Resident-to-Resident Incidents: An Invisible Source of Harm in Nursing Homes

A White Paper by Eilon Caspi, Ph.D. Dwayne E. Walls was an investigative reporter at The Charlotte Observer. Throughout his career, he wrote stories on social justice issues from the inner circles of the Ku Klux Klan and the homes of poor Black farmers; he also covered hunger, voter fraud and the dysfunctions of the coroner system. Some of his most compelling stories reported on challenges experienced by vulnerable populations. Late in his own life, he joined a different vulnerable population: elders living with dementia. In 2001, Walls was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. When his condition declined and his wife…