Role of Ombudsmen in nursing homes
The Dallas News had an article about the role that Ombudsman's office has in advocating for nursing home residents. The article stresses the importance of their role and the breadth of their power and responsibility. However, it all depends on the State's funding and the specific Ombudsman's knowledge of the regulations and standard of care.
The article revolves around Jennelle Dixson who is a nursing home ombudsman who looks out for residents too frail or too afraid to speak up about problems such as inattentive caregivers, dirty bedding and long delays in getting medication. Ombudsmen are among the most important watchdogs of the nursing home industry. The frequent prods and nudges they give nursing home administrators can have almost as much influence on the quality of care as the annual inspections that government regulators make.
The Senior Source, the nonprofit agency that runs the state's long-term ombudsman program in Dallas County, sends ombudsmen to 63 nursing homes at least once a month and 160 assisted-living communities at least twice a year. Dixson checks on more than 1,000 residents in 17 nursing homes throughout Dallas. She visits most of the homes weekly.
Forty-three percent of Americans who reach 65 can expect to spend time in one of the nation's 15,281 nursing homes. The average stay is almost 2 ½ years.
Though ombudsmen often meet an uncooperative administrator, their visits sometimes produce results because most nursing homes prefer to resolve issues before they escalate into black marks during state inspections. Last year, the Senior Source's ombudsmen received 8,600 complaints about nursing homes and 600 complaints about assisted-living communities in Dallas County.
Swanson says complaints involving abuse or serious neglect go to the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, the state agency that inspects and regulates nursing homes and assisted-living communities. "The most common complaint we receive is that caregivers take too long to answer residents' call buttons," Swanson said. "Patients may wait an hour for aides to escort them to the bathroom." This lack of response often results in falls when residents attempt to make it to the bathroom without assistance.
I don't doubt that Mrs. Dixson is a caring ombudsman who benefits residents under her jurisdiction but the Ombudsman in South Carolina do absolutely nothing for the residents. They do not act like advocates and often defend the actions or inactions of the nursing homes all the time stating "that is what my boss tells me to do." The ombudsmen in South Carolina do not feel they have any power or right to tell the nursing homes how to provide care to the residents. If that is true, what is the point of their existence? South Carolina needs to train the ombudsmen and give them the power and authority to challenge the nursing homes to prevent neglect and abuse.
