Saturday, December 09, 2006

AP: Dupont facilities repeatedly violated fire safety regulations

Associated Press reporter David Lieb continues to doggedly track down the story behind the Anderson Guest House fire.
Lieb's examination of state records indicate facilities owned by Guest House owner Robert Dupont have had a long history of violations, including some dealing with fire safety:

The records, obtained by The Associated Press, show that facilities owned by Robert and LaVerne DuPont were cited for broken fire alarm systems and exit signs, missing emergency call systems for some residents and failure to conduct a fire inspection.


The horror stories continue:

At the Anderson Guest House, an inspection report said at least one apparent suicide attempt by a resident had not been reported to doctors. Inspectors also found cases of abuse at the facilities. An inspection report said an employee at the Anderson home was fired last year after leaving work to buy alcohol, returning to drink it with some residents and then getting into a fight with them.Inspectors also found cases of resident-on-resident abuse, urine stored in a refrigerator and an apparent suicide not reported to doctors. An employee in Joplin, who had served prison time for a burglary and theft, hit a group home resident and was accused of sexually assaulting three others.


Naturally, Laverne Dupont has an explanation:

"Our facilities are nice for what we get paid to do."


That is a scary statement.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Our facilities are nice for what we get paid to do."

And there you have the whole thing in a nutshell. Its no longer about taking care of those who are unable to take care of themselves. Its about turning the helpless into a profit on the balance sheet; turning the disabled into a cash crop; making money off of the defenseless.

Anonymous said...

And the Department of Mental Health, by warehousing their clients in Guest Houses for years, has been the primary enabler of this shameless exploitation.

Anonymous said...

What is it exactly that THEY do, besides rake in the money from people unable to help themselves.

Anonymous said...

From what I hear one thing they do is hire a local man who has been in trouble with the law. That should have been a real big clue right there.