Bailey and Furber: Residents’ Rights Month a time to recognize various facets of long-term care
Margaret Bailey is the executive director of the Delaware Nursing Home Residents Quality Assurance Commission. Lisa Furber is its chair.
Residents’ Rights Month is a celebration each October to honor residents living in all long-term care facilities and consumers receiving services in their homes or communities. It is a time for 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 is “Amplify Our Voices.”
Please 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.
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 ombudspeople who 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, 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, and enforcement of compliance with state and federal laws. To contact this agency, call 877-453-0012.
The Elder Law Program, located within the Community Legal Aid Society, provides limited legal assistance to Delawareans ages 60 or older. The services provided by ELP are free. To contact the program, call 302-575-0666 in New Castle County, 302-674-8500 in Kent or 302-856-0038 in Sussex.
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 who reside in the facilities. To contact the commission, call 302-824-2956.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
