Okay, let's go.

What for?

Is this how you like to be cared for when you're older?

We would have no idea what went on with Dad.

Had we not had the cameras in th But I was so ashamed that I was of this place that did such terr We go inside One of Missouri's private paid long term care faci I didn't want her to have to spe another day with people that were not sympathetic to her And is the care any better in a publicly funded nursing hom And so if I had been here, it would have been one more nigh that she not only would have bee but she also would have been hun And I'm just not sure that it would have been addresse There are reams of regulations.

But are they being adequately en What residents often tell us, I I would have died than to live l And as more of us want to age in our own homes.

How accommodating is your city?

There are a number of different on the sidewalks.

We're trying to catch up.

Is it possible to grow old in Am live here with dignity?

We also had a real safety issue let alone all my concerns around Dignity, cleanliness, hygiene.

Please, I am begging you for the safety of these resident Investigate this facility.

This is a song about your grandk stayed with.

It's about your grandkid.

Shot at 82 years old and she's living with dementia.

It's about safety.

She's cared for by her daughter Nicole, and her son in law, John This is a song about her.

Oh, ok And then the layer of grief of seeing someone you love go through such a debilitating d You want me to cut my hair?

I don't need you to cut your hai Charlotte's worsening dementia m care demands are constant and ev It's hard work to have fun, isn' Yeah.

There isn't really much of a bre You just have to stay constantly Taking care of someone with deme they tend to get into things and hurt themselves, recalls Car as a singer, Songwriter and film has largely been put on hold.

There's not a lot of opportuniti to work, and that's been an issu financially.

Last year they tried Charlotte in a long t care facility, but it didn't las We'll find out more later about their experiences.

The stress and our expectations are partly due to the fact that we never really plan for th Our society doesn't talk about t and we need to talk about it.

In the year 1920, less than one Americans were aged 65 or over 100 years later, and the figure is about o Let's say I'm closer to 90 than I am to 85 I really don't know why I've liv It's just I came from a family where the women lived forever.

By 2040, the 85 and older popula is projected to more than double And many, like Mary Paul, want to live in their own home.

I don't mind my own company.

I read a lot.

If people need to think about it from a selfish perspective, what do you want as your aging?

You're going to want the dignity of staying in your own environme for the household tasks that are too big to tackle by yo Oh, my goodness.

Mary is helped by the nonprofit Jewish Family Services.

It's so important to me to be ab here.

Jeff asked is helping about 150 and non-Jewish households on both sides of the line in America.

We expect that older adults will have families who care for and the reality of that is it doesn't work for everyone.

You want to do that today.

Mary's children live away on the East Coast.

Our society demographics are shifting rapidly and we have not been very proact and preventative.

Infrastructure takes decades to They bring the eastern heat.

They bring the tradition.

They bring the custom, because we know that their histo they are part of our community a this West side what the West is Across the metro, some communiti are trying to help their residen in place.

In Kansas City, Missouri, there's the West Side neighborho And on the other side of the sta there's the small city of Roelan We've love to come to this park For one thing, it's easier on ou and on our balance.

And I know the importance of exe If designed with older adults in Parks can help them achieve the recommended 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise for Oh, no, no.

We just on this the chance for socialization.

So we went to the parks committe and said we'll will try to gathe people like ourselves who are looking for important wo And so that's how it started.

Gretchen and R.D., another retir worked with the city to design and fund some of the park.

They were pushing at an open doo It's now ingrained in us when we look at policy and we discuss policy, how does that impact older Rolan The city is one of 21 across the that participate in the Communit for all Ages program run by the Mid-America Regional This provides cities with, among other things, practi on how to become more age friend First design of our park.

Roland Park is at the gold level in the program's recognition sch We feel very valuable and welcom in the city of Roland Park.

On the other side of the state l Kansas City, Missouri is not par in the recognition scheme.

Rather than doing a traditional ribbon cutting on a weekday, we're doing just a popsicles in on a Saturday.

However, that observation park in its West Side neighborho the city has recently spent arou $300,000 on upgrades, including a new ramp here to recognize improvements at the Enhancing our ADA Accessibility with Disabilities Act, making sure this is a park for e The park may not have all the am of our park, which cost about ei as much, but one of the main concerns of leaders here in the is how older residents get to th and other community facilities.

You can see also the old part that is damaged in there that is I want to say, 20, 30 years.

We know all day.

For the seniors themselves, you know, this is not safe.

The city may have recently reope the swimming pool at this community center, but at its entrance, there's a r on one side and not on the other Seniors, children, moms with the strollers.

They'd have difficulty to have a to a wonderful facility in the c Where are we going to be going To the park.

My mother worked for a little bit in the week before the Popsicles in the Park Sisters Trinny and Gloria set out to Will their mom.

The BLOCK two Observation Park.

How hard can it be?

Well, they can't get in through the nearest entrance, so they have to walk further and they have to navigate the 30 in the sidewalks.

The city's found between their h and the open entrance.

It's worth noting that according to the city's own walk plan, children and elderly are more likely to w The trip purposes and pedestrian is of paramount importance to Ka Well, they fixed it.

Yeah, they see the other one and not t A missing ramp.

An 88 year old who has to be wheeled into the r What's the response of their elected officials?

It's not acceptable.

This is a challenge that we cont to try to make sure that we addr and we're trying to address it in every part of the city.

It's something that we should absolutely fix an But when will it be fixed?

In 2017, voters signed off on $1 million to be spent on sidewalks over 20 years.

So far, 10 million from this has gone on and nearly 30 million has gone the backlog of repairs.

Residents told the city about between 2008 But these are the sidewalk defec The city has since found and it still doesn't have a plan to And its sidewalk inspection could run for up to four more ye It's not getting fixed as quickly as we would like, but how do you have enough money right?

I get calls from a lot of people us to fix streets and not have p The priority has been potholes because I think that's what gets most traction in the media.

It's windy.

We're just going to have to deal Well, I brought my mom out for h first outing in about 13 months.

Terry's mom, Lola, is 100 years She's waving at trips like this to Louis Park in City.

Would be easier if there were pr wheelchair ramps in place.

Oh, you're kidding me.

It's not good.

Since January 2022, Lola has bee in a nursing home in Missouri.

I'm just leaving, visiting my mo at her long term living facility And every day is a new adventure Terry doesn't want to name the nursing home.

The fear of retaliation against I mean, it's a devastating decis to have to make any time when you can't take somebody in to take care for them.

But within two weeks of her bein she had COVID within six weeks.

The letter fall out of bed and she had to be taken to the h and get three staples in our hea Last Friday, the nurse called an she had a cut on her arm, but nobody can tell me where it But my mother could tell me that they squeeze me too tight when they're moving me.

They're not hurting her on purpo But I now know why it's so impor to keep people living in their o as long as she can.

What I don't like about any is when maybe they drag and pull and they don't speak.

And I don't know really.

And when I can, they just barely And they're not friendly and not today.

Terry is being helped by Russian Roshumba used to work at Lola's nursing home.

I'm very thankful for you and how you cared for my mom.

The more I worked with her.

The more I learned her routine.

She has a particular way that sh to be cared for, and I care to a take care of her the way that sh to be taken care of.

This might be called person cent Unfortunate.

Only some nursing homes practice this type of care.

For me, person centered care is being gi a choice, giving them their free 50 miles northwest of Kansas Cit in Atchison, Kansas.

Duty Center is a nursing home for Catholic Benedictine nuns.

You know, you can ask for anything and they will get it for you.

You are so well cared for.

You're spoiled here.

Residents are required to follow a strict routine.

Instead, they're carers tailored to what I like to get to know my sisters so I can do what they would like me to do, s and how they want their meals.

This should mean the staff spend dealing with unhappy residents and it helps to create a better working environment for them.

Staff turnover here runs at just under 30%.

The state average is nearly doub that pre-COVID.

The turnover rates in person cen care homes were much slower and so person centered care.

And though it's hard work, it's work.

Lacey wants to see person centered care rolled out in the 300 or so nursing homes across Kansa But so far, only around half have signed up to her peak progr And at these, only 25 have reach the same high level as duty cent It's very concerning, you know.

What's it going to take to move the needle?

Person centered care is now ment throughout the nursing home regu But any time there's a change li it takes a while for it actually to be enforced on the g This would be the regulations and guidance also used by admini directors of nursing staff.

So everyone across Kansas.

Nursing home residents satisfaction runs at 87% on aver But around a third of nursing ho have been found to have ten or more deficiencies.

What does the state ombudsman th I hope my family has listened to when I say I would rather live in my home or that van by the river that I tell everyone I want to.

I can live in a van by the river Do not send me to a nursing home Nursing homes are severely under and they have been for some time Just another day in paradise.

When you've got somebody on long care.

Back in Missouri, staffing has p to be an issue in the care offered to Lola and a medicaid funded nursing ho It's not that the people that ar don't care.

They do.

They just don't ever have enough In Lola's nursing home, nurses spend a daily average of around two and three quarter with each resident, which is nea an hour and a half less than dut and staff turnover runs at nearl Actually, no.

CNN's on duty.

One nurse, one medtech for 30 pe for five months up to the end of April 20, 23.

Terry kept a video diary evaluating the care offered to h and the fact that really all she's eating right now is so Her not getting the food, her not having access to the food she gets because she can't see.

Lola is partially sighted and she struggles to get the lid and wrappers off the food contai Oftentimes, her meals are droppe and no one stays with that to he It's been a struggle to get some to open her milk.

And they they ran out, left me w Terry visits about four times a You like that soup?

I made Norma less in her first y and a half at the nursing home.

Lola loses £10 in weight.

I'm going on vacation today, and I don't feel real sec And knowing that she's going to be cared for while I'm gone.

Hi.

What's going on?

What's going on?

What's cookin?

For a time.

Michael and a wider family have tried to keep Charlotte living in her own home with supp And one day, the caregiver showe and said, Your mom's not home.

And I pretty much lost my marble She had fallen off the back steps of her house and broken a And the neighbors called the E.R and she was whisked away and went into emergency hip replacement surgery.

Do you want to do some art today Sure.

Okay.

While Charlotte was in rehab, her family decided to once she g she would need to go into a long care facility.

It was not an easy decision.

But ultimately, because I was he caregiver, it was up to me to de And that was it.

Just a giant we and I decided to put her in a place where people could stop by and visit her independently and she would have 24 hour care.

Charlotte didn't go into a nursi She went into an assisted living These were defined in a 2006 Mis Senate bill.

The legislators wanted an altern to nursing homes that would be m like than institutional and prom the dignity and independence of The other residents there seemed to take her in and it seemed like a like it cou Charlotte moved in at the start During the previous year, Precious had moved her mom, Bren into the same facility.

She did her lips together.

And I went and toured it and had a lot of the sensibilities as my She's a very elegant person and the senior is precious.

Catherine and Rich chose it for their dad, It's a sales pitch everywhere yo And you want to believe it becau looking at this beautiful facili and these wonderful brochures an list of everything they do there We're not naming the facility because we've spoken to former m of staff who fear retaliation.

So we bring in people from staffing agencies who may h even worked with us before that We're just kind of winging it.

Across Missouri, there are aroun 320 assisted living facilities, nearly half of which have an Alzheimer's uni That means that taking in people living with dementia like Charlo Brenda and Richard, who need a l and cannot advocate for themselv We visited a few different facil that's one that seemed like the But aside from the marketing, what can relatives find out abou living facilities?

Did you read any reviews about t We I never I never read any revi anywhere about anything.

So I don't know if you guys did unless they did or not.

I don't recall that we did.

Well, for assisted living facili you can't see this type of perfo data.

This is just the publicly funded nursing homes and is published online by the federal CNS Department.

Terri couldn't sit for a moment because it hadn't been opened fo We visited regularly and we real pretty quickly that we would sho and she would be in her apartmen and it would seem like she hadn' There were various care plans, but the facility wasn't cheap.

Don't assume that because you're paying whate you're paying that your loved on is going to be cared for as you Over $5,000 a month.

$4,700 a month.

Six or $7,000 a month.

Some support wasn't credible.

Where people were really attuned But then we had others that were And I realized very quickly that they were overworked and un For a while they had no housekee I don't think the staffing requi for residents were met.

It wasn't just a handful of occa It was the majority of the time I was there.

That bathroom on multiple occasi was absolutely disgusting.

That left people without getting their laundry done, with missing showers, with being given late, with people falling and then staff not findi sooner than they could have.

She was definitely depressed.

I didn't visit her for a couple because I just needed a break and we got a call that there was an incident.

Charlotte had laid hands on another resident and the facility recommended tha moved into its memory care unit, where they reassured us this was where any kind of behavioral iss would be is more easily addresse because of the training of the s And it was $7,000 a month.

We interviewed someone who'd wor with Charlotte in the Memory Car Staff were coming and going and understand about the different p the behaviors, and so they were reacting unwise to Charlotte, like coming up to her and startl We got another call.

There's another incident, and no they were pressuring us to medic Staying there?

Yeah.

Charlotte was exhibiting more ag The facility's doctor prescribed medication to help control her m That's not what Charlotte would want at all is to be on any type of medicati Would her family want her to be on that?

M Would you like me to braid it or put it in a ponytail?

After five months at the facilit it was time to get Charlotte out But I remember walking on to the and feeling a lot of tension from the staff, and I said I was taking my mom out to lunch and I never brought her back.

I didn't want her to have to spe another day with people that were not sympathetic to her Today, living with Michael and Chad, Ch still doesn't take any medicatio What else do we do?

We sing songs.

We listen to lots Yeah, we love to sing songs.

Remember?

We have that for 15 ye Yes, That care plan kept inching but it was inching up in terms o But I wasn't seeing the service supporting that cost.

Assisted living facilities are r by the state.

You can go online and see the inspection reports.

In the short time our facility h open, it's been investigated five times for complaints.

In 2020.

A nurse had left a resident on t all night and around the same time Richard and Brenda moved in.

A resident had taken their own l with a gun.

I initially established one came in the facility.

The pictures were sent directly to a phone.

This is what she saw.

One night in December 20, 22, I couldn't believe the harsh tre my mom experienced.

During this time, my mom had bee to sleep in her chair overnight.

She slept on the floor, let alone all my concerns around dignity, cleanliness, hygiene.

At this point, I was crazy becau asking for something different and nothing was changing.

It was just kind of like, Oh yea we'll take care of it, I guess.

And then apologies.

I mean, I think when we sent vid Rich and Catherine had also installed cameras in a that is watching you.

The pictures went to their phone and to a monitor they'd installed at the nurse's Your body goes right to the wall If you look, I need to go.

It was clear the staff had no idea what to do when he was in his agitated stat especially.

There was only supposed to be me trained workers on my floor, but they were pulling them to work in assisted living.

And then they would get mad and they would quit.

Richard was diabetic and he need his insulin at certain times of If he was laying in bed, remembe and he wouldn't get up for break and they'd give him his insulin and his medication, but then he wouldn't have anythi So then that tanks and is danger for many reasons, but especially because he was a high fall risk.

Towards the end of 2021, Richard was falling more often.

His family hired additional help at around $25 an hour to stay with him overnig But they didn't always like what on the cameras.

One of the ladies that would com three times a week and when she would just get in t chair, recline it, and then fall Please, I am begging you for the safety of these resident Investigate this facility.

Towards the end of 2021, Claire an anonymous email to the state We have been understaffed and told to deal with it.

There are multiple care plans that are incorrect or no care plan at all for residents in 202 There were 20 inspectors for nearly 650 assisted living and residential care faci in total.

These have to be annually inspec in that year, the inspectors als over 2200 complaints, around hal were for assisted living facilit Last year they received nearly a because she hadn't named a resident affected.

Claire's complaint was given Pri B status.

This should have meant an onsite investigation within ten working But in fact, the inspectors didn for four more weeks or so after that, and by that time Claire had resi I took an oath to make sure that are taken care of to the best of my ability.

And when you feel like you're not able to uphold that, it tears you down really badly.

The inspectors interviewed six members of staff and one res They didn't speak to Sandra, and they found no evidence to substantiate Claire's claims.

Between Claire's complaint and the arrival of the inspector Richard had died in hospice from bleeding on the brain.

This could have been the result he had in his assisted living fa I don't think I can blame them, they certainly could have made h a lot better.

Towards the end, I agree with Ri The quality of his life could ha a lot better in the last few mon and that I. I do blame them for.

So what's the regulation like of nursing homes?

States run the inspection regime While there is a lot of regulati there is very little regulation.

Really being enforced in any qua Now, you've complained to the st What's what's come of that?

Nothing.

Nothing that I'm aware of for nursing homes in Missouri, such as the one Loder is in.

There are 150 state inspectors for around 500 homes.

Last year, they received nearly complaints 13 months into this.

What's great about this new plac is the focus for all of this, fo is to have a sense of community In January 2023, Precious moved into a new facility.

It's going much better.

And we're also really appreciate the staff will sit down and spend time with them and just visit with them as indi I wore a heart of gold.

You are an old fiddle, Mama.

What do you think about me telling your story about being in the nursing home?

Well, I think it should be home.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm in bed with.

That's like butterflies.

Oh.

Why we're doing this is beca we went into this type of situat totally blind.

And to the extent we can promote awareness to fami we've got to come together and say it's important to everyb We want this to be better.

It can be better.

It's got to be Know this.

How to move, sell you your nice whistle a good time.

Produced with the generous suppo of the William T. Kemper Foundat Commerce Bank trustee Hush Black and by viewers like you.

Thank you.