I read with dismay Mr. Fink’s letter in the Dec. 23 paper.  I do not understand where he gets the idea that this was a little tattletale thing. 

Mr. Fink needs to understand that in the training for their certified nursing assistant (CNA) classes these girls were told they are “mandatory” reporters for things like physical, verbal and sexual abuse and that anything they tell their employers starts a “mandatory” investigation. How he can think that these were some pranks like what was done back when he was young does not begin the help the families that have had to deal with this?

As someone who has had a family in a nursing home, I know that this whole thing has upset everyone. We never gave thought to worrying about the care our loved one got in the nursing home she was in; we lived in Albert Lea and knew the people taking care of them would do their best to treat them with dignity and give them great care. That has now been taken away, families are feeling like they should have seen or done something. We all understood that the people giving the care were well trained and understood the obligations that went with their jobs to report any known or suspected abuse.

Mr. Fink needs to understand the damage done by these girls and know that only the families involved can give forgiveness, the rest of the community regardless of whether we know the families of the victims or the girls can only pray that things come out right for each of them.  I for one hope we can move forward and show people outside of Albert Lea that we are a great place to live and we do care about our elderly.

 
Barb Sorensen

Albert Lea