If you have an older relative or friend who lives in a licensed long-term care facility – a nursing home, home for the aged, or an adult group home – you might feel better knowing there is an extra set of eyes on them.
The Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (MLTCOP) offers at least some comfort to residents and their loved ones that they are safe and that their complaints are being heard – and addressed.
Seven MLTCOP ombudsmen operate out of AgeWays Nonprofit Senior Services, visiting nursing homes, adult foster care homes, and homes for the aged in each of the six counties served by the agency (Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, and Washtenaw). Their primary job is to advocate and make sure the communities are responsive to the concerns of the residents.
The ombudsmen also meet regularly with resident councils within these care communities to field complaints that they can take to the administration or, if need be, escalate to the state’s licensing bureau.
Between the seven, they monitor approximately 1,100 facilities, including nursing homes, adult foster care homes, and homes for the aged.
Concerns that Ombudsmen can help residents address include:
The State of Michigan inspects licensed long-term care facilities once per year. If there are problems in a home, inspectors typically visit a second time to make sure the violations have been corrected.
The ombudsmen, on the other hand, visit these facilities more frequently and are there to hear resident concerns, which can range from not getting their medication to not getting back a security deposit from the home.
“They know and trust us,” says Mary Katsarelas, a 19-year veteran of MLTCOP whose territory includes Oakland County. “They feel comfortable with us and our role.”
In adult foster care homes, which make up the majority of licensed long-term care residences the ombudsmen visit, they check to make sure residents are properly dressed and they have the medication they need.
“We’re not friendly visitors; we’re looking to see if residents are being treated appropriately,” Katsarelas says. “We try to resolve the issue before it goes to the state.”
Administrators do not mind their presence because they, too, have a stake in maintaining the best environment they can for residents, she says.
“I acknowledge positive things, too; I’m being fair,” Katsarelas says.
Louise Verbeke has served as an MTLCOP ombudsman for 13 years because she likes interacting with and helping residents and families. She is proud of a recent ‘win-win’ in which she helped a nursing home resident move back home:
During a nursing home visit earlier this year, a resident overheard Verbeke talking and approached her about a dilemma: She wanted to be discharged from the facility so that she could go home, but the nursing home told her she wouldn’t be able to thrive in a home setting because of her care needs. The woman, who does not have use of her legs, had been in the nursing home for three years and she had some supports at home who could help.
Verbeke, whose territory includes Washtenaw and Monroe counties, worked with the nursing home, which ordered a home assessment and created a discharge plan.
Since April, the woman has been in the place she calls home – with in-home support – and she is doing fine, Verbeke says.
“The lady called and thanked me for helping her get out of the nursing home. I always suggest to nursing home, “If a resident wants to go home, they should work with them,” she says. “The worse that could happen is they end up back in the nursing home. But at least they know they gave it their best try.”
