Cannandra Renner - Aegis Living

Project Veritas released a video on September 14, 2021, that featured Healthcare Insider, Cassandra Renner, blowing the whistle on her employer, Aegis Living, for engaging in alleged elder abuse and medical fraud.

Renner, who worked as a Medical Technician at Aegis Living, said she came forward because she could no longer bear the corruption in her workplace.

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“I came to Project Veritas because I believe that Aegis Living is grossly taking advantage of severely vulnerable adults through fraud on care plans,” Renner said.

“I don't think that the neglect is coming directly from the care managers, as much as it is coming from the facility making the choice to be short-staffed,” she said.

“We can probably, on a good day, get about 50% of what these people are paying for done.”

Renner addressed the short staffing issue with her colleague, Averi Robinson, who is one of Aegis Living’s Associate Care Directors:

Renner: “How would you go about trying to push for more people because it's necessary?”

Robinson: “I don’t know that I can, I’ve tried.”

Renner: “I know.”

Robinson: “Like, I- There’s enough people to have, but the people we do have are there because we need a heartbeat and not because they’re actually capable caregivers.”

Renner: “But when you're being trained by word of mouth of someone else who might've been trained by word of mouth, from someone else, you're going to end up getting somebody who has no idea what these people actually require. Is the problem that we have such a staffing issue that you can't, like, threaten actual--”

Robinson: “They can write you up, but like at this point I'm, like--”

Renner: “Well, are they going to fire you? Like, unless it's like--”

Robinson: “No. They literally cannot afford to fire any of us. If we have anything, it's job security.”

Renner told Project Veritas she witnessed a patient being lied to about the vaccine she was taking. The patient ultimately died.

“I had overheard a chemical restraint being given to one of the residents I worked with in order to get her to take the COVID vaccine…They had given her a PRN, like Xanax, and they were successful after giving her the PRN in order to get her to take the COVID vaccine,” Renner said. 

“The resident was lied to about what shot she was receiving. She was told that it was the flu shot… She's no longer with us and in her last moments of life, she had to have her dignity removed.”

Renner said that signature forgery is commonplace at Aegis Living.

“In the past I had not signed for certain things that I knew I hadn't completed, and I was told by the ACD [Associate Care Director] who had told me to sign them, that I needed to just sign them anyways. Even if I hadn't completed the task…I noticed the other day, or like a little bit ago that one of my signatures looks like it wasn't mine,” she said.

“I had found out that my signature had been forged multiple times. Someone signed for me to claim that I had completed a service that I specifically did not sign because it was not completed.”

Aegis Living Associate Care Director, Margie Massa, corroborated Renner’s allegations.

“If there’s not a signature there [on the document] then that means you didn’t do the service. If I knew who worked that day, then I might jot in an initial because I'm kind of saving their asses too. You know?”

Renner’s story drew the attention of the Issaquah Police Department, prompting an official investigation into Aegis Living.