American Society on Aging

Description

To recruit and train volunteers to work as advocates for residents of skilled nursing facilities and residentail care facilities in a five county area in Northern California.

Certified Long Term Care Ombudsman Volunteers are trained to advocate on behalf of residents of residential care facilities for the elderly and skilled nursing facilities. Their prime directive is to advocate on behalf of the resident's wishes and uphold his or her rights as a resident. We mediate between the administration of the facility and the resident. I see our job as mediator/problem solver working in concert with facilitie administration to enhance the quality of life for the residents of the facility. It is good work and residents of the facilities in which our volunteers work come to depend on Ombudsmen to give them a voice and to work hard to resolve issues in their favor. As a last resort, the Ombudsman Coordinator will call licensing and ask them to step in to enforce certain regulations. This action is fairly rare and doesn't happen vary often but it is there in case of need.