Sandra Banning's mother was the victim of one of the worst kinds of nursing home abuse there is: rape. Six years ago, police arrested Ivey Edwards, another person who lived at the Southwood Nursing Center in Jacksonville, for raping Ms. Banning. The general public doesn't realize that this is something that happens in these facilities.

What's worse is the fact that Edwards had 58 prior arrests. That's right, 58! How could he have possibly gotten a job at the facility?

"He had been arrested since the 1940s. Among them, sexual assault, child molestation, burglary, horrible crimes, but the court system placed Ivey Edwards in a nursing home with my mother," Ms. Banning said.

Her mother has passed away, but Ms. Banning is now pushing for legislation that will require background checks on nursing home patients and staff. She has already taken her argument to Washington D.C. On Wednesday she spoke before a committee with the U.S. House of Representatives.

Background checks have long been an issue for nursing home. Many of the people who commit nursing home abuse slip by background checks and gain proximity to the oftentimes helpless residents. The only way that positive change can take place is if the federal government gets involved.

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