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Prime Times Weekly feature of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon Abuses found in a foster-care home on South Stage Road show how important it is for families to maintain their ... SENIOR-CARE VIGILANCE Photo by Jim Craven Galen Sanner, 82, winner of a Silver Star and Bronze Star for heroism in World War II, was bilked out of $111,000 by a substitute caregiver for the Kings Heights Retirement Home (since closed) on South Stage Road. Volunteer ombudsman Pat Rodermund, left, helped bring about the caregiver's conviction. By JOHN DARLING When you place your elderly loved ones in a foster home, it's pretty much up to you to make sure they're getting proper care. HOW TO FIND A GOOD HOME Visit many homes before you decide on one. Talk to residents. Providers should be open to letting you find out what you want. Read the report of the home's last inspection and violations. It must be posted in plain sight. Read the home's file at the Senior Services Office, 776-6222. It will contain any previous complaints and actions taken. Ask for references from family members of other residents. Once you have a family member in foster care, visit often and just hang out. Eat with residents, look in the refrigerator, notice if the menu is being followed and just sense the mood of life there. Report any violations to Senior Services at the above number or to the Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman at 800-522-2602. "Visit, visit, visit. The family is our best eyes and ears," said Kathie Young, program administrator for Senior and Disability Services. Her office does annual licensing inspections of the care, sanitation, menus and training of Jackson County's 110 adult foster care homes, but if something's wrong, it's usually spotted by family members, she said. Geri Mouyios' experience is typical. She knew something was wrong when her mother reported that she and other residents of Kings Heights Retirement Home on South Stage Road were hungry. Mouyios checked the refrigerator and found only white bread and some sliced beef, she said. Her further research showed the licensed owner was rarely present and the substitute caregiver was untrained and uncertified. Mouyios notified caseworkers at Adult Protective Services in Medford. This agency is part of Senior and Disability Services, a state program operated by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. Pat Rodermund, a volunteer ombudsman designee, got on the case and reported suspected criminal violations to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. Among other offenses, she found one resident was not getting his mail -- including bank statements -- and was not being allowed visitors, she said. As a result, the home's substitute caregiver, Marie Fuller, was convicted of pilfering $111,000 from the bank account of one nearly blind and deaf resident, Galen Sanner, 82, who was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star medals for his heroic deeds in Okinawa during World War II. Fuller pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal mistreatment and one count of aggravated theft and was sentenced to six months in jail and three years' probation. When the Senior and Disability Services Office investigated, it found that a man living in the home, the owner's companion, had a criminal record, which violates foster home rules. The agency suspended the home's license in December, noting that the man threatened the Protective Services worker and took the phone away from a resident who was talking to a long-term care ombudsman. The home didn't contest the suspension and is now out of business. "They took the batteries out of my hearing aid, so I couldn't hear, and they wouldn't let me have any of my mail or phone calls,'' Sanner said of the home's operators. A large box of his mail was returned to him when the home was closed, he said. Young said that during her six years on the job here, about eight homes have had licenses revoked. Common offenses have been hiring a caregiver who hasn't passed a criminal check or registered; operating a home without the proper training; or inadequate supervision of the home, she said. Such violations are the exception, said Young. Most adult foster home providers are people who enjoy seniors, like to work at home and don't mind being on call to residents 24 hours a day, she said. Young's office licenses adult foster care homes by doing a full two-hour inspection annually. It looks into nutrition, sanitation, posted menus, fire plan, giving of medications, mail and phone access, whether there are smoke detectors and whether complaint procedures are posted in plain sight. The office also checks required training, which is 24 hours initially, plus 10 hours a year. Young's agency can't catch everything, however, and it often responds to tips from social workers, hospitals, letter carriers, churches and especially family members, she said. "They should ask lots of questions, talk to other residents, eat meals there, hang out, smell the air for suspicious odors and come here to read the foster home's file of any past complaints," she said. Families wanting to report problems or read a home's file may call the Senior Services Office at 776-6222 or the Disabilities Services Office at 776-6210. They also may call the governor's ombudsman office toll-free at 800-522-2602. That office can assign a volunteer ombudsman in this area. State rules require full and private communications with the ombudsman. (The ombudsman program needs volunteers; if interested, call the above toll-free number.) To lessen abuses, Mouyios and Rodermund said they would like to see all homes bonded, so as to provide a remedy against financial abuse. Fingerprinting and criminal record checks should be run on all providers and caregivers, not just the ones who've lived outside the state in the last six months as now required, they said. "Many seniors have money they've saved up and unscrupulous people often want to get in there and get it," said Rodermund. "It's hard for seniors to deal with this because they often fear retaliation if they report abuses. Seniors need and want to trust the people around them." Prime Times Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA