Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced at a recent press conference that her office will begin offering an extensive in-service training program to the more than 30 Nassau County skilled-nursing facilities caring for some of the county's most vulnerable citizens.

The district attorney was joined by Assistant District Attorney Michael Clarke, Nassau County Commissioner of Senior Citizen Affairs Dr. Sharon Mullon, New York State Office for the Aging/State Ombudsman Marty Haase and Assistant State Ombudsman Jody Signoracci, Nassau County Ombudservice Program Director Margaret Hromada, and Intercounty Health Facilities Association President Mitchell B. Teller.

"Part of my job as D.A. is to provide communities with information and educational programs that can prevent crime and ensure that the most vulnerable in our communities are not exploited," said Rice. "Rather than wait for a crime to occur, my office is taking pro-active, preventative measures with a goal of decreasing instances of abuse, neglect and mistreatment of the county's elderly."

The program offered by the district attorney is designed to supplement previously existing programs run by both the county and private facilities.

"This program not only honors the importance of our elder population, it also recognizes dedicated, hard-working nursing home staff members who care for them," said Rice.

"I commend Ms. Rice for implementing this unprecedented, pro-active program. I am unaware of any other local prosecutor's office in New York State offering similar educational lectures to their county's nursing homes. I firmly believe you cannot put a price tag on the benefits of a program such as this to the elderly, to the caregivers, and to the county as a whole. I hope the successes of this program prompt other local prosecutors in New York State to follow Ms. Rice's lead," said Marty Haase, the New York State Office for the Aging/State Ombudsman.

"We applaud D.A. Kathleen Rice's new initiative to provide continuing elder abuse education for nursing home staff. These informational seminars will augment the efforts of the Nassau County Ombudservice Program and help to ensure that our older citizens receive the best possible quality of care in the latter stage of their lives," said Dr. Sharon Mullon, commissioner of Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs.

"The Intercounty Health Facilities Association applauds the efforts of District Attorney Rice in implementing this collaborative effort, which supplements our existing staff education programs. We look forward to continuing to work with her office in this regard," said Mitchell B. Teller, president of the Intercounty Health Facilities Association.

A.D.A. Clarke, who will administer the program and is a specialist in health-related law, said the office has already received an enthusiastic response to Monday's letter offering the program, and that facilities have begun to sign-up for the free training.

The training will consist of multiple, one-hour in-services, and will be offered to all medical, nursing, administrative, and operational staff in Nassau County nursing homes. The district attorney has offered multiple lectures to each facility, to each shift, to ensure maximum staff attendance. The lectures will cover a wide array of topics, including recognizing the signs of abuse, neglect and mistreatment, staff obligations to report suspected abuse, and documentation issues.

Nassau County has 35 nursing homes and more than 50,000 residents over the age of 75.

In February, Rice created the Special Victims Bureau, designed to handle crimes involving and victimizing the elderly in Nassau County. At that time she promised more changes in how her office dealt with elder abuse and neglect and vowed to hire specialists that have experience dealing with these types of crime.