence directed toward a group or person (administrators, medical staff), domestic violence, and mercy killings. This type of violence may begin at another location and end on the campus or inside the facility.

Dean Conner, Violence and Security in Skilled Nursing/Assisted Care Facilities (IAHSS-F RS-18-04, December 3, 2018).

The objective of breaching the security of a single home is obviously less, and ordinarily would suggest there is no sufficient incentive for invasion.  Hence, homes are generally less attractive targets.

A recent drug robbery at an Alabama nursing home is an object lesson in the security threats faced by institutions, and the risks the elderly and their families must consider in selecting institutional care.  Two masked intruders recently invaded Consult America Cottage Hills, in  Pleasant Grove, Alabama, brandishing handguns and demanding the contents from the locked narcotic box.  Police estimate the pair made off with about $5,000 in narcotics, WBRC reported.  According to the report, Lieutenant Danny Reid told WBRC that such robberies usually occur in bunches, that he was convinced that the couple knew what they were doing, skipping over any blood pressure medications:

“Nursing homes are pretty soft targets,” he said Wednesday. “We have plenty of good leads I think. We’ll continue to work it. I’m actually reaching out to some local law enforcement in other cities to see what they have in regards to nursing home robberies ’cause usually this is going to be a pattern,” he added later.

Police are reviewing surveillance footage from the incident and believe that the pair are a man and a woman. An employee at Cottage Hills declined to comment to WBRC on the investigation when reached.  

"Soft target" assisted living facilities and nursing homes will only become more valuable and frequent targets as the nation battles the current opioid crisis, and as those who are ill-willed find success. It is only a matter of time before this lawlessness visits injury or death upon a resident.