In late May after the teenage nursing aides were fired until her death in September, Sande became calm and could be hugged again.

“It was because the girls were gone and she was at peace again,” Sorensen said.

Karen Hagen, granddaughter of Sande, read a victim’s impact statement she wrote two years ago after initially hearing of the abuse.

She recalled the good times she had spent with her grandmother and the guilt she had for not visiting her grandmother as much as she should have.

“Men are put away from crimes like this young and old,” Hagen said. “Why not females?”

Jan Reshetar, who was speaking on behalf of the Families Against Nursing Home Abuse advocacy group, and whose mother-in-law was also one of the abused, talked about how the families have come together to help enforce and change laws regarding the abuse of vulnerable adults.

“The lives of the families of the victims will never be the same,” Reshetar said, noting that they have felt depths of anger and resentment that they didn’t know even existed.

The families said if the case does nothing else, they hope it draws attention to vulnerable adult abuse and to help ensure that no other families will need to experience a similar situation.

Reshetar said vulnerable adult abuse can no longer go unrecognized. Nursing home care needs to be treated as an extension of the medical profession.

After Broitzman’s sentencing, Reshetar said she thought the sentence was appropriate for as much as could be done within the laws of the state.

However, until better laws and policies are improved, acts similar to this are going to continue taking place, she added.

“What she did was monstrous,” she said.

Broitzman’s co-defendant Ashton Larson, who has pleaded guilty to the same charges, is expected to be sentenced Dec. 22.