Why I became an ombudsman

I become an ombudsman, an advocate for residents of long term care, many years after my mother died in a skilled nursing facility. I said then that when I retired, I was going to do something that would make life in facilities better. I had never heard of an ombudsman.

My mother had a series of small strokes and needed to spend time recuperating in a skilled nursing facility. My brother or I visited every day and she seemed at first to be making progress. But she became unable to walk and slipped into dementia.

One night, the police were called by a neighbor reporting screams from the facility. The police arrived to find my mother tied by the wrists to her bed, screaming. The story told was that Mother had managed to get out of bed and crawl down the hall in the middle of the night. So the aides tied her to her bed so she wouldn't wander. They were busy, they said, and couldn't be worried about what she would get into.

Restraints are now illegal, except in extraordinary circumstances, and lowering mattresses is standard practice. Things have changed for the better, but there are still problems often due to lack of adequate staffing and poor communication among staff.

According to the U.S. Office of the Inspector General, 33 percent of Medicare nursing home residents had adverse events or harm during their skilled nursing facility stays in 2013 and 59 percent of those were preventable due to substandard treatment, inadequate resident monitoring and failure or delay in care. Inadequate staffing played a big part.

Should a facility be profitable? Of course, it's a business. But business as usual should be quality of care and quality of life. Employees should be well paid and well trained, even given incentives for good work and longevity. Food should be good quality, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables (not white bread wrapped around slices of baloney and processed cheese like I saw recently). Activities should be suited to different interests and abilities. There should be music, exercise, community activities. The environment should be home like and comfortable.

To look at some facilities, you would think that good care is a given, but appearances can be deceiving. Not all facilities in the five northern counties are centers of problems, but we have our share. The facilities that rarely have problems, invariably have adequate and well vetted staff.

So now I'm an ombudsman. Ombudsmen are problem solvers. We're effective at making changes that benefit the residents. We have access to residents, and records if necessary, can go anywhere, talk to anyone and have the right to information. Our presence makes a difference in the quality of care and quality of life in the facilities.

If you're interested in becoming a volunteer ombudsman, contact Jan Noyes, 667-3179 Ext. 243 or [email protected]. A new training is scheduled for seven Tuesdays, Sept. 9 to Oct. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Area Agency on Aging in Coeur d'Alene.

Interested in becoming a volunteer ombudsman?

Contact Jan Noyes, 667-3179 Ext. 243 or [email protected]. A new training is scheduled for seven Tuesdays, Sept. 9 to Oct. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Area Agency on Aging in Coeur d'Alene.