Anatomy of Isolation: Building the Record

Former facility manager Elisha Callahand, employed from October 6, 2023, to November 12, 2024, provided statements about what she witnessed in early 2024:

In an interview, she stated that "Staff were instructed to document negative behaviors after Patty's visits, regardless of whether such behaviors were related to the visit."

She elaborated that facility records contained "pages missing," which she stated were altered to create a negative impression of Patricia's visits. When she challenged this practice, she was told it was necessary to "justify visitation restrictions."

Caregiver Lisa Nice corroborated this in an interview: "Management instructed staff to 'chart behaviors as if Patty caused them.'" She even testified in court: "I never observed any increased agitation following Patricia's visits. Russell was always delighted to see her."

Elisha Callahand and Lisa Nice didn't work together or know each other, yet both independently described the same documentation manipulation.

The guardians maintained their own contemporaneous logs through Cheryl Murchison. These logs provide crucial evidence of manipulation—Cheryl documented what facility staff told her in real-time, creating an independent record of what the facility was reporting to the guardians versus what appeared in their official logs.

The comparison reveals significant discrepancies:

Visits Documented in Guardian Logs but Missing from Facility Records:

March 28, 2024: Cheryl logs "Patty returned @ 1:20 PM - Text from Ray and video" April 1, 2024: "Patty visited 2 days in a row" April 3, 2024: "Patty showed up @ N/N" April 5, 2024: "Call w/ Alicia @ N/N - Dad doing okay - Patty short visit" April 10, 2024: "Susan social worker w/ Hospice visited Dad - Patty was there also" April 11, 2024: "Text from Elisha@N/N...Patty visited" Why would the facility tell Cheryl about these visits but not record them in their official logs? The pattern suggests selective documentation—reporting certain incidents to the guardians while omitting others from the official record.

The guardian logs also reveal the facility's real-time reporting patterns. On April 11, Cheryl documented: "Ray recorded - Patty telling Russell Kids took her to court and his girlfriend. She lost. *then Dad refused care"

The note about recording raises a question: was recording Patricia and Russell without their knowledge legal? Regardless, the facility's official logs for this period show no such incident.

A comprehensive review of facility logs from March through July 2024 reveals 36 documented visits by Patricia. Out of these 36 visits, only 2 (5.6%) had direct issues documented. The remaining 94.4% showed no issues.

Critically, not a single instance shows Russell's problematic behaviors were caused solely by Patricia's presence. When behavioral issues occurred around her visits, there were always other documented factors:

He was already sick or vomiting before she arrived He was agitated prior to her visit He had other visitors the same day He was refusing medications before she came The nurses' own documentation contradicts the isolation narrative. In September 2024, RN Cristie Campbell wrote that caregivers reported Russell became "HOSTILE AND PHYSICALLY AGGRESSIVE" following Patricia's visits. Yet the actual facility logs from the preceding months showed 94.4% of visits had no issues—a fact the nurses either didn't know or chose to ignore.

Audio recordings from Patricia's visits in spring 2024 capture Russell's actual state:

April 22, 2024:

Russell: "I am glad man to see you." Russell: "Glad man. Glad man to see you." Russell: "You gonna take me home?" Patricia: "I can't." Russell: "I said are you going to take me home?" April 23, 2024:

Russell: "Well, you're gonna take me home." Russell: "Why don't you just live down here?" Russell: "Stay a while." Russell: "Do you miss me?" May 24, 2024:

Russell: "You gotta stay here." June 19, 2024:

Russell: "I don't want to come here again." Russell: "Not, ain't nothing that makes me feel good in this son of a bitch." Russell: "Why can't I leave?" These weren't the words of a man limited to five-word sentences, as his hospice diagnosis required. These were the words of a man who knew exactly where he was and wanted to leave.

While Bartell claimed Patricia's visits required "additional staffing," statements from staff revealed a different truth.

Elisha Callahand described the actual staffing situation from May 2024 onward:

Staff required to work 24-hour shifts, sleeping at the facility 6-7 days per week Only three total employees during summer 2024 Callahand personally worked a documented 60-hour consecutive shift alone No proper breaks, no relief staff Multiple residents under the care of single staff members Callahand noted that she and likely other employees were hired as "contractors" despite having set schedules and all the requirements of employees. This arrangement stuck the employees with all the taxes while Tempie Bartell avoided paying employment taxes.

The staffing situation was so dire that when caregiver Ray needed time off, Tempie Bartell prescribed her anti-depressants instead of addressing the staffing crisis.

In an interview, Callahand described her frustration with Bartell's indifference: "We have staffing issues and you don't give a shit." When Callahand had asked for help, Bartell's response was to say she would cancel her appointments at her clinic and come in herself—if that's what Elisha wanted—making Elisha feel guilty for even asking.

The facility would later bill for "additional staffing/visitation non-compliance" at $1,000 per month.. But there was no additional staff. There was barely adequate staff for basic operations.

Between February 2022 and July 2024, facility records document Russell's repeated attempts to leave:

February 21, 2022: "MR B WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE" February 28, 2022: "GET ME OUT OF HERE" March 7, 2022: "HE HAS DAYS THAT HE STILL TRIES TO 'GO HOME'" December 5, 2022: "RUSSELL ASKS 'WHY AM I HERE'" January 18, 2023: "ALL DAY TUESDAY HE WAS TRYING TO LEAVE, HE WENT OUT THE FRONT DOOR SEVERAL TIMES AND OUT THE BACK DOOR ONCE" February 15, 2023: "SUNDAY WAS A BAD DAY HE WANDERED, OPENING ALL THE DOORS TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO GO OUT" March 3, 2024: "Resident wanted a ride to chuber after buch, kept asking for several hours while pacing around the house" April 18, 2024: "started roaming the house yelling and walked outside several times. Yeah at one point open the gate and broke it off its latch" June 11, 2024: "resident vomited in bedroom after refusing dinner and walking two houses over trying to find a car to get back to town" June 25, 2024: "he kept walking outside and talking about calling the school. He refused dinner and kept walking outside at 5:30 PM I called for another shift worker to come in and help as he had me walking along the street trying to cross for over 30 minutes" A caregiver confirmed in June 2024: "yes, he made many attempts to leave the premises."

Elisha Callahand observed that Russell's "agitation" wasn't specific to Patricia's visits: "It's not like he only did it when she came. It depended on who visited that day and how many visitors he had."