Family affected by allegations speaks out

Published 9:22 am Friday, August 29, 2008

A family member of one of the allegedly abused residents at Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea said Thursday he was horrified when he heard the details of what reportedly took place to his relative.

“It’s really sad that someone takes advantage of that age,” Lonny Hagen of Glenville told the Tribune.

A Minnesota Department of Health report found that 15 residents of the nursing home were found to have been verbally, sexually and emotionally abused by four former nursing assistants.

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Hagen said his relative — who he asked not be identified — has lived at Good Sam for a few years. She has Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“When she was put in there, she was saying things were happening,” he said. “You say, ‘No it’s not.’ You never think that something like that would happen.”

Though his relative made comments about the nursing home, “we thought it was her dementia,” he said.

“She’d say things about that place like ‘I don’t want to go back,’” Hagen said. “Who knows how long this has been going on?”

He said he hopes in the future people will be aware that these types of situations sometimes do take place.

“We need to train our children as an adult and that they need to learn respect,” he said. “Respect your elders. Respect your teachers in school.”