Former Jesup Ridge employee alleges assault, firing after reporting resident neglect

JESUP, Ga. (WTOC) - A former Jesup Ridge nursing assistant says she was assaulted and fired after reporting that residents were neglected at the nursing home.

Precious Daniels said residents were left unattended for hours and that some told her they had not been changed all day. She said she and other nursing assistants reported concerns nearly every day after she began working there in July.

“If it wasn’t me reporting it, it was the other CNAs I was working with would report and say, like, hey, my people are getting left wet, they didn’t get changed,” Daniels said.

She said she reported the concerns to nurses, unit managers and the director of nursing.

Staff meeting and arrest

Daniels said a staff meeting was held Nov. 4, and that her boss, Erin Sowell, escalated the situation when Daniels tried to explain that residents continued to experience neglect.

“The D.O.N, Erin, she was like be quiet you stop talking and then another CNA was basically like she’s not lying like we report this every day to you and then nothings being done. I went to say something else and that’s what she grabs me and try to snatch me physically off the couch and I was like hey don’t touch me and she reached again to snatch me,” Daniels said.

According to a Wayne County Sheriff’s Office incident report, deputies arrested Sowell last Wednesday and charged her with simple battery. The report lists five witnesses as part of the ongoing investigation. Sowell bonded out of jail on her own cognizance.

Daniels’ mother, Courtney Foster, said Daniels called her sobbing.

“When you hear your child screaming and crying at the other end of the phone, as a mother, it triggers something in you immediately,” Foster said.

Firing and request for comment

Daniels said the nursing home told her Monday that she was fired for swearing in front of residents.

WTOC spoke to Jesup Ridge staff around 11 a.m. Tuesday and left a message for the person in charge, asking for a response to the alleged assault and details about the facility’s protocol when a person is abused. The nursing home had not responded at the time of the report.