Aide Charged With Hitting Woman, 78, At Holmdel Dementia Facility

HOLMDEL, NJ — A home health aide who lives in South Amboy has been arrested in connection with elder abuse after state investigators say she struck a 78-year-old patient in the head with a cell phone.

Regina Twumasi, 53, of South Amboy, was charged with fourth-degree assault and she was indicted last week, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced. The incident happened at an Alzheimer/dementia facility in December in Holmdel.

Twumasi was trying to physically subdue the agitated patient.

However, the hospital's surveillance video captured the encounter, and it showed Twumasi allegedly strike the elderly female patient’s head with her cell phone. The impact caused a laceration to the woman’s forehead, state investigators said.

The incident happened at Millennium Memory Care, an Alzheimer and dementia care facility on Stillwell Road in Holmdel.

Twumasi is a certified Homemaker Home Health Aide. The incident occurred on December 23, 2017.

She no longer works at the Holmdel facility, the facility said when Patch called them on Wednesday.

“Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has broad powers to investigate and prosecute crimes against the elderly and we are using those powers to their fullest,” said Tracy M. Thompson, New Jersey's Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. The office of insurance fraud investigated the incident, and they were the ones who brought the charges against Twumasi.

“The charges announced today demonstrate our commitment to safeguarding elderly and disabled individuals from being victimized in their homes or residential care facilities," she said.

Photo: The exterior of Millennium Memory Care on Stillwell Road in Holmdel, NJ. Google Earth