Is it true that people the nursing home hires sometimes have criminal records?

You need to contact your ombudsman and take a deep breath. Making fun of a resident should absolutely not be tolerated and the nurse should have handled it immediately but probably didn't. Your ombudsman information should be posted in the facility but I wouldn't give them a heads up. Google your county name, the facility name and the word ombudsman and you should find the contact info. You may want to also explore moving her somewhere else if there are other options. I'm sorry it's so stressful and anxiety producing. It doesn't have to be that way...

The first thing I would get in to is the fact that she keeps having the recurring UTI's. Are they keeping her clean (down) there? Is she on a catheter?...because first care should be taken to prevent this in the first place! Aides on duty, and even nurses, will shirk this responsibility whenever they can! It's easier for them to just let the work go of actually taking CARE of the patient, and just hand them a handful of meds to take to keep "treating" the problem! Having said that, the next thing I would find out is, what meds are they giving her??? My father in law has been down this road several times. We found out that, 1) UTI's often, in addition to the infection, cause a state of general confusion, and 2) the meds given as a result ....antibiotics or otherwise....sometimes add to the problem. My father in law was being given "depacoat" (sp?) as a sedative because they needed to keep him from being too much trouble. ( he would push the nurse call button when he needed to use the restroom, after 15-20 minutes he would still be waiting and would push it again.....you get the idea.) Find out two things: Is she being kept CLEAN, and what MEDS she is being given.............when you have these answers, you might know what to do next. Best of luck.....this is a wonderful, supportive forum to learn from.