People deserve a safe place to live. Owner Joan Yelton defends her rest home, and says if there's trouble, the mental health system is to blame. Psychiatric hospitals turned to rest homes more than 30 years ago when the state decided patients should live closer to home. Over the years, some larger rest homes, like Yelton's, decided to fill their beds almost exclusively with mentally ill patients. Joan Yelton and other rest home owners say the state failed to train staff in the facilities or support residents with treatment and daily activities.
Few residents see psychiatrists more than once every three months.
That's my question. Wasson agrees the state too often fails to support mentally ill residents in rest homes. But he says the facility must also take responsibility. That's where we draw the line. Last year, records show, Yelton's admitted a paroled sex offender whom a female resident later accused of rape.