May 13th, 2000, Eunice Raleigh Allen died on her 86th birthday. Her death in a nursing home was horrific and preventable. In her honor, her grandson, Wes Bledsoe, created the nonprofit A Perfect Cause and started advocating for nursing home reform. Throughout his many years of service, Wes has helped thousands of families and their loved ones by advocating for resident rights, providing direction through the nursing home and oversight system, and has continually promoted safe and appropriate care with dignity for all residents of nursing homes, skilled facilities, and rehabilitation centers. Wes has fought for nursing home accountability and championed reform in Oklahoma’s nursing home system, and facilities worldwide. Through his work at A Perfect Cause, Wes uncovered and exposed many systemic issues in the nursing home industry and government oversight agencies. In 2004, he exposed “Predators in Nursing Homes,” documenting violent sex offenders in local facilities, and in 2018 he exposed the “Upper Payment Limit” scandal, enabling small cities and nursing home owners to split $275 million in Medicaid dollars. Throughout his dedicated work to the victims and families in Oklahoma, he met Kenzie Nesevitch in 2018 after her 47-year-old mother had suffered a near-fatal stroke and entered the nursing home system. Wes partnered with Kenzie, helping her advocate for her mother throughout the remainder of her life. Since 2018, Kenzie has been advocating for nursing home residents with A Perfect Cause and became the organization’s President in 2022. A Perfect Cause has added many wonderful and dedicated members to our team since its founding: our Vice President, Susan Johnson RN, who has witnessed decades of systemic injustices throughout her years working in facilities, and our secretary & treasurer Pamela Corwin, who, in honor of her daughter, has dedicated her life to saving nursing home victims. Each member of our team has been personally affected by the abuse, neglect, and failures in our state’s nursing homes. It is because of our deep connection with these human rights violations that A Perfect Cause continues to advocate for reform in Oklahoma and across the nation.

 

 

 

• Called for the resignations of the “Continuum of Care Task Force” members for substandard care.

• Published 1st Oklahoma Nursing Home Rankings

• Uncovered & Exposed:
  -DHS, Adult Protective Services Guardianship Failures
  -Predators in Oklahoma’s Nursing Homes and America’s Nursing Homes
  -Failures in Focus on Excellence bonus program
  -Failures to report rapes, assaults, etc. to law enforcement

• Championed passage of milestone Oklahoma law – Sex offenders in nursing homes

• Congressional hearing testimony regarding “Predators in America’s Nursing Homes”

• Appearance on TODAY’S Show

• Championed Protect Our Loved Ones (POLO) Act – Electronic Monitoring Law

• ACLU- Oklahoma lawsuit against Governor Fallin’s office for failure to comply with Open Records Act

• Uncovered Oklahoma’s “Upper Payment Limit” Scandal