Ombudsmen visits build trust, rapport

Last year I visited with Harry at a long-term care facility.

Harry is a World War II Navy veteran who was serving somewhere in the Pacific when his ship was torpedoed. He and an injured shipmate he had pulled from the destroyer watched as the ship upended and quickly sank out of sight. I wouldn't have known that about Harry if I hadn't asked about his old, frayed Navy ball cap.

As an ombudsman, I visit residents of assisted-living and skilled nursing facilities, observe the environment, and help residents solve problems. Anyone who has had a loved one in a long-term care facility knows that problems can and do arise no matter how well-intentioned the facility.

Ombudsmen are the voices for those vulnerable elders who need someone to speak up for them - for their rights as residents, their quality of care and quality of life. The ombudsmen can make a huge difference in the lives of residents. Sometimes we're involved in issues that the residents can't solve on their own. Sometimes they need someone in their corner who can advocate for them - be their voice when they don't or can't speak up for themselves.

A big part of being an ombudsman is just plain visiting, getting to know the residents. Trained volunteer ombudsmen are assigned to facilities so that more residents can be visited in more facilities and more issues can get resolved. By being assigned to a particular facility, a volunteer ombudsman can gain residents' trust and build rapport, making it feel safe for them to confide worries or concerns about their care.

When ombudsmen visit residents of long-term care facilities, they keep their eyes open for clues that tell something about the residents. They want to know who they are as individuals. The residents have had many experiences that make up a full and useful life. Harry wore an old, frayed Navy ball cap. Sometimes it's a photograph, or a painting, a knitted afghan or some other personal treasure.

Anne was a professional seamstress and even though she couldn't see well enough to sew anymore, she had her sewing machine in her room, with dozens of spools of colored thread on a frame on the wall. Even though her professional life is long over, her family knows how important those items still are to her.

Dorothy, now confined with arthritis to a wheelchair, was a beauty at 16 ... a gorgeous girl posing on a boulder in her swimsuit. The photograph was enlarged, framed and hung on her wall. It's a reminder to both staff and visitors that the girl and the elderly woman are one and the same person.

Sometimes, sadly, the rooms are bare of reminders of who someone is inside or what they did in earlier years. Sometimes they don't remember and the ombudsman needs to be inventive about what to talk about. Sometimes they just hold a hand.

Residents are in facilities because it's no longer safe for them to live on their own. They need assistance in daily living. Of course, they would rather be living at home, able to do the things they've always done for themselves. Even though their physical or mental abilities are limiting their options, they still have lives and deserve the best of care and attention.

Besides good daily care, residents should be treated with dignity and respect, offered choices and interesting activities. Meals should be appealing, with nutritious, tasty food. Individual differences should be considered and privacy given.

In an ideal world, all of these things would be done without question. The facilities would all be more concerned with resident well-being than facility convenience and bottom line. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world nor are all facilities equal. That's why an oversight ombudsman presence in the facilities is needed. Some facilities do a really good job, others need frequent reminders.

At present, there are 13 volunteer ombudsmen advocating for residents of long term care facilities in the five northern counties of Idaho, 12 of them in Kootenai County. Ideally, a volunteer would be assigned to each facility. We train new volunteer ombudsmen every year, but we have a long way to go.

Even when times are tough, Americans are big on volunteering. We have our share of volunteers helping others here in Idaho. One way to help others is to be a volunteer ombudsman. There is a new volunteer ombudsman training Sept. 7 through Oct. 27, Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Coeur d'Alene. If you are interested in making a difference in the lives of elders in long-term care facilities, please contact Jan Noyes.

Jan Noyes, Area Agency on Aging North Idaho, can be reached at jnoyes@aaani.org or (208) 667-3179 ext. 243.