Care in State Nursing Homes

I read “Restraints, Drugging Rife in Nursing Homes” (front page, March 25) with great dismay. I have worked in California nursing homes for 13 years. During that time, I have found the staff with whom I have worked to be some the most caring and concerned people I have ever met. My experience has been that these people have chosen to work in this industry, not for the money or the glamour, or even the public praise anticipated from newspapers such as yours, but because they really care about the disabled people who reside in nursing homes. Your article did these tens of thousands of individuals a great disservice.

The article did point to the root of the problems that do exist in nursing homes. Government policy and concurrent funding do not show much care for the residents of nursing homes. The blame and the solutions remain in that arena alone, not with the people who work in and operate nursing homes. Our very survival as an industry depends on our being able to meet the needs and requirements of the public we serve. This provides significant motivation to act in their best interest.

GREGORY S. DAVIS

Chino Hills