Senior protection bill signed into law by Christie

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — A former Glen Ridge elementary school principal, after years of lobbying state legislators, has seen a bill protecting seniors signed into law.

Maureen Persi, the former principal of Forest and Linden avenues school, lobbied to have police notified if abuse, neglect or exploitation occurred to residents of senior housing. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie on Aug. 7. It is referred to as “Peggy’s Law,” named after Persi’s mother, Peggy Marzolla.

According to Persi, her mother, who was 93, died in 2010. She had sustained a broken eye socket, cheekbone, jaw and wrist, and had gashes on her shin while at an assisted-living facility in Brick. Persi was told that her mother had slipped backward on baby powder in the bathroom. She did not believe that.

“The incident happened Feb. 2, 2010,” Persi said in a telephone interview last week. “I don’t know what happened to my mother. I tried to find out but they stuck to their story that she slipped backward on baby powder. She had moderate Alzheimer. After the incident, she was nearly a vegetable. She died Aug. 8, 2010.”

Persi was the principal of both Forest and Linden avenues schools in Glen Ridge from 1991 to 1998. In 1998, she said the state Department of Education enforced its policy that each school needed a principal. Persi stayed at Linden Avenue School until 2004. At that time, she retired to be a full-time caregiver for her mother. They lived in a Clifton mother-daughter house.

“I hated to leave,” she said. “Some families came in. They were shocked I was retiring. It was the middle of the year.
“They wanted to talk me out of it,” she continued. “They said they’d send their nannies to help. It was such a gracious thing.”
Persi said many of those same parents have kept in touch with her and taken part on the Facebook page dedicated to “Peggy’s Law.” Some have also written letters and made phone calls to state legislators.

Caregivers at the hospital where Persi’s mother was taken after sustaining her injuries told her they did not think the injuries happened from a fall. It was suggested to Persi that she contact the Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly which has the authority to investigate complaints at senior facilities.

Persi called this office on March 3, 2010, and was told they handle requests in the order received.
“Time went by and I forgot about it until I received the ombudsman’s letter,” she said. “It came the day I buried my mother.”
She learned that three employees of the facility were in the bathroom when the injuries occurred: a nurse and two nurse’s aides. The individuals would not say what had happened, but it was determined the injured woman lay on the bathroom floor for an hour.

Persi called the Brick Police Department but was told they could not investigate the incident because it happened in a senior facility. Brick law enforcement agents did, however, get subpoenas but the three facility employees refused to cooperate.

When Chris Christie became governor, Persi sent him photographs of her mother’s injuries and told him he should investigate his Office of Ombudsman.

“I found out he did and the investigation came back with things the facility should have done for my mother,” she said.
Persi was told the facility failed to ice the injuries; calm her mother; give water; and an ambulance should have been called.
In the summer of 2011, Persi decided to picket the facility. She put its name on a sign declaring that it allowed elder abuse. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for a week, she picketed.

“There is no ordinance to prevent picketing,” she said. “It was on a busy street. People driving by were blowing their horns.”
The facility responded by turning on its water sprinklers. Employees made obscene gestures at her. The police were called but they could not do anything. Persi said they even offered her encouragement. They had heard of “Peggy’s Law” because of Facebook posts. Persi had also begun to inform state legislators about what happened to her mother and the need for police intervention.
“I was trying to raise awareness,” she said.

She said it took her seven years for 622 followers to join the Facebook page.
And while legislators were sympathetic, she could not make what she said was the necessary connection with just one of them. That was until May 11, 2017, after Persi gave testimony before the NJ Assembly Health Committee.

She had left the microphone when Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce, R-District 26, stood up and asked Persi to return to the microphone.
“She said she had never mentioned this to anyone in the Assembly,” Persi said. “She said, ‘I also had my mother abused in a nursing home.’ That’s when I felt I had made my connection.”

Persi said the committee voted unanimously for “Peggy’s Law.” It later passed the Appropriations Committee and was signed my Christie.
She had wanted to be at the signing but was not invited. Christie, she learned, was in the Meadowlands when he signed the bill. When she found out over the phone that “Peggy’s Law” had been established she cried. She will be meeting with DeCroce on Dec. 8. The following is just one sample of the many congratulatory Facebook posts and emails Persi received from her Glen Ridge friends after the signing:
“I can not believe, I just read your post! Chills from my head to toes! Maureen, I never doubted your determination, but I did wonder about our politicians, though. I imagine your mother is looking down on you today and saying very matter-of-factly to all that are listening, ‘Of course, Maureen passed the law. I knew she would!’ You have been a motivation to me since the first day we met. I don’t know anyone who could have persevered this quest, but you. God bless you, Maureen. You make a difference.”

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