Caregiver Charged With Leaving Dementia Patients In The Lurch
EVANS, Colo. (CBS4) - A woman who was supposed to be taking care of mentally ill patients at an assisted living facility and allegedly abandoned them in the middle of her shift has been arrested.
Briana Mashek appeared in Weld County Court earlier this week on a neglect charge and is now out on bond.
Mashek, 27, of Evans, was working at Ashley Manor Assisted Living Facility in Evans when the incident happened on Sept. 4.
Police said Mashek told officers she ditched her post without notifying supervisors after a dispute or series of disputes with her boss. The five patients she was watching were then left without anyone to care for them for approximately six hours, according to the Weld County District Attorney's office.
The victims are between 74 and 93 and are described as dementia patients. One fell from her chair and was left on the floor for more than four hours after Mashek left, according to arrest documents. Others were allegedly left with no food, medication or ability to use the rest room.
An employee at the facility said the patients all survived the ordeal.
Mashek contacted CBS4 and says this is not the type of person she is and she would never have left her patients without care. She went on to say she called somebody else to relieve her because of the fight she had with her employer. She claims that person did show up.