A bill that would allow caregivers to place cameras in the bedroom of a loved one’s long term care facilities is on life support. Now, advocates have organized a last ditch effort to get the bill a hearing on the Arizona Senate floor.
Jamie Hammonds will never forget the afternoon she found her father, James McHose, at his Gilbert assisted living facility.
“He was naked on the floor. There was poop all over the bathroom. He had scooted himself from the bathroom to where he was back and forth. And then the camera showed him trying to get up. Trying to use the bed rail. The bed rail fell off of the bed,” she said.
McHose had fallen out of his wheelchair the day before. Hammonds had a camera in the room. She later learned he had been there for roughly 26 hours.
“The caregiver that came when I went to go get help told me they had heard screaming the night before. But they thought it was from someone downstairs," Hammonds said.
Dana Kennedy with AARP Arizona is urging state lawmakers to bring Senate Bill 1041 up for a vote. The measure would allow assisted living residents to install cameras in their own rooms.
“Our bill is basically on life support. We have done everything possible — we have the votes to get this passed by a super majority. And so we just need the Senate leadership to allow this bill to come to the floor to be debated and voted on.”
Currently, some places allow cameras; others don’t.
“And the family would be responsible,” Kennedy explained. “This is not mandatory. This is completely voluntary. If they have a roommate, it has to have the permission of the roommate. If they've ever said at some time that they would never want a camera in their room, then it's not allowed. So the bill doesn't cost the state any money.”
Kennedy says they’re running out of time to get the bill passed before lawmakers adjourn for the year, likely sometime in June.
No commitment has been made to bring the measure to the Senate floor for a vote.
