BREAKING NEWS: Home Care Agency Faulted in Death of Joyce Grayson

by | May 2, 2024 | Clinical, Regulatory

by Kristin Rowan, Editor

Home health agency failed to protect Joyce Grayson

History

We’ve been following the story of Joyce Grayson since her death in October of 2023. The news was first published in The Rowan Report here on November 8th, 2023.On April 14th, we reported on the pending Senate Bill in Connecticut that would require home health agencies to provide additional information and safety precautions prior to a home visit. The safety  of solo workers is now even more important to home health and hospice agencies with the most recent update.

Elara Caring at Fault Joyce Grayson

Today

May 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) posted a news release on their investigation into the death of Joyce Grayson, a home health nurse in Connecticut. According to the Department of Labor, OSHA has determined that Elara Caring exposed their employees to workplace violence from patients who were known to pose a risk to others. Jordan Health Care Inc. and New England Home Care Inc., both doing business as Elara Caring, have been cited for willful violation of the agency’s general duty clause. OSHA cited them for not developing and implementing safety measures to protect employees from workplace violence. They also cited the agency for failure to report work-related injury and illness records within four business hours.

Repercussions

OSHA has proposed more than $163,000 in penalties against Elara Caring. Elara Caring has 15 days from receipt of the citations to respond, request a hearing, or contest the findings. 

“Elara Caring failed its legal duty to protect employees from workplace injury by not having effective measures in place to protect employees against a known hazard and it cost a worker her life,” said OSHA Area Director Charles D. McGrevy in Hartford, Connecticut. “For its employees’ well-being, Elara must develop, implement and maintain required safeguards such as a comprehensive workplace violence prevention program. Workplace safety is not a privilege; it is every worker’s right.”

OSHA found that Elara Caring could have reduced the potential for workplace violence by looking at the root causes of violent incidents and “near misses.” They could also have provided clinicians with background information on patients prior to a home visit. Other recommendations from OSHA include providing emergency panic alert buttons and using safety escorts for visits with high-risk patients.

Future Recommendations

The DOL states that employers should have a comprehensive workplace violence program. This program should include both management and employee involvement. Further, the DOL says this plan should have a written program with a committee. Elements of a workplace violence program include:

  • Analysis of a home upon new patient admission
  • Hazard prevention and control
  • Training and Education
  • Resources for Impacted Employees
  • Recordkeeping
  • Employee Feedback
Elara Caring at Fault Stop Workplace Violence

Implications

If Elara Caring is fined for failure to keep their clinicians safe as a result of the investigation into Joyce Grayson’s murder, state and national level regulations are sure to follow. However, even if the laws in your area don’t change, investing now in workplace safety for your clinicians could save you from similar allegations and fines. As we mentioned in last week’s article about the Senate Bill, we have been in touch with several emergency alert companies and will be providing product reviews in the next few weeks. Start a workforce safety committee, develop a written plan for mitigating dangerous situations, and issue emergency response systems to all of your clinicians before it is your agency under investigation. More importantly, take these steps before your team loses one of its own to workplace violence.

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Kristin Rowan, Editor
Kristin Rowan, Editor

Kristin Rowan has been working at Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report since 2008. She has a master’s degree in business administration and marketing and runs Girard Marketing Group, a multi-faceted boutique marketing firm specializing in event planning, sales, and marketing strategy. She has recently taken on the role of Editor of The Rowan Report and will add her voice to current Home Care topics as well as marketing tips for home care agencies. Connect with Kristin directly kristin@girardmarketinggroup.com or www.girardmarketinggroup.com

©2024 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report. One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@therowanreport.com

Connecticut Home Care Nurse Murdered

by | Nov 8, 2023 | Clinical

Untitled Document

by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq.

Joyce Grayson, a home health nurse for Elara Caring, was murdered on October 28, 2023, in the home of a patient where she was providing services. Ms. Grayson was reported missing by a family member to the local police department. The family member was also able to track her last location to the home of a patient she was scheduled to visit at 8:00 a.m. on the day of her death. The patient resided at a halfway house for convicted sex offenders. Police have not yet formally identified a suspect in Ms. Grayson’s death.

This horrible news reminds of steps that staff members and providers can take to protect their staff members:

  • Staff members should be sure of the locations of patients’ homes and have accurate directions. · Employees should contact their supervisors in the event of threatening circumstances.
  • During visits, employees should remain alert and watch for signs of possible violence; such as verbal expressions of anger and frustration, threatening gestures, signs of drug or alcohol use, or the presence of weapons.
  • When employees are verbally abused in patients’ homes, they should ask the speaker(s) to stop. If verbal abuse continues, caregivers should leave patients’ homes and notify their supervisors that they have done so. · If possible, caregivers should identify more than one exit from patients’ homes and keep a clear path to at least one of them.
  • All employees should read or reread The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker and take action when their instincts tell them that they should be fearful. · Management should develop a written policy of “zero tolerance” for all incidents of violence, regardless of source. The policy should include animals! The policy must require employees and contractors to report and document all incidents of violence, no matter how minor. Emphasis should be placed on both reporting and documenting. Employees must provide as much detail as possible. The policy should also include “zero tolerance” for visible weapons when caregivers are present in patients’ homes. Caregivers must be required to report the presence of visible weapons.
  • Agencies should develop quality indicators that improve efforts to protect staff. Indicators in quality and safety standards should include patient assault and other instances of violence or threatened violence. The results of these indicators should result in violence prevention plans and training programs in de-escalation of violence.
  • Data systems should be strengthened to monitor the exposure of staff members to aggression. More resources should be invested in measuring aggressive events and specific factors that resulted in exposure, such as patient type.
  • Ongoing education should be provided to protect staff. Education should focus on intentional actions that staff members must take to recognize, document, and counter threatened or actual violence.

The Connecticut General Assembly recently passed a law to increase protection for healthcare workers that does not include home care providers. Now lawmakers are calling for extension of the legislation to include home healthcare staff. Martin Looney, President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut State Senate told the CT Mirror: “More and more care is going to be provided in a home setting, which is generally a good thing. But if that is true, we need to make sure that the people who are providing that care are safe.”

Amen to that, Mr. Looney! Let’s get to it!

©2023 Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without the advance written permission of the author.