[night owl]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/25/nur....ap/index.html

It's a sad Christmas for this facility.

[edeverges]

Originally Posted by night owl

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/25/nur....ap/index.html

It's a sad Christmas for this facility.

i appreciate the fact that you posted the information on this web site. my thoughts and prayers go out to you the family and friends of the nurse and the famly of the shooter. i work in north carolina and i started in their complaints investigation branch. i contiude to investigate complaints until recently. nc has made complaints the responsibility of a different section. however the christmas holidays a time when family members may visit someone in a nursing home that they have not seen in a long time i do not know if if evolves for feelings of guilt of some other feelings but is is always a shame when they blame nursing staff who are often short staffed. i guess the world will never change.

[ERNurse752]

Did anyone ever hear what happened to this nurse (live or die?)

[goodknight]

I've been searching all over, but can find anything. Seems like they've hushed this up, or people have forgoten since the tsunami was so bad.

Perhaps someone else has heard something?

[ayndim]

This story is as of 12/28, when she was still in critical condition.

http://www.pe.com/breakingnews/local...n28.57ff1.html

Man suspected in convalescent home shooting due in court

COURT: Friends and neighbors of Norman Fred Larson are shocked and surprised at his arrest.


07:07 AM PST on Tuesday, December 28, 2004



By NATHAN MAX / The Press-Enterprise

An 87-year-old man will be charged today in connection with the Christmas Eve shooting of a nurse at a Perris convalescent home, authorities said Monday.

Norman Fred Larson will be charged this morning with one count of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with an attack that left an Ember Care Health Center nurse in critical condition, Riverside County district attorney's office spokeswoman Ingrid Wyatt said.

Larson spent five hours at the facility visiting his wife Friday.




If convicted, Larson faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Larson is being held at Southwest Detention Center in French Valley in lieu of $550,000 bail, Wyatt said. His arraignment is scheduled for this afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center.

"We believe he went to the convalescent hospital intending to do harm," Wyatt said.

Authorities would not release the identity of the nurse, who is expected to survive, Riverside County Sheriff's Department Lt. Scott Madden said.

Witnesses on Friday said the nurse was shot once in the face. Larson is expected to face two charges of assault with a deadly weapon because he is suspected of pointing a gun at two other nurses, Wyatt said.

Police searched Larson's Sun City residence for much of the day Saturday. Larson lives in a room at the Cherry Hills Club assisted-living home in the 28300 block of Valley Boulevard.

"Based on the evidence we found, the incident appears to be premeditated," Madden said. Madden declined to elaborate on that evidence.

Larson's neighbors at the Cherry Hills Club said he drove to Perris to visit his wife, Dee, at lunch and dinnertime everyday.

Although Larson's wife had been living at Ember Care for several years, her name was still next to Norman's outside the door of his Cherry Hills Club room.

Cherry Hills Club resident Lois Mae Emerine, 89, said Larson's wife has Alzheimer's disease, can't talk or feed herself and no longer recognizes her husband.

Emerine and others at Cherry Hills described Larson as a likeable man who never showed signs of having a bad temper and never made threats.

"I was shocked, and I'm in shock right now," Emerine said. "I just can't believe it. He was always so nice and kind and helpful to anybody that needed help here.

"He was one of the nicest men I ever met. He never said anything harmful about anybody."

Larson's neighbor of six months, 90-year-old Woodrow Wilson Slagh, said the shooting has been the talk of the community for days.

Slagh said he usually just waved and said hello to Larson, and many at Cherry Hills Club spoke highly of him.

"Everybody that's talked about him said he was a very, very nice fellow," Slagh said. "I was sure surprised to hear about it."

One man who ate meals with Larson for eight months described him as conscientious. Mike Takeda, 82, called Larson a perfectionist.

"He was very particular about everything," Takeda said. "He was concerned about his wife and thought if he wasn't there she wasn't being taken care of, especially the eating. He used to feed her for years and then it got to the point where the nurses started doing it."




I grew up in a small town just outside Perris (Nuevo) and went to the High School there my senior year. I haven't been able to find out anything else but am going to try and have a look. My godmother (an RN educator in Nuevo/Lakeview) hasn't heard anything either.

[renerian]

Horrible.................

renerian

[Fiona59]

There's our answer "He was a perfectionist, he thought if he wasn't there she wouldn't be cared for." He had been feeding her prior to admission.

Sounds like unless he supervised care he felt it wasn't being done or it didn't met his "standards".

I've had families like that in LTC. No matter how well we cared for their loved one it wasn't good enough. It had to be done in their presence on their schedule.

I wonder if management was aware of his concerns? Had nursing staff ever expressed any concerns about him and been ignored. In my experience, the nursing home staff see an entirely different man from the one the neighbours live next to.

As my Mum used to say its always the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

I wish this nurse a speedy recovery, adequate compensation, and a safe workplace in the future if they ever chose to return to the profession.