Cesar Ulloa, who is 21 years old, is charged with seven counts of elder abuse and one count of torture, and if he is convicted, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Cesar worked at the very posh and upscale senior living facility, Silverado Senior Living, which is located in Calabasas. It costs more than $70,000 a year to live in what is supposed to be a very nice facility. Cesar began working at this facility when he was only 19 years old and had only a few days of training. Cesar has a high school education and no formal training to care for the elderly. He made about $10 per hour. If this facility is charging $70,000 per year to take care of a resident per year, then the daily cost is $192.00. If the caregivers make $10 per hour, then each resident could use 5 hours of a caregiver’s time each day (totaling $50) and the facility is still making $142 per day—plenty to cover the expense of food and shelter. There is a hefty profit margin left. Of course each resident does not get 5 hours of a caregiver’s time each day just for themselves and therefore these facilities are making even more of a profit. Instead of hiring untrained, uncompassionate caregivers who make minimum wage and are not educated in caring for the elderly, retirement homes should upgrade the quality of employees they hire to insure that their residents are well taken care of and are not abused.
Although there were cameras installed in the hallways of the Silverado Senior Living facility, there were none in the rooms of the residents so the caregiver could not be watched when he or she was bathing or changing the residents. Cameras only work if they are actually viewed by the management in order to deter abusive behavior towards the elderly, and if they are installed in the rooms where the abuse is most likely to occur.
One of Cesar’s victims was Elmore Kittower, who died in 2007 at the Silverado Senior Living facility. He may have been beaten to death by Cesar. Rita Kittower, his wife for more than 50 years was called by an anonymous caretaker to tell her that her husband’s death was not of natural causes. The Sheriff’s department exhumed the body a few days after the funeral and discovered that blunt force contributed to his death. At the trial of Cesar, evidence was presented of abusing Mr. Kittower, and of Cesar jumping on a deaf and mute woman's chest and slamming her into a bed. He also encouraged residents to fight among each other.
This type of abuse shows that retirement homes have to be more careful in who they select as employees. Additionally, more training should be required in order to work in these facilities. Perhaps by paying higher wages, better trained and more experienced employees would be willing to work at these jobs. Retirement homes need to be accountable for their employee’s behavior because they reap the benefits of the profits they make from residents and therefore must supervise their employees more diligently and insure that their residents are treated respectfully and kindly.
Faturechi, Robert. “Brutal abuse at Calabasas retirement home described in testimony.” Los Angeles Times. March 30, 2010. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-elder-abuse31-2010mar31,0,5439663,full.story
