Residents’ Rights Month is an annual event celebrated in October to honor residents living in all long-term care facilities and consumers receiving services in their home or community. It is a time for celebration and recognition offering an opportunity for every facility to focus on and celebrate awareness of dignity, respect and the value of each individual resident.
This year’s Residents’ Rights Month theme — “Inspiring Unity Within Our Community” — emphasizes the importance of fostering meaningful community within the facility and encouraging residents’ connection to their local community.
Please celebrate and acknowledge these rights and call on your elected officials, community members and local facilities to show their support by attending or organizing activities.
During Residents’ Rights Month, we recognize our local long-term care ombudsman program staff and volunteers, who work to promote residents’ rights, assist residents with complaints and provide information to those who need to find a long-term care facility. This program includes facility-assigned, community-based and volunteer ombudsmen that work on a variety of resident rights in Delaware nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, group homes and the community. To contact Delaware’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, call 855-773-1002.
The Delaware Division of Health Care Quality, located within the Department of Health and Social Services, is responsible for protecting residents in Delaware long-term care facilities through promotion of quality of care, quality of life, safety and security, as well as enforcement of compliance with state and federal laws. To contact the division, call 877-453-0012.
In addition, the Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission is an advocacy group that monitors the quality assurance system in long-term care and assisted-living facilities, as it relates to quality of care and quality of life for individuals that reside in the facilities. To contact the commission, call 302-824-2956.
Lisa Furber
Chair, Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission
Margaret Bailey
Executive director, Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission
