Staff who exposed abuse at Prokopyevsk home are being intimidated
Several staff members who attempted to speak about the systematic abuse of residents at the Prokopyevsk psychiatric-neurological boarding home have been suspended from work without explanation. They are being prevented from meeting with law enforcement and inspectors from Kemerovo who arrived amid a flu outbreak, staff told the NGS42.RU editorial office on Wednesday, 28 January 2025.
Workers have again turned to us for help, detailing how mentally ill residents of the city were tormented with expired food, cold, and indifference. According to the publication«s sources, the boarding home»s management has begun pressuring those trying to protect the disabled and elderly residents.
In recent days, director Elena Morozova has suspended four people: two from the kitchen and the others from the fourth residential building, where, it was learned, bedridden patients were kept without proper heating.
«I came to work in the morning, but the security guard wouldn»t let me in. He said he had an order from above, that I was fired. In shock, I called the HR department, and they told us we were suspended for an indefinite period,« said one of the employees.
Staff were informed that swab test results had come back and were positive. The frightened workers called Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing), but they were assured there that the test results were not ready yet.
None of those who complained about the home«s conditions were given a diagnosis or prescribed treatment at the local clinic they are attached to, despite having open sick leave certificates.
The home«s managers later reported that one of the workers was found to have the bacteria that causes bacterial pneumonia.
«One of the kitchen staff was suspended objectively for a violation; we have no issue with that. But they are trying to keep us away from the commission from the Health Ministry, the Social Protection Ministry, and Rospotrebnadzor. The director explicitly asked us to shut up,» said our source.
Earlier, the institution«s staff told us that the mass hospitalization of residents happened due to the nightmarish conditions in the institution. In particular, the disabled and elderly residents complained about the cold in the residential buildings, and their complaints about the temperature were ignored for over a month.
The management turned to hospitals only after journalists learned about the situation. Moreover, at least two of the 50 residents were admitted to medics in serious condition.
