KNOWLEDGE, EMPOWERMENT: Representatives of Memphis-based Senior Housing Crime Prevention Center host a meeting for a group of nursing home residents. -- Photo Courtesy Of The Senior Housing Crime Prevention Center

The highlight of Charles King III's professional career occurred at a nursing home in Lousiana a few years ago.

King was touring the facility when one of the residents, a Mr. Bellows, who formerly had lived in a nursing home in Texas, approached the woman showing King around and asked if he'd be getting a lockbox like the one he'd used at the other facility.

Yes, she told Bellows, he'd be getting the lockbox soon, and not only that, she introduced Bellows to King and told him King would be the one making sure he got the box.

King is the chair of Memphis-based Senior Housing Crime Prevention Foundation, which provides a senior crimestoppers program to nursing homes throughout the nation.

Later during his visit, as they passed the Bellows' room, King overheard him on the phone talking to his daughter.

"I just got to meet the man who's going to get me a lockbox," King recalled Bellows saying.

'Succession planning'

A photo of King with Bellows sits in his office as a reminder of the work the foundation is doing.

But, at age 61, King has started to plan for the day when he can pass the torch to someone else.

As of Jan. 1, Peter K. Gwaltney joined the organization as CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors.

"He will one day replace me when I retire," King said. "This is succession planning, if you will."

American Bankers Association president and CEO Edward Yingling hailed Gwaltney as a "super-banking hero" for his role during the Hurricane Katrina disaster last year.

As CEO of the Louisiana Bankers Association, a role he's held since 1999, Gwaltney worked closely with the banking industry and regulatory agencies to help manage crises that arose after the storm left New Orleans devastated.

"What a wonderful opportunity to step up to the Foundation's national stage and play a leading role in providing bankers with a business opportunity and solution that has no peer, while preserving the dignity and safety of our most vulnerable citizens," Yingling said of Gwaltney's new role with the foundation.

King said that once he reached 60, he realized it was time to start thinking about retirement. "And I want to make sure the proper people are in place within the organization to keep it growing and vibrant."

Personal stake

The "proper people" are those who will help the organization continue to do all it can to make sure nursing home residents feel as safe and secure as possible, he said.

The organization got its start in 1995 in Memphis when federal regulators from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) cited then-National Bank of Commerce (NBC) for not meeting its federally mandated Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements.

"Every bank in America, each year, has to make loans and investments in the community (surrounding the bank's branches) to low- to moderate-income people," King said.

Once it was determined that NBC wasn't living up to its CRA requirements, bank officials were told to find something in which to invest.

And the responsibility for coming up with a way to re-invest in the community fell to King, who at the time was a senior vice president at the bank.

Two of his grandmothers also had died in nursing homes over a 10-year period.

One of his grandmothers died after an alleged abuse incident. Another died in a nursing home shortly after having her family Bible stolen with $5 dollars inside it.

"So, over that 10-year period, as a family, we got to know and understand all the problems in nursing homes and I became sympathetic to the problems and issues," he said.

Money where their mouth is

King's personal experiences with nursing homes led to the creation of a senior crimestoppers program that he initially ran for NBC Bank, which later was acquired by SunTrust.

Eventually, word got out about the program and other interest grew.

So, in 1999, with help from the OCC, the foundation was formed as a 501(c)3 national nonprofit organization.

To date, more than 4,000 nursing home facilities around the country are taking part in the senior crimestoppers program. And Memphis-area banks participating in the program include First Tennessee National Bank, SunTrust Bank, Regions Bank, BankTennessee, FirstBank, First Citizens National Bank and Commercial Bank and Trust Cos.

The general premise behind the program is to offer awards to people who call in tips about crimes that have been committed against residents of participating nursing homes. Crimes can range from missing food, jewelry or clothing to abuse. Awards offered for information range from $250 to $1,000.

"The more severe the incident, the higher the reward," King said.

'Zero tolerance'

For example, one flier about a Dec. 18 incident in which a nursing home resident reported a doll missing offers a $375 reward.

Once a decision is made about how much to offer, the flier is faxed to the nursing home and posted where employees and visitors can see it. Information leading to the culprits in abuse cases automatically nets $1,000 rewards.

"We cover anything that takes place in a facility that infringes on someone else's rights or is a crime, and we post a reward for it," King said.

Rewards are in effect until they are claimed, and sometimes it can take as long as two years for someone to come forward with information about an incident. Often, 80 percent of perpetrators are employees and 20 percent are family members or outsiders, King said.

The foundation also has a tracking system to determine how effective the program is for each nursing home. They look at the number of reported incidents before the program is installed and then compare it to the number of incidents that take place after the program begins operating in the facility.

"Nationally, we have reduced crime by 99.1 percent in the over 4,000 facilities that we have the program operating in," King said.

Besides the reward system and the installation of lockboxes, foundation officials also offer classes for employees and family members of nursing home residents two times a year.

"Our education is geared toward the fact that the program has zero tolerance to crime and that if you work here or that if your relative is here, you need to be aware that we don't tolerate anything detrimental going on here," he said.