Outside Help: Office on Aging Searches for Volunteers to Represent the Elderly, Infirm
By Nate Poppino, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Dec. 4–There are 12 licensed nursing homes in the eight counties comprising south-central Idaho, and 34 assisted-living facilities. The 46 homes hold a combined 1,618 residents.
And Mary Edgar visits all of them.
Edgar, head of the College of Southern Idaho Office on Aging’s ombudsman program, and assistant ombudsman Sandy Kevan are nursing-home residents’ best friends.
The office is one of six regional agencies run by the Idaho Commission on Aging, all created by the 1965 Older Americans Act. Among other things, Edgar said, it’s the agency’s job to stop by all 46 care facilities at least once every three months and make sure everything’s running fine.
Sometimes that means answering a quick question from a resident. Other times, it means alerting administrators to something they’re not doing. It’s a job they take seriously. But it’s become one, Edgar said, she’s afraid they can’t do without help.
“That’s a lot of work for two people to do in Magic Valley,” Edgar said.
That’s why when Idaho decided the various Offices on Aging could hire volunteer ombudsmen, Edgar and Kevan pounced on the idea, recruiting six to spread out the work. It was good while it lasted, Edgar said, but now her office is down to one volunteer and she’s looking for more.
The issue is about more than just covering all 46 facilities, Edgar said. The region is home to four of the state’s seven centers with behavioral health units. While mentally ill residents only make up 10 percent of the population, she said, they definitely account for much more than 10 percent of the ombudsmen’s work.
Incidents involving mentally ill residents can take far longer to resolve, especially if they have no family. And the large number of beds for behavioral-unit patients draws residents from across Idaho, Oregon and Nevada — the last of which has no nursing homes that accept such patients, Edgar said. Working with out-of-area family members can complicate a case even more.
“Their cases are more complicated,” Edgar said of patients in behavioral units. “Their needs are greater.”
And the ombudsmen would have more time to handle their cases if they had more volunteers to handle the smaller things — complaints about food, for example, or questions about nursing-home regulations. A revitalized volunteer program could also make it easier for the agency to visit homes in Hailey, the Mini-Cassia area and Gooding, all a fair drive away from Twin Falls and all, like the others, requiring a significant time investment.
“We really want to get the program out away from Twin Falls,” Edgar said.
Volunteers have to go through a criminal background check and can’t be motivated to help by a personal grudge against a facility or resident, Edgar said. But once they meet those qualifications, she said, the job is perfect for those with good people skills who would enjoy talking to residents. And the agency recommends it for retired people.
“It seems to work best if we find people who are retired, because otherwise jobs interfere,” volunteer coordinator Laurene Trostel said.
Volunteers get to be certified as assistant ombudsmen by the state. But they also get the satisfaction, Edgar said, of helping others.
“(Residents are) dealing with situations they don’t know how to handle, and they just want someone who can help them.”
Nate Poppino may be reached at 735-3237 or npoppino@magicvalley.com.
Learn more
Interested in volunteering as an ombudsman? Call 736-2122 and ask for Laurene Trostel.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
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