Fired after helping a resident call 911, nursing home worker sues care facility
Fired after helping a resident call 911, nursing home worker sues care facility
Iowa Capital Dispatch
November 28, 2023
A certified nursing assistant who claims she was fired from a nursing home for helping an injured resident call 911 is now suing her former employer. Kandus Jellison is suing Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, one of Iowa’s largest nursing home chains, in Polk County District Court. Jellison had worked at one of the chain’s nursing homes, Oakwood Specialty Care in Albia, since February 2021 and was fired in June 2022. According to her lawsuit, on the morning of June 22, 2022, a “blue call light” sounded at Oakwood, signaling an emergency and that all available nurses were needed. Jellison and a coworker assisted a resident they were with and then responded to the emergency in the room of a resident identified in court records as “V.K.” Olivia Oshel, the director of nursing at Oakwood, was in the room along with three other workers. The resident, who suffers from a bone density disorder, had fallen from his wheelchair and told Jellison that he had felt several pops in his shoulder which led him to believe he had broken something. The man allegedly told everyone present he wanted to go to the hospital. One of the workers told V. K. that she would get to work on that immediately, but Oshel allegedly stopped her and said that they’d treat the resident in-house first and would call for a mobile X-ray unit. ... One week after the incident, Jellison was notified by Care Initiatives that she had been fired for failing to follow a supervisor’s direct orders. Her lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, the infliction of emotional distress, and the willful violation of Iowa laws that prohibit employers from disciplining a person for either reporting dependent-adult abuse or assisting with a state investigation into alleged abuse. ... Care Initiatives and Oakwood have yet to file a response to the lawsuit. ... Currently, Oakwood has a one-star rating from CMS for its overall performance—the federal agency’s lowest possible score.