A 76-year-old woman with dementia died from hypothermia outside her Ohio nursing home Jan. 6 after spending all night in zero-degree temperatures. Nursing home staff did not realize the resident, Phyllis Campbell, was missing for eight hours and found her body in the facility's courtyard the next morning, according to USA Today.
Here are five things to know.
1. The Ohio Department of Health investigated Ms. Campbell's death at Pandora, Ohio-based Hilty Memorial Home and found she left her room multiple times the day of her death, saying she was going home. She also wandered into the facility's courtyard twice during the prior week.
- Two nursing home aides failed to conduct scheduled patient checks the night of Ms. Campbell's death, even though the task was marked as completed in records, according to the health department.
- While Ms. Campbell was wearing a monitor intended to alert staff when she was wandering the facility, tests conducted by state authorities revealed the sensors did not always function properly.
- Hilty Memorial Home placed four workers on leave after Ms. Campbell's death. All employees involved in the incident have since been fired, the nursing home's owner told USA Today Wednesday.
- The nursing home also updated its safety procedures following the event, according to Laura Voth, CEO of Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio, which owns Hilty Memorial Home.
"Let me restate that we are deeply saddened by this loss. We are grieving for the family and extend our heart-felt sympathy to them," she told USA Today.