Residents’ Rights Month is celebrated each October to honor residents living in all long-term care (LTC) 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.
The 2021 Residents’ Rights Month theme, “Reclaiming My Rights, My Home, My Life,” acknowledges the impact of this past year on residents and highlights the need for their rights to be recognized, recovered and reasserted. It emphasizes the recognition of the LTC facility as the residents’ home and the importance of those individuals reclaiming their own lives. This year’s theme focuses on raising awareness of federally mandated residents’ rights, while also underscoring the need for dignity and self-determination.
Celebrate and acknowledge these rights by participating in Residents’ Rights Month events and calling on your elected officials, community members and local facilities to show their support by attending or organizing activities.
Residents’ Rights Month celebrations, activities and events are limited again this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, individual facilities may be holding small, socially distanced activities for their residents.
During Residents’ Rights Month, we recognize local LTC ombudsman program staff and volunteers, who work to promote residents’ rights, assist with complaints and provide information to those who need to find an LTC facility. The ombudsman program serves the entire state, and includes facility-assigned, community-based and volunteer ombudsmen who work on a variety of resident rights in Delaware nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, group homes and the community. To contact Delaware’s ombudsman program, call 800-223-9074.
In addition, the Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission (DNHRQAC) is an advocacy group that monitors the quality-assurance system in LTC and assisted-living facilities as it relates to quality of care and quality of life for individuals who reside in them. DNHRQAC can be reached at 824-2956.
Margaret Bailey is the executive director of the Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission. Lisa Furber is its chair.
