An Ombudsman is a state-certified, trained volunteer advocate for residents who live in long-term care facilities such as nursing facilities and residential facilities for seniors. An Ombudsman helps residents by resolving:
- Complaints
- Suspected Abuse
- Financial Problems
- Medicare/ Medi-Cal issues
- Evictions/ Transfers
The goal of the Ombudsman program is to maximize quality of care by emphasizing dignity and self-determination. One method for accomplishing this is helping older adults complete an Advance Health Care Directive. A directive allows you to choose someone to carry out your wishes regarding health care should you become unable to make those decisions yourself. An Ombudsman can assist facility residents in completing Advance Health Care Directives to ensure that individual wishes are respected.
