Much-needed grant will put more advocates in local nursing homes
LIVINGSTON COUNTY — A nearly $400,000 grant will provide some relief to officials tasked with investigating and resolving complaints for residents in long-term care facilities.
Known as "ombudsmen," advocates are currently stretched thin in the region, with just three monitoring complaints and observing conditions across six counties: Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair and Washtenaw.
Fortunately, the ombudsmen program through "Area Agency on Aging 1-B" was recently awarded $386,188 by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to double the program, from three officials to six.
While the grant is limited to two years, agency officials say there's a push for the state to increase its budget for ombudsmen, and the expansion of the local program could serve as a pilot for the rest of the state.
Michigan currently ranks near the bottom, number 47 in the country, in terms of funding, according to AAA 1-B officials. The state budgets about $2 million a year.
An ideal ratio, they say, is one ombudsman for every 2,000 long-term care facility residents. The average ratio in the state is one for every 5,177, and the 1-B region's ratio is one for every 9,446.
"Our focus is on residents' quality of life and quality of care," said ombudsman Mary Katsarelas. "The goal is to support the residents in self-advocacy, and we work for systemic change."
Katsarelas said, as an ombudsman, she fields complaints from residents and their families about things like staffing shortages, call light response times, conditions, care, involuntary discharges and other issues. She also makes routine visits to nursing homes to see how residents are treated, if there are odors, if residents have access to activities, if the food matches the menu, and other observations. She even attends resident council meetings.
"Now, as we add more people, it’s going to add more penetration into the community and let people know there's a resource to help" Katsarelas said.
"We don’t want to be enemies with a facility, but we aren’t their best friends," she added. "We work for a solution. We serve as a resource. Our client is the resident."
Katie Wendel, AAA 1-B's director of planning and advocacy, helped secure the grant and is advocating for the state to increase its budget.
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AAA 1-B and AARP Michigan unsuccessfully advocated for an additional $3 million for ombudsmen in the state budget for 2024, but Wendel said they'll try again next year.
"In fairness to the legislature, we got started kind of late," Wendel said. "We were getting organized just as they were getting going."
As for the three additional ombudsmen in 1-B, Wendel aims to have officials hired and trained in January. The goal is to reduce the ratio to 1:2,000 in three of the six counties, and still decrease the ratio in the other counties. Wendel also said the plan is for one of the ombudsmen to focus on adult foster care systems and homes for the aged.
"The grant will provide some immediate relief and showcase the potential of the program."
— Contact reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Much-needed grant will put more advocates in local nursing homes
