Pursuing Quality Long-Term Care National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care

Every April, organizations across the country take the time to celebrate and thank their volunteers. Volunteers are the backbone of many Long-term Care Ombudsman Programs (LTCOP). With the help of volunteers, the Ombudsman program can have a regular presence in facilities and stay in touch with residents. Volunteers lend their time, talent, and voice to make a difference in their communities and the LTCOP could not be its best without the volunteers who help carry out the mission of advocating for long-term care residents.

In this episode, the National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) talks to a certified volunteer from New Jersey about her experience and dedicated advocacy. The Administration for Community Living (ACL) also joins to honor the over 4,000 people who serve as Long-Term Care Ombudsman volunteers. These specially trained volunteers visit nursing homes and residential care communities to advocate with and for the residents living there. By visiting on a regular basis, volunteers get to know residents and gain their trust to better assist them in resolving issues or complaints to help ensure they receive quality long-term care.

Guests: Beverley Laubert, National Ombudsman Program Coordinator, Office of Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs, Administration for Community Living; Pat Murphy, Certified Volunteer Advocate, New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

Since the pandemic began, there has been significant efforts by advocates to create better laws and regulations to protect nursing home residents. The pandemic and its devastating impact on nursing home residents has resulted in many states passing new laws or creating new regulations regarding a variety of areas, including staffing, transparency, and the nursing home workforce.

On this episode, you will hear from two advocates that have been successful in getting new laws and regulations passed and promulgated. Tony Chicotel, Senior Staff Attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform and Pam Walz, Supervising Attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, will discuss recent legislative and regulatory victories and how they helped ensure they were implemented.

Often the conversation about addressing the chronic poor care that exists in far too many of today's nursing homes is framed around new laws or regulations. Yet, there are steps that can be taken now - using existing federal and state legal authority - to improve care and conditions in our country's nursing homes. In our conversation, we will discuss four levers of opportunity for increasing quality and accountability in nursing homes with the author of "Using What We Have: How Existing Legal Authorities Can Help Fix America's Nursing Home Crisis."

Special Guest: Nina Kohn, J.D., the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law at Yale Law School, the David M. Levy Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law, and a leading authority in elder law and the civil rights of older persons.

Family caregivers have always played an integral role in promoting and achieving quality care for their loved ones living in a long-term care facility. The importance of the informal care and support provided by family members for a resident's physical, mental, and emotional well-being became abundantly clear during the pandemic when those essential supports were taken away during the pandemic. Yet, advocacy and engagement by family members benefits not only their own loved ones, but ultimately all residents in a long-term care facility. In our conversation with Marcella Goheen, a family member and advocate, we discuss how families can individually and collectively, through family councils, be a strong voice for quality and for change in nursing homes.

M.T. Connolly is a writer, lawyer, researcher, policy-shaper, and leading national expert on elder justice. In her new book, The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life, M.T. discusses the challenges of aging, how things go wrong, and presents powerful tools we can use to forge better long lives for ourselves, our families, and our communities. In this episode, join our discussion with MT Connolly as we talk about the challenges of aging well, ageism, and advocacy for a better long-term care system.

For decades Consumer Voice has designated October as Residents’ Rights Month. This month is an opportunity to recognize the value of each resident and the importance of treating every resident with dignity and respect. This year’s theme, Amplify Our Voices, highlights residents coming together to make their voices heard.

In this episode, join us as we speak with two resident advocates. Floyd Hartley is a former nursing home resident who now lives in the community and works as an advocate for all residents including those transitioning out of facilities. We also spoke with Cindy Napolitan, a current nursing home resident that has lived in two different nursing homes for over six years and has advocated for herself and others at the local, state, and federal level during that time.

Floyd and Cindy discuss how they work to improve conditions for nursing home residents. Their constant effort and advocacy illustrate how residents can use their own voices to make systematic change for consumers in long-term care facilities.