Barbara Becker of Evansville, Indiana, has accepted the post of national spokesperson for Safetyforum.com's Nursing Home Abuse Action Group (NHAAG). Becker, known as Bee, has been an ardent and vociferous advocate for nursing home reform since 1999.

In the early 1990s, Bee found her father-in-law, Bill Straukamp, a patient in a nursing home and a victim of Alzheimer's, confined to a wheelchair in his room, wearing vest restraints, half-naked, and soaked in urine.  He had also suffered numerous bruises and skin tears at the hands of a mental patient.  Mr. Straukamp was moved to a new facility where he died peacefully in his sleep later that year. 

Several years later, Becker's mother-in-law, Helen Straukamp, suffering from senile dementia, was placed in a nursing home which was reported to have a good record.  However, conditions slowly deteriorated and Becker became aware that the halls smelled of feces and were often lined with soiled linen carts.  In September of 1999, Mrs. Helen Straukamp was admitted to the emergency room, her face and eye swollen and bruised, her mouth bleeding, both arms severely bruised and she was unable to stand or communicate as usual. She had been assaulted by a male resident whom Becker later learned had a violent criminal record.  Mrs. Straukamp was moved to another facility where she died 22 days later.  The autopsy report revealed she had a been a victim of homicide. 

Becker's experiences with caretaker and regulatory agencies have been less than satisfactory.  In the case of her father-in-law, she filed a complaint with the Indiana Department of Health.  In spite of documentation of events, dates,times and names of witnesses, IDOH took almost a year to respond, but found that no violations had occurred.  In Mrs. Straukamp's case, Adult Protective Services advised her that the agency does not handle abuse if it occurs in a nursing home.  Likewise, a Peer Review Organization sent a brochure with the notation that they could not help.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly HCFA) advised her that their investigations were contracted out to state Departments of Health.

By February 2000, the four investigations Becker had initiated on behalf of her mother-in-law had resulted in 42 pages of findings and covered six years of nursing home neglect, abuse and death.  Her willingness to provide first hand information to legislative committees resulted in an invitation to testify at an informational hearing before the Committee on Public Health in Indianapolis.  Just as her testimony began, she was interrupted by the chairman, Charlie Brown, a Democrat from Gary, who advised her that since she had a lawsuit pending, she would not be allowed to testify. Becker says this is typical of the problems victims and family members face.

But she has found bright spots as well.  "There are many decent, wonderful people in the system," Becker said.  "You just have to find them.  But you never take NO for an answer."  She said she is waiting for the day when crimes against the elderly and disabled in the confines of a nursing home are prosecuted in the same manner as they would have been if they had occurred outside the facility.

Safetyforum.com is a small safety consulting firm located in Arlington, Virginia, that serves the public, the media, the legal community, policy makers, manufacturers and service providers to identify and correct hazardous products and practices.  Its goal is to hold manufacturers and service providers accountable for their decisions that harm people.  The firm's results include the repurchase, recall or correction of thousands of defective automobiles and the Ford Motor Company recall of more than 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires in 2000-2001. 

"A billion dollar industry with thousands of facilities and a powerful lobby is not one to be taken lightly.  But at Safetyforum.com, we don't take nursing home abuse lightly either.  The sub-human treatment of the elderly and disabled in many of these facilities is one of America's dirtiest secrets.  We will expose every abuse we discover.  With the combined energies of our skilled attorneys and our action group under Bee Becker's skilled leadership, the nursing home industry, their lobbyists, and regulators will discover that it's amazing what a small group of people who are fervent about a cause can do," said Lee Jones, Executive Director of Safetyforum. 

"I look forward to working with Safetyforum on these life-threatening issues. The collection of voices can be heard and focused into one strong voice," Becker said.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bee Becker, NHAAG Spokesperson, beebecker@aol.com