State fines Folsom care home where worker was caught on video hitting elderly resident

California regulators have substantiated a complaint about a Folsom senior living center where a worker was secretly recorded on video striking a 90-year-old resident with dementia, and have determined that another worker at the home had not been cleared to work there.

The finding by regulators from the California Department of Social Services stemmed from a Sept. 30 visit to the Brookdale Senior Living Facility that substantiated allegations that the video showed a staff member hit the resident “on the side of the face and pull their hair.”

The staffer also was seen “roughly placing” the woman into bed, “throwing a blanket over (the resident’s) face and turning on and off the bedroom lights,” a report from DSS’ community care licensing division determined.

The violations “constitute physical abuse” and will result in a $500 fine “for a resident sustaining a serious bodily injury while in care,” the report states.

The report does not name the worker involved but the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office charged Sharan Umlesh Kaur, 49, with one count of felony elder abuse after the secret video surfaced.

The second worker in the video was not seen treating the resident roughly, the report says, but failed to report the alleged abuse to supervisors.

The report does not name the second worker in the video but notes that a review of the facility’s roster found that employee Kandice Taylor “was not cleared to work” at Brookdale and had been denied an exemption to work as a caregiver by DSS in March 2020.

“Based on the information, the facility allowed an individual to be employed and work with residents at the facility without being criminally record cleared,” the report states.

The resident was an evacuee forced from her Pollock Pines home during the Caldor Fire and had only been at the facility for four days when family members noticed bruising on her thigh and a granddaughter hid a camera inside a DVD player in the grandmother’s room.

The video caught the caregiver striking the resident, and Rebecca Gyorgy, the granddaughter who planted the camera, said she called the facility after seeing what had been recorded and asked who was taking care of her grandmother that night. She was given the names of Kaur and Taylor, she said Friday.

Taylor could not be reached for comment; a cell phone listed in her name was not accepting calls Friday.

Gyorgy said she was “ecstatic” about the state investigation’s finding, and that her grandmother is now in a new facility and doing slightly better after a traumatic experience at Brookdale.

Carole Herman, president of the Sacramento-based Foundation Aiding the Elderly, filed a complaint with the state on Sept. 10 over the incident and said the response from DSS was the quickest she had seen in 30 years of work.

“I have not seen a complaint filed and adjudicated as quickly as this one,” Herman said. “I wish they would do that all the time.”

Brookdale’s headquarters in Brentwood, Tennessee, issued a statement Saturday saying it does not condone the alleged behavior by the workers.

“We take any allegations very seriously as the health and well-being of our residents is extremely important to us,” Brookdale said. “Having the trust of our residents and their families is vital.

“Inappropriate conduct or behavior is not tolerated and is dealt with appropriately. The individuals involved are no longer with the company.”

In a Sept. 24 statement to The Bee, the company noted, “Our company has thorough employment standards in place, including background checks, and ongoing training of employees in compliance with state rules and regulations.”