Nursing Home Abuse » Ombudsman Services of Northern California http://www.nursinghome-legal.com Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:05:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 CA long-term care facilities suffer from cuts to ombudsman program http://www.nursinghome-legal.com/news/2009/03/27/ca-long-term-care-facilities-suffer-from-cuts-to-ombudsman-program/ http://www.nursinghome-legal.com/news/2009/03/27/ca-long-term-care-facilities-suffer-from-cuts-to-ombudsman-program/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:01:51 +0000 Jennifer Walker-Journey http://www.nursinghome-legal.com/?p=934 SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › CA long-term care facilities suffer from cuts to ombudsman program

]]> ombudsman 100x100California are taking advantage of last year’s cuts to the state’s program and slacking off on responsibilities to their patients, according to Services of Northern California. The organization lost two-thirds of its staff when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed $3.8 million in funding for long-term care programs last year, according to News 10.

Ombudsmen provide a valuable service to the elderly. Not only do they serve as advocates to nursing home residents, they also investigate and resolve complaints and make unannounced visits to to ensure residents’ needs are being met. An estimated 40 percent of residents have no family or friends to visit with or advocate for them.

A spokesperson with Services of Northern California says mandatory reporting of incidents has dropped though the number of residents in the homes has increased – a formula which doesn’t make sense. The group is concerned that the 1,600 northern California and assisted living facilities regularly serviced by the program will begin to see a rise in senior .

Instead of visiting assisted living facilities once a month and weekly, since the budget cuts ombudsmen visits have dropped to once a year for assisted living facilities and monthly for .

According to the report, Assemblyman Dave Jones, (D) Sacramento, has co-authored legislation to restore funding. That bill would direct money to the programs from fines levied against care home operators who break the law.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › CA long-term care facilities suffer from cuts to ombudsman program

]]> http://www.nursinghome-legal.com/news/2009/03/27/ca-long-term-care-facilities-suffer-from-cuts-to-ombudsman-program/feed/ 0 ombudsman