RI Nursing Assistant Reinstated After Being Cleared by Dept. of Health
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Nursing Assistant Reinstated After Being Cleared by Dept. of Health
Now, he says he hopes that what happened to him “does not happen to somebody else.”
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About Case
On January 11, 2023, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) suspended the license of nursing assistant of Kebba Njie.
The reason? RIDOH said that "that on or about January 4, 2023, and January 6, 2023, RIDOH received notices that [Njie] sexually assaulted a patient on or about January 1, 2023, while providing care to her.”
The allegations centered around the Greenwood Center in Warwick, a facility "provides skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitation therapy."
GoLocal followed up with Warwick police, who at the time, said they were investigating.
More than six months later — RIDOH reinstated Njie’s license.
“Kebba Njie ( “Respondent”) is a Nursing Assistant licensed to practice in Rhode Island under Nursing Assistant License NA50183. Respondent’s nursing assistant license was suspended by the Rhode Island Department of Health (“RIDOH”) on January 11, 2023, pending an investigation of an allegation of professional misconduct. Based on information available to RIDOH at this time, there is insufficient evidence to conclusively establish unprofessional conduct. For this reason, this matter is administratively closed,” stated RIDOH this week.
Njie in response said that the suspension had a significant — and adverse — impact on his life, and that he wants to make sure what happened to him "doesn't happen to someone else."
From Accused to Reinstated
Njie told GoLocal that while he is happy to have been cleared, the last six months have taken their toll.
“I am so happy to get back to my normal life and get back to work. Everyone is so happy to hear the news that what I was accused of was not true. The State finally admitted there was insufficient evidence,” said Njie. “I am happy to get back to work - I have been helping people as a CNA for the past 7 years (since 2016) and I am just really happy and thankful to get back to it.”
“The last several months (since January 2023) have been really hard for me because I could not work, had to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees, max out credit cards to pay my rent, etc. but the hardest part for me was not being able to support my family,” said Njie, who said his mother is still back home in Gambia.
Now, Njie says he hopes that what he went through does not happen to anyone else.
“I want to make sure that what happened to me does not happen to somebody else. This was the hardest time of my life and I can't get that time back,” he said.