Rush to judgement.
Via WBTV:
A picture shared more than one thousand times on social media, along with a description that accuses a caregiver of the horrible treatment of an elderly man, has sparked outrage.
The picture shows a caregiver at what is described as a car wash in Rockwell. An elderly man is bending down and appears to be wiping the rims of the car while the caregiver watches.
“She pushes him around almost making him fall, jerks him around,” the caption reads. “She was forcing him to clean her rims though he could barely bend down.”
The caregiver, Brittany Earnhardt, told WBTV that the post is not accurate.
“I’m kind of in shock with this,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve been doing this kind of work for 16 years and nothing like this has ever happened. I’ve been with this particular patient for more than two years, I love him like I would my own family member. I try to treat him like I want to be treated, get him out and doing things.”
Earnhardt says she and the man were cleaning the car together after he accidentally spilled a drink. The man began cleaning the rims on his own, Earnhardt said.
“For one, this person, you cannot force him to do anything, he’s going to do on his own will, he’s going to do what he wants to do,” Earnhardt said.
As far as the allegations that she has been seen handling the man in a rough manner, Earnhardt says that isn’t true.
“It hurt my heart,” Earnhardt said. “I care for him. I don’t want people thinking I’m hurting him because I care for him and his family. It hurt my heart. If somebody was thinking something, why not come and ask some questions or whatever they need to find out what’s really going on?”
The post was widely shared and thousands of people left comments demanding to learn the identity of the caregiver, the company she worked for, and if she could face criminal charges.
The original poster also posted Earnhardt’s name and license tag number.
WBTV discovered that the caregiver works for TenderHearted Home Care. Workers there say the description of the picture is wildly inaccurate and describe the caregiver as “awesome.” They say she has worked with the man for more than two years. […]
The sister of the man who is portrayed in the photograph disputes the description, and describes the caregiver as “wonderful and compassionate.”
The caregiver has been working with the man for about two years, according to the sister. The man has been disabled for four years.
“This wonderful compassionate caregiver has provided his care for more than two years,” the woman told WBTV in a phone interview. “She is extremely intuitive, she has been absolutely a blessing to our family for all the care and wonderful things she’s done for my brother.”
The sister said that the caregiver takes her brother to the senior center daily and frequently takes him out to eat and to other activities.
“If it weren’t for this particular caregiver I don’t know that he wouldn’t be wheelchair bound at this point,” the sister added.
The sister said that the “false allegations” of the Facebook post have hurt her family.
“Just the false allegation that somebody observed something that has no medical knowledge,” the sister said. “My brothers disabilities are being managed. I don’t think someone observing him in a few seconds and taking a photograph can accurately describe anything about him.”