Ombudsman highlights everyday victories and resident advocacy in county long-term care facilities

A representative from the Center for Prevention of Abuse delivered the Long-Term Care Ombudsman update, describing several resident-advocacy cases to illustrate how ombudsman funding is used to protect residents' rights and daily dignity.

The ombudsman described an instance in which residents had no coffee for a week; staff located coffee in employee meeting rooms and arranged for residents to be served. In another case, an ombudsman located full portable oxygen canisters so a resident could go to dialysis safely. The ombudsman also described recovering personal-needs allowance funds that had been withheld for more than six months, enabling the resident to purchase essentials.

"That's the kind of things that your dollars are funding," the speaker said, urging committee members to visit the center and see the advocacy work firsthand. The presenter asked the county to continue support for the ombudsman program and offered to share the raw metric data included in the meeting packet.