Ombudsman Program for Long-Term Care, Stepping up for Aging American's Rights

From time to time, we may have heard about cases of elder abuse, either physically, mentally, emotionally or financially, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. If our loved ones and family members are in a long-term care facility and we discovered that they don't receive the proper care that is due them, we would be reacting violently, but how do we deal with this?

CJAD news reported on a case of an elderly who was in an ltc facility for nine months and her loved ones discovered that she hasn't received a proper bath since she was first admitted to the facility. Her family was outrageous and filed numerous complaints against the facility. If you were in the same shoes of her loved ones, do you know exactly where to go in cases like this?

We have previously discussed about long-term care ombudsman in this blog two weeks ago, today, we will feature additional helpful information on how the program is stepping up for elder rights.

Photo credit: www.areaagency8.org

What is Ombudsman Program for Long Term Care?

According to the description, an ombudsman is a person that is assigned by the government to look into complaints or situations that show malpractices or wrongful way of following a process or a system. An ombudsman is technically independent and is someone who has to decide whether there is really a wrongful action done to a party by other organizations or institutions. So, what is ombudsman program for long term care?

The ombudsman program for long term care is the one who advocates for the rights of residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other adult care facilities. Their main responsibility is to work find solution to problems and disputes when it comes to long term care services. Their goal is to help improve the quality of life of the parties involve, mainly the elderly patients. Their job has a wide scope because it covers the local, state and the national level.

What is ombudsman program for long term care? It is an organization that will help the senior citizen voice out their concern when it comes to certain procedures that are followed in the nursing homes, how the caregivers are treating them and how they live their everyday life in terms of their weakened condition. The ombudsman program sees to it that all aspects of the long term care is properly done by the nursing home staff so that the senior citizen can live comfortably in the remaining days of their lives.

Initially the ombudsman program for long term care started in 1972. It is federally funded under the Older Americans Act. One must realize that although they help in the plight of the senior citizens, they are not a regulating body that can make or amend laws for the senior citizens. The best that they can do is monitor the problems and if they are not able to arrive at a reasonable solution, then they find the right government agency that can handle the case.

What is an ombudsman program services? They resolve to finish different cases that range to complaints, based on dissatisfaction with living conditions, residents’ rights, and issuance and dispensing of proper medication. Aside from resolutions of problems and complaints, the ombudsman program seeks to educate people about the right of the elderly residents of nursing homes and those who receive adult day care services. It is not only concentrated on the residents themselves but also the families and the caregivers.

Aside from education and dissemination of information about the rights of the elderly, they also coordinate with different long term care facilities managers and owners so that they will be also be properly oriented on some of the common causes of disputes and problems.

What is ombudsman program for long term care that an average person can benefit from? It can be helpful to know about the existing program so that you will know which agency or organization to go to when you or your loved ones will experience some problems when it comes to your long term care plan or facilities. It can give you proper information on what to do and how to settle without too much stress on you or your elderly loved ones.