One of the residents attacked me in a very inappropriate way

Rant/Vent

Hello, this is my first time posting here. I'm currently in CNA school and have started my clinicals. They're pretty great and the facilities are clean/well kept and staff I work with are nice people as well as most of the residents.

However, one particular resident in one of the LTC facilities is not...that great. He's an older gentlemen with early onset dementia which is normally fine but he does...some concerning things which I think are a part of a larger issue which have made me extremely uncomfortable and I feel like my concerns are being brushed aside because I don't technically work there and the staff seem used to it.

To be blunt, he has some pedophilic episodes with some of the younger looking female staff. And this happened to me recently. The staff had not warned me about his tendencies and I had done my hair up in a slightly "childish" hairstyle (twin brains with ribbons).

So when I entered his room to answer his call light, he immediately grabbed my hip to hold on to and asked where my parents were. I was super confused. I said they're not around here and asked him what he needed help with. He then told me that I was a pretty little girl and that he loved my innocence and purity. I thought this was the dementia manifesting so I repeated if he needed helped with anything which he ignored and asked if I would a "good little girl" and let him show me something grown ups do and and he attempted to pull his pants off. I immediately knew where this was going so I went to step away and leave the room for help with he grabbed my waist with both arms (like a bear hug) and started making inappropriate noises and repeating gross sexual things that focused my young/girlish appearance. I literally had to pry him off of me and unfortunately he did get kind hurt in the process (he fell off the bed).

I ran out and told a nurse and CNA who went in to help him. I then told my clinical supervisor what happened who said we need to speak with the charge nurse. So the charge nurse met with us and I told her what happened and she scolded me for putting myself in that situation and told me to change my hairstyle and be more mindful of residents. I asked her if he was a possible sex offender and she said that wasn't appropriate to ask. And she sent me on my way and back into the same hall as the resident who tried to assault me.

Another CNA kind of gave me the scoop on him, and they all suspect he might be a sex offender but was never formally convicted and his family that do visit him are super cagey with answering any personal questions about him (like what he was like when he was younger, his old jobs, grandkids etc.). He has no pictures in his room of any children either and apparently none of the grandkids are allowed to see him. She just advised me if I ever work the hall again to make myself look older with makeup and do my hair in a more mature style and he won't bother me.

But I feel gross and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to work with this resident again, he creeps me out.

Posted Oct 6, 2024, 2:34 AM UTC

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