One of our NH residents has a history of being a registered sex offender. Last evening we found out that someone has apparently told another resident that he was a child molester (as if she needed to know), and she was worried, upset and frightened to be sitting next to him in her wheelchair in the living area. Both residents have dementia and disability (he just sits and doesn't do anything anymore, although the young CNAs often do not like to assist him alone because of the way he sometimes looks at them). All I could think to do was tell her I'm sorry someone said that (neither affirming nor denying it), and that he was not able to harm anyone. I took her to her room and turned on her TV. She wanted to call her daughter, but I tried to redirect her. I was concerned about the daughter hearing about the guy's history and asking us questions about things that should be confidential, or at least not my place to tell other residents or family members, even though they could look up the guy on the 'net and find out he is a registered sex offender.
We were not told about it when he first was admitted to the facility, but some staff recognized him from news reports in the past.
I and several of our staff were upset that a staff member would tell another resident about this, and I left a message for my DON about it.
