Advocates can educate you on nursing home rights

Published 9:17 am Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Mt. Olive Seniors by Dixie Kuykendall

The North Jefferson News



The Mt. Olive Seniors joined other seniors from Jefferson County for a Valentine Banquet last week, and everyone certainly enjoyed the fun and fellowship. The party carried over on Valentines Day with all sorts of goodies at the senior center. If you need fellowship, fun and goodies in your life, join us. We play Bingo, and on Wednesdays, we have local musicians entertain us.

On Fridays you can exercise and J.T. will even teach you how to do the electric slide.



Senior issues

Last week I reported that according to a survey by the National Council on Aging, senior citizens worry most about their health and well-being.

We might be thinking about the unthinkable — what will happen to me when I am so frail that I can no longer stay in my own home? I know this from experience. The hardest thing I ever did was to leave my mother in a nursing home. When we could no longer care for her at home it seemed, at the time, our only option.

Although my sisters and I were daily visitors, we knew all too well that our mother was at the mercy of the nursing home staff and we did not want to complain too much for fear of retaliation. Dealing with the staff of a nursing home can seem intimidating and often overwhelming, and you really feel alone against “the system.”

Every state has advocates called ombudsmen who are available to assist you. We did not know this. The ombudsmen can advise you about resident’s rights and the nursing homes responsibilities.

After my mother died, I realized that I had to do something. I learned about the ombudsman and that you don’t have to accept status quo in resident care. I trained in Montgomery and became an ombudsman.

Congress considered quality of care in long-term care facilities to be so important that in 1987, a law was passed which changed the rules governing long-term care facilities. These regulations hold facilities to a higher standard of care and protect your right to receive high quality care.

In general nursing facilities must:

• provide care and services in a way that promotes and protects your dignity and your right to self-determination

• provide care in the least restrictive environment possible

• provide care and services that will enable you to attain or maintain your highest level of independence

• provide care and services so that your condition does not decline as a result of inadequate care

• provide care in such a manner and in such an environment as to enhance your quality of life

As seniors, it is important that we know our rights. We must remember to speak up and speak out so that we can give voice to what gives quality to our lives. We must become advocates.

If you would like a copy of Resident’s Rights, just give me a call at 631-0049 or e-mail me at dixiek@bellsouth.net, and I will be happy to provide it for you.