Experts calling for background check on health-aides

Experts in Connecticut are calling for background checks to be a requirement for all those who work with the elderly. This revelation comes after a health-aide at a nursing home was arrested for apparently stealing from the individual they were caring for. This is not the first time we have heard such a calling, and it certainly won’t be the last. The CT Post states that a woman in Wilton, Bridgeport, Alima Kamil, 48, was arrested after allegedly stealing at least $20 from a 93-year-old woman she worked for as a home health aide. Kamil, who has three aliases, had more than 20 prior arrests, at least one of which involved theft from elderly victims. The incident comes at a time when state lawmakers are mulling a bill that would require those who work with the elderly, including home health aides, to undergo statewide background checks. Late last year, the state received $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help establish a comprehensive, statewide background check program for employees of long-term care facilities. In Connecticut, such checks aren’t required for workers in most sectors of long-term care, including nursing homes and home health aides. Nonetheless, with incidents like this occurring, it will surely cast more pressure on those responsible for voting on the bill – and it is likely we will see it come into play at the end of this year, or perhaps the start of next.]]>