UPDATE 2-15: Iowa urged to be careful in closing mental hospitals2-7-2015 Iowa:
To all Iowa residents who may now or in the future have a loved one residing in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or MHI:
I have just read a Register editorial, “Weak rules for care facilities worsen” and an article, “4 Sex offenders live at mental hospital being closed.” Another, “Sex offenders at Clarinda taken off registry,” and yet another “Where are these sex offenders now?” This comes on top of the plan to close the MHI facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant. Gov. Terry Branstad decided that saving money in his budget is more important than the welfare of the citizens he was elected to protect.
More than three years ago, my mother-in-law was the victim of sexual assaults by a four-time convicted sex offender in the Pomeroy Nursing Home. He was released from the Cherokee MHI to the Pomeroy nursing home in December of 2010. In January of 2011, my mother-in-law, Mercedes Gottschalk, came out of the lounge and told the staff that he had tried to assault her. Over the next eight months, according to the investigation, she may have been assaulted many, many, many, many, more times until an 8-year-old girl visiting her mother passed by Mercedes’ room and saw him assaulting her. She was hollering, “No! No! No! No!”
Mercedes never got her day in court. She died with her family by her side Oct. 23, 2012. She was a devoted wife and mother and a devout Missouri Synod Lutheran. At that time there were 47 convicted sex offenders in nursing homes in the state. Do you have a loved one in a nursing home? We were told that the nursing home does not have to even tell us if a convicted sex offender is living there. The Pomeroy grade school brought children on a regular basis to visit the residents of the nursing home. The school was never told that two child molesters were among the residents.
Branstad appointed a “study group” to come up with some options for placement of convicted sexual offenders. They met once and disbanded. If closing these facilities is the govenor’s solution, he really does not care about the safety and welfare of seniors and others that need assistance. If it was his mother or wife living in a nursing home, I have no doubt that the regulations and rules would be much different than those proposed or now in place!
The court dates were postponed several times before a court ruled that William Cubbage was unable to stand trial due to dementia and mental illness. Those are about the same reasons that the Cherokee MHI used to release him to Pomeroy. Coincidentally, Mercedes’ family filed a lawsuit against the Pomeroy Nursing Home and the state prior to these postponements and rulings. You may not think that any of this stuff affects you, but at some point in time, all of us may be living in a nursing home or assisted living facility or have a family member there. Would you want a convicted sex offender living down the hall from your wife or mother? Most nursing homes have the minimum number of staff now to try to manage the care and well-being of all residents. These new rules will allow even less oversight.
Department of Human Services Director Charles Palmer stated that there is no plan in place to house the current residents and sex offenders in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant, but that DHS would work with private facilities to place them. What private facilities? Nursing homes? The people that may have a temporary setback and need some guidance from a mental health professional will have to travel hours away from their friends and families when their support is needed the most! Taxpayers will foot the bill for extra deputies just to spend the time transporting court ordered commitments. Ask your sheriffs what they think.
Everyone, please contact your representatives or senators. Tell them to use some common sense. Keep Clarinda and Mount Pleasant funded. Pass laws that keep convicted sex offenders out of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They belong in secure MHI facilities like Clarinda and Mount Pleasant, where they can never again assault your loved ones. ..Source.. by KENNETH RASSLER
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