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State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Recognizes AARP-Ohio
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's State Long-Term Care Ombudsman yesterday presented AARP-Ohio with the program's first bi-annual Excellent Advocate award to recognize excellence on behalf of long-term care consumers. "AARP has been instrumental in recruiting more than 100 new ombudsman volunteers, who have gone through training and become certified representatives for the program," said Beverley Laubert, Ohio's state long-term care ombudsman. "With these volunteers, we can routinely visit more residents and more facilities, and educate them about residents' rights."The volunteer recruitment initiative with AARP, started in 2003, has yielded new volunteers for regional programs that typically have a difficult time with recruitment. Continued partnership with AARP will focus on recruiting more volunteers statewide, Laubert said.Ombudsman volunteers visit facilities, observe conditions, advocate for residents and resolve complaints whenever possible. In 2004, 179 new volunteers were trained and 85% were still active at the end of the year, Laubert said.The mission of the Ohio Ombudsman Program is to improve the quality of life and quality of care for consumers of long-term care including institutional, residential and community-based services. The office investigates and resolves complaints, promotes the enforcement of laws and regulations, advises and recommends policy to state and federal government agencies on long-term care issues and educates the public, consumers, providers and policy makers, Laubert said.For more information on Ohio's Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, visit: www.GoldenBuckeye.com"