THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040521
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 89 lines
Hampton Roads, with 10,000 long-term-care residents, is the largest area in Virginia without a local official to investigate and resolve residents' complaints. Two local agencies hope to change that.
Hampton Roads, which has more nursing home and adult care residents than any other region in the state, doesn't have anyone to handle complaints about their care.
Two agencies that work with the elderly want to change that.
The Peninsula Agency on Aging and SEVAMP, the Southeastern Virginia Area-Wide Model Program, are applying for $55,000 in state money to hire two full-time ombudsmen to receive, investigate and resolve complaints from long-term care residents and their families.
The General Assembly allocated $81,250 this year and next to expand the state's local ombudsman program. Only half of Virginia's 57,000 long-term-care residents are covered by such programs. Hampton Roads, with 10,000 long-term-care residents, is the largest area without a local ombudsman.
Such a program could help resolve problems before they escalate into the type of troubles that beset a Portsmouth nursing home this summer, said Kathleen Blanchard, assistant director of SEVAMP in Norfolk.
In August, the federal government threatened to cancel Manning Convalescent Home's Medicaid-Medicare contracts because of poor care at the home.
That incident ``was a beacon to tell us that we need a local program here,'' said Blanchard, who expressed confidence that the region would get funding for at least one ombudsman.
Enforcement regulations that went into effect in July 1995 mandate penalties for nursing homes providing poor care. Thus, homes could be threatened with closure unless residents and their families have a way to resolve problems before they reach the critical stage, Blanchard said.
A local ombudsman program could do that by investigating complaints quickly and educating facilities about state and federal regulations.
``Without a local voice, there's no quick response to problems,'' Blanchard said.
And the problems exist.
Complaints to the state ombudsman office in Richmond from South Hampton Roads residents about the region's nursing and adult care homes more than doubled between 1994 and 1995, from 133 to 347, according to the state ombudsman's office.
Overall, complaints statewide increased 41 percent.
State ombudsman Mark Miller predicts that Hampton Roads would see even more complaints if it had a regional ombudsman because people are more likely to contact someone locally than someone in Richmond.
``It's critical to have a local program because people in nursing facilities are much sicker and more debilitated than they've been in the past, and often they don't have a family member nearby or aren't able to speak for themselves,'' Miller said.
Residents are sicker because the state requires that nursing home residents meet strict criteria for admission, including an inability to perform such daily activities as dressing, going to the bathroom, eating and bathing.
When Miller receives complaints, usually through a toll-free number that is posted on bulletin boards in nursing homes and adult care residences, he is rarely able to help callers because he only has one employee.
He usually refers callers to the state health department or, in the case of individual abuse or neglect, to their local social services department.
But social service workers can only investigate if a resident is being neglected or abused. They don't investigate generalized problems, like a dirty facility or understaffing, or complaints filed after a resident has died or moved.
And the state health department, which regulates nursing homes, investigates most complaints when it inspects homes, usually about once a year.
Often, the problem no longer exists by the time inspectors arrive.
In areas of the state like Northern Virginia and Richmond, which have their own local ombudsmen programs, investigations begin immediately.
They are usually resolved within 45 days through meetings between the ombudsman, the home's administration and the family member or resident who complained, Miller said.
In the 1980s, SEVAMP sponsored a three-person volunteer ombudsman program, Blanchard said. The program consisted of a family member of a long-term care resident, an industry representative and Blanchard.
In 1989, the state required such ombudsmen to become certified, requiring a two-week training course that, Blanchard said, was burdensome for the volunteer ombudsmen. The program disbanded. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot\
Kathleen Blanchard, assistant director of the Southeastern Virginia
Area-Wide Model Program, wants the state to provide funding for two
regional ombudsmen for the elderly.
KEYWORDS: NURSING HOMES SENIOR CITIZEN by CNB