Sentara Home Care officials are telling its patients “to deny entry to anyone claiming to be with Sentara if you cannot verify their identity to your satisfaction.”
That alert came after Sentara received a couple of reports of possibly two people, one posing as a Sentara nurse, and the other a Sentara social worker.
“Sentara Healthcare is concerned that imposters and scammers use its good name to take advantage of vulnerable patients and caregivers,” Dale Gauding, Sentara’s spokesman, wrote in a news release.
Norfolk incident
Gauding said a Sentara Home Care patient in Norfolk reported that a woman, who identified herself as a Sentara nurse, called her home and asked to “come by for 15 minutes.”
The woman showed up within minutes of that call. A relative of the patient let her in “despite the fact that she wore no official Sentara ID badge,” Gauding said.
“The imposter approached the patient’s bedside while the patient was on the phone with a Sentara Physical Therapist who was making arrangements for a visit,” Gauding said. “ The physical therapist asked to speak with the so-called nurse, who took the phone, listened briefly, and then said she had to retrieve something from her car.”
The woman then left.
She was described as a black woman with short hair (bob cut). She was wearing glasses, blue scrubs and was carrying a black or dark blue bag.
Virginia Beach incident
What happened in Norfolk is the second such incident in a few weeks, Gauding said.
In a previous incident, a Virginia Beach woman whose husband was in the hospital received a knock at the door from someone who claimed to be a Sentara social worker and asked to see her husband’s prescription medications. She denied access to her home and the person left.
A reminder
“Sentara Home Care employees always wear appropriate hard plastic photo identification badges with the Sentara logo in the lower right corner,” Gauding said. “The badge will include the provider’s name and job title. If you have any doubt about the identity of someone claiming to be with Sentara Home Care, call 757-553-3000. If you have any concern for your safety, call 911.”
