You are in Women, Men, Aging . On the Front Lines Low-paid assistants are the primary caregivers in nursing homes.
Good ones are hard to find, and harder to keep.
He saw a staff member kick an elderly man's legs because they wouldn't stay atop a wheelchair footrest. He saw staffers ignore the pleas of patients crying in their rooms. He saw residents spending their days languishing in hallways. It was only some staff members who treated residents poorly, emphasizes Snow, who is studying to be a certified nursing assistant. They've been there awhile.