August 12, 2024 • 18 mins
Bev Tatro, Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Director, and Melissa Wilson, Volunteer Coordinator, at the Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging discuss the Ombudsman program. Bev and Melissa explain exactly what they do and about volunteer opportunities available locally in the region.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We welcome you to the latest edition of the Area
Agency on Aging podcast Age with Us, presented by the
Ohio District five Area Agency on Aging. I'm Aaron Hines,
and we are thrilled once again this morning to have
two guests in studio. We are going to talk about
the Budsman program locally, and the director of the long
(00:25):
Term Care Budsman program is with us. That is Bev
Tatro Bev. Good morning and thank you for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
All right, now, how long have you been in your role?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I've been in my role as the director of the
am Budsman program for just a little over twelve years. However,
I have worked in different programs with the Area Agency
for thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Okay, all right, terrific. Now you have brought somebody with you,
and this is Melissa Wilson who's right in front of me,
who is the volunteer coordinator for the program. Good morning,
and thank you for being here.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Good mornin. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
How long have you been in your current role?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Nineteen years?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, all right, so you both are I can call
you experts, right, I have to be able to right
all right, All right, Well, I think we begin because
I know I've heard about the program, but many people
may not know. They may have heard onmbudsmen and they
really don't know what that is all about. Bev. Can
(01:25):
we start there? Can you explain what this program does,
what you guys kind of do for people on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Sure, just to make it easier on Budsman, you know,
the short explanation of what an onmbudsman is is an advocate.
So we advocate for residents in nursing homes, in assisted
living facilities, and we also have a few smaller group
homes that we can work with residents. And if consumers
(01:54):
are getting their services in their home long term care services,
then we can help them as well. And when I
say help and advocate, we mean that if they've got
a problem or a concern with their care that they
have not been able to rectify you with maybe their
own follow up with the facility or with the home
(02:15):
care provider, then that's when we can come in and
try to help find a solution to those issues.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I'm glad you brought up because someone may here advocate
in how you help it and how does it work
in terms of who do you go in and exactly
talk with Could you explain that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Sure? As advocates for residents and consumers of long term care,
our consumers drive the bus, if you want to call
it that way. We talk with them always first, and
if they don't have capacity and some don't of course,
to really understand our role and how we can help,
(02:52):
even be able to explain what the issues are. Then
if they have a appointed representative, then we take our
guidance from them, But once we hear about what the
issues are and explain what we can do to try
to help them, then we primarily work with the administrative
staff at a facility or the director of a home
(03:14):
care agency to explain what the issues are and then
try to work with them to find resolutions to the problems.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You are hearing this morning from the Ohio District five
Area Agency on aging. As we have two guests in studio.
As you just heard the voice right there of Bev Tatrow,
who is the Long Term Care Budsman program director, Melissa
Wilson in front of me, the volunteer coordinator for the program.
We're going to get to what all she does in
a moment, but I want to continue next with in
(03:43):
the state of Ohio in terms of the long Care
Budsman program. BEV, could you share with us a little
bit more from the statewide perspective, Mate, sure.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The Office of the State Long Term Care on Budsman
is housed within the Ohio Department of Aging, and there
are twelve regional programs for the on Budsman that cover
all eighty eight counties in Ohio. Our region is Region
five and we cover the same counties that the Area
Agency does, which is Ashland, Crawford, Huron, Knox, Marion, Morrow, Richland,
(04:19):
Seneca and Wyandot counties. We have about fifty nursing homes
in that nine county area. We have thirty nine assisted
living facilities and just seven of the smaller group homes
that we have authority in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
All right, so I know you guys cover you know,
a good size area here in north central Ohio. We're
going to turn our attention now. Well, we mentioned volunteer
and so we're going to learn a little bit more
about how that works. You mentioned nineteen years in the
rural Melissa Wilson walk us through kind of from your side,
you know, coordinating volunteers and all these kind of things.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So the coordination part is mean recruiting, training, and managing
the volunteers. So recruiting just anywhere I can find space
or time or words to say to people. And then
of course training They go through initial training about sixteen
hours of classroom and then out in the field with
a staff person until they get to be on their
(05:16):
own where it's on their schedule morning and evening, afternoon, weekends,
they can visit whenever they choose.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Now, when it comes to a volunteer, how does it work?
You mentioned you know so much training and things like that,
but you know, do they is it? Is it once
a week? Is it once a month? How does it work?
Does it depend on need or how often they're available?
Walk us through that.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So it depends mostly on what their schedule is. So
some go twice a month, some go every week, some
go once a month. It just depends on what their
schedule allows and what they choose to do. There are
times though, when we say, hey, next time you're out,
or hey, is there any chids that maybe you could
go out an extra time just to check on, you know,
mister Smith and make sure he got his walker, or
you know, Sally got her dentures, whatever the case might be.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Now, in terms of a volunteer, is that training done
in Ontario at Hawkins Corner or can it? Is it
done online? How does it work?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It's an in person at Hawkins Corner almost every time.
There are rare occasions when I might do it elsewhere
to be closer to the individual, but it's most of
the time done at the agency.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
You're hearing again this morning from Melissa Wilson, who's the
volunteer coordinator for the long term Imbudsman program. We're talking
with the Ohio District five Area Agency on aging their
podcast on iHeartRadio. Age with us. Now, in terms of training,
walk us through you know what kind of training do
they have? You met, You gave us a couple examples,
but walk us through kind of the training that they get.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So they get a lot of information during the initial
training for anything that could happen while they're in the home.
But mostly volunteers are just visiting and helping with follow
up on cases. If they get a complaint, then they
bring that back to us. The training is to kind
of cover all the bases of things they might encounter
when they're visiting in a particular situation.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And how does it work to become a volunteer. Can
they go online? Can they call? Can they stop in
or yes? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, all of the above,
so they could stop into Hawkins Corner. And how long
does the process actually take to say hey, I want
to be a volunteer before you're actually as you would say,
out in the field.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So the process there are three Usually the sixteen hours
of classroom time are divide it up into three days
and that's usually over like maybe a two week period
usally about five hours for each of those days, and
then they do three in person visits with a staff
on bosman, So that could take another two or three weeks,
depending on the staff on bos of schedule and their schedule,
the volunteer schedule.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
In terms of volunteers, are you always in need?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Pretty much? Yes?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Okay, all right, good to know, and we'll make sure
we throw out some information in terms of a telephone number.
Let's go there next. If somebody wants to be a volunteer,
they know where it's at, of course, a Hawkins Corner
located in Ontario on Park Avenue West. But what's a
telephone number they could call?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I have six seven two four seven six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
All right, say that for us one more time.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Five six seven two four seven six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
All right. You're hearing from Melissa Wilson this morning, long
term Care Budsman program. She is the volunteer coordinator. We're
going to go back to the program director, Bevett, who
is with us, Bevlo, let's next talk about being in
Budsman representative. I know what you talked earlier about, you know,
maybe in home nursing homes, you know, working with health agencies.
(08:31):
Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, the majority of our work is is definitely within
nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Anyone can call us
if they have a problem. It can be the resident,
it can be you know, family member, friend. We get
calls from doctors' offices, hospital personnel, so anyone can call us,
and you know, we will take information about the concern
(08:55):
and then the representative will go out to first visit
the concerns, figure out if it's that person that the
consumer or a representative that they should be working with,
to figure out what they want us to do to
address the issue, and then we start in earnest to
work with the care provider to address the issue. It
(09:20):
could be anything aarin from they're not getting mom up
every day and getting addressed to hygiene care needs not
being met, not getting the right diet that's ordered for them,
or what their preference is a lot of times some
of our concerns from residents are that, you know, I
(09:41):
want this, this is how I want my care, and
the facility is doing something that fits their needs better
and not their residence needs. And so we really do
try to advocate to really look at what we call
person centered care. That means, let's look at what the
resident wants and how can we try to make sure that,
(10:02):
you know, if they want to get up at nine am,
they're getting up at nine am, not six am, because
it's easier for the you know, the home.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We are visiting this morning and learning about the long
term care Budsman program with the Ohio District five Area
Agency on Aging the program director. Right, they're hearing from
her Bev Tatro and again remember the Ohio District five
representing Ashland, Crawford, Knox, Huron, Marion, Richland, Morris, Seneca in
(10:31):
Windatt counties. Beb I thought it was an interesting point, somebody,
may you know, have a question, they don't know, you know,
call and ask, right, I would assume that I've interviewed
so many people from the Area Agency and people say,
there may be different programs. I don't know if I
could get this help or that help. You don't know
until you ask. And if they have a question in
terms of your program, they got to ask, right.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Absolutely, we really encourage them to do that because sometimes
we can just provide information and answer questions that then
doesn't really require us to open a case go out
and try to, you know, work with a consumer and
the provider to solve something. They just may need some
information about well, what's normal in this situation? What can
(11:16):
I ask for? And then we try to empower them
with information to address things themselves. Like I said, anyone
can call us. They can call the Area Agency's eight
hundred number, which is one eight hundred eight six zero
five seven ninety nine. And if it's in regard to
a care concerned or question about long term care in
(11:37):
a facility, then they should ask for an onbutsman and
they'll get directed to one of us.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, and basically then you'll be in contact, reach out
from that point, but to get the ball roll and
they can go ahead and call the number you just gave.
Absolutely all right, very important from the Ohio District five
Area Agency on Aging again in their region here of
Region five covering local course based in Ontario Park Avenue
(12:03):
West and BEV Tatro Melissa Wilson with the long Term
Care Onmbudsman program with us in studio here today. So
Bev you brought up earlier that you know they can
reach out to a representative and I just you know, looking,
you guys have a lot of great information provided to
me and I want you to continue sharing that. You
know there's resources, whether it's benefits, it's insurance, whatever it
(12:23):
is they reach out to you guys, you really have
a lot you can provide them with.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
We really can. We have quite a bit of knowledge
in regard to just care and services of long term care.
And if it's not something that we know about, or
they have a question that we can't answer, then we
can also refer them to other programs and agencies that
might be more appropriate, whether that's you know, an insurance question,
(12:49):
medicare question. Yes, some things we can answer for them
and explain other things we might need to refer them
to another entity that has more information. But we're happy
to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Now, I have a question. When somebody has a concern,
does it have to be maybe you know, the daughter
or the son of somebody who all can call it
to say, hey, I got a question, I got a concern.
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Anybody can call? However, as advocates for residents, that's where
we start. We always have to then go right to
the resident and find out, you know, what they want
if they have the same concerns as those presented to
us from whoever has made that referral. And the other
thing is we do not move forward to address something
(13:36):
and release the name of a consumer unless they give
us specific consent to allow us to do that. And
if they don't want to give us consent, that's okay too.
Depending upon the issue, we may be able to address
it just on behalf of all consumers or all residents.
If it's something broad enough that could affect many people,
(13:57):
like their food is cold when they get it, that's
probably not just them that that's happening too. And if
they say, I don't really want you to tell them
it's me that's complaining about that we say, okay, that's fine,
we won't and we don't. We just make sure that
it's something that we can address with the provider, and
(14:17):
sometimes we just have to then talk with more residents
in that facility and see what the scope of the
concern is, is it broad or is it narrow, and
then address it with the facility without using anybody's name.
There are times when the concern is so specific to
that consumer that if they don't give us consent, there's
(14:39):
not a whole lot we can do. And we explain
that very clearly to them so that they understand what
we can and cannot do without consent.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Conversation today with the Ohio District five Area Agency on
Aging in the Long Term Care Imbudsman program, you're hearing
again right there from Bev Tatro, who's the program director,
and Melissa Wilson, who's the volunteer coordinator, is with us
as well. Before I let you go, I wanted to
bring this up, Bev, in terms of somebody who reaches
out to you guys. I feeling I can answer this question,
(15:11):
but I'll go ahead and ask it. I'm sure each
you know specific question and you guys look into it.
There's not a timeframe. I'm sure you know others take
longer than others.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
H got it. That's true. What I can say is
that regardless of what the issue is and how we
address it, we do follow up to make sure that
the resolution is in place and holding before we kind
of back out of the situation. But it depends on
many things, but including what the issue is, what kind
(15:42):
of cooperation we're getting from the provider of the service,
and how long we feel like we need to, you know,
check back in to make sure that things are okay.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Bev Tatro Melissa Wilson with the Long Term Care I'mbudsman
program are with us today on iHeartRadio and they're podcast
age with us. Back to Melissa Wilson before we wrap
it up. Do we miss anything that you want to
share in terms of the volunteer program.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yes, we love our volunteers. Without them, we could reach
so few people. They get the nice connections with individuals
in their home that they visit. Where we're not in
each home as often as the volunteers are. They make
that good connection the residents trust to share information with them.
Trust it, They're going to hold that in confidence as
they tell them to and then they're able to share
(16:30):
that information with us and we could resolve situations through
and with the volunteers.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Depending on time of the year, does it matter, do
you need more volunteers than summer, spring, winter, fall or not? Necessarily?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I don't think there are seasons for when people have needs,
so definitely we could use volunteers anytime of the year.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, terrific. Could you throw out the information again phone
number if somebody wants to volunteer, sure.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
The phone number is five sixty seven two four seven
six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right again, you're hearing there from Melissa Wilson, volunteer
coordinator with the Long Term Care Imbudsman program. Back to
the program director, Bev ch Trow. Anything you want to
leave the listeners with that we've missed this morning, or
just overall, circle back to you one more.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Time again, just to make sure people call us. That's
usually the easiest, best and quickest way to get to
us and share their information and then we will go
from there and follow you know, our protocols to make
sure we include the resident and try to do our
(17:38):
best to help negotiate and find resolutions to issues.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Bev. If you could if somebody has a concern and issue,
what's the number that they can call.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Sure, they can call one eight hundred eight six zero
five seven ninety nine, which is the eight hundred number
for the Area Agency on Aging at Hawkins Corner and
that's where our offices are and ask to speak with
a no budsman all right.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Located in Ontario on Park Avenue West, Hawkins Corner, the
Ohio District five Area Agency on Aging covering Ashland, Crawford, Huron, Knox, Marion, Marril, Richland,
Seneca and Wine Dot counties. It's been great to learn
very important information about the long term care Imbudsman program
with the program director, Bev Tetrow and the volunteer coordinator
(18:26):
for the program, Melissa Wilson. It was great to meet
both of you and learn about the program. Thanks so
much for being with us today.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Well, thank you, thank you very much.
We welcome you to the latest edition of the Area
Agency on Aging podcast Age with Us, presented by the
Ohio District five Area Agency on Aging. I'm Aaron Hines,
and we are thrilled once again this morning to have
two guests in studio. We are going to talk about
the Budsman program locally, and the director of the long
(00:25):
Term Care Budsman program is with us. That is Bev
Tatro Bev. Good morning and thank you for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
All right, now, how long have you been in your role?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I've been in my role as the director of the
am Budsman program for just a little over twelve years. However,
I have worked in different programs with the Area Agency
for thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Okay, all right, terrific. Now you have brought somebody with you,
and this is Melissa Wilson who's right in front of me,
who is the volunteer coordinator for the program. Good morning,
and thank you for being here.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Good mornin. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
How long have you been in your current role?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Nineteen years?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, all right, so you both are I can call
you experts, right, I have to be able to right
all right, All right, Well, I think we begin because
I know I've heard about the program, but many people
may not know. They may have heard onmbudsmen and they
really don't know what that is all about. Bev. Can
(01:25):
we start there? Can you explain what this program does,
what you guys kind of do for people on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Sure, just to make it easier on Budsman, you know,
the short explanation of what an onmbudsman is is an advocate.
So we advocate for residents in nursing homes, in assisted
living facilities, and we also have a few smaller group
homes that we can work with residents. And if consumers
(01:54):
are getting their services in their home long term care services,
then we can help them as well. And when I
say help and advocate, we mean that if they've got
a problem or a concern with their care that they
have not been able to rectify you with maybe their
own follow up with the facility or with the home
(02:15):
care provider, then that's when we can come in and
try to help find a solution to those issues.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I'm glad you brought up because someone may here advocate
in how you help it and how does it work
in terms of who do you go in and exactly
talk with Could you explain that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Sure? As advocates for residents and consumers of long term care,
our consumers drive the bus, if you want to call
it that way. We talk with them always first, and
if they don't have capacity and some don't of course,
to really understand our role and how we can help,
(02:52):
even be able to explain what the issues are. Then
if they have a appointed representative, then we take our
guidance from them, But once we hear about what the
issues are and explain what we can do to try
to help them, then we primarily work with the administrative
staff at a facility or the director of a home
(03:14):
care agency to explain what the issues are and then
try to work with them to find resolutions to the problems.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You are hearing this morning from the Ohio District five
Area Agency on aging. As we have two guests in studio.
As you just heard the voice right there of Bev Tatrow,
who is the Long Term Care Budsman program director, Melissa
Wilson in front of me, the volunteer coordinator for the program.
We're going to get to what all she does in
a moment, but I want to continue next with in
(03:43):
the state of Ohio in terms of the long Care
Budsman program. BEV, could you share with us a little
bit more from the statewide perspective, Mate, sure.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The Office of the State Long Term Care on Budsman
is housed within the Ohio Department of Aging, and there
are twelve regional programs for the on Budsman that cover
all eighty eight counties in Ohio. Our region is Region
five and we cover the same counties that the Area
Agency does, which is Ashland, Crawford, Huron, Knox, Marion, Morrow, Richland,
(04:19):
Seneca and Wyandot counties. We have about fifty nursing homes
in that nine county area. We have thirty nine assisted
living facilities and just seven of the smaller group homes
that we have authority in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
All right, so I know you guys cover you know,
a good size area here in north central Ohio. We're
going to turn our attention now. Well, we mentioned volunteer
and so we're going to learn a little bit more
about how that works. You mentioned nineteen years in the
rural Melissa Wilson walk us through kind of from your side,
you know, coordinating volunteers and all these kind of things.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So the coordination part is mean recruiting, training, and managing
the volunteers. So recruiting just anywhere I can find space
or time or words to say to people. And then
of course training They go through initial training about sixteen
hours of classroom and then out in the field with
a staff person until they get to be on their
(05:16):
own where it's on their schedule morning and evening, afternoon, weekends,
they can visit whenever they choose.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Now, when it comes to a volunteer, how does it work?
You mentioned you know so much training and things like that,
but you know, do they is it? Is it once
a week? Is it once a month? How does it work?
Does it depend on need or how often they're available?
Walk us through that.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So it depends mostly on what their schedule is. So
some go twice a month, some go every week, some
go once a month. It just depends on what their
schedule allows and what they choose to do. There are
times though, when we say, hey, next time you're out,
or hey, is there any chids that maybe you could
go out an extra time just to check on, you know,
mister Smith and make sure he got his walker, or
you know, Sally got her dentures, whatever the case might be.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Now, in terms of a volunteer, is that training done
in Ontario at Hawkins Corner or can it? Is it
done online? How does it work?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It's an in person at Hawkins Corner almost every time.
There are rare occasions when I might do it elsewhere
to be closer to the individual, but it's most of
the time done at the agency.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
You're hearing again this morning from Melissa Wilson, who's the
volunteer coordinator for the long term Imbudsman program. We're talking
with the Ohio District five Area Agency on aging their
podcast on iHeartRadio. Age with us. Now, in terms of training,
walk us through you know what kind of training do
they have? You met, You gave us a couple examples,
but walk us through kind of the training that they get.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So they get a lot of information during the initial
training for anything that could happen while they're in the home.
But mostly volunteers are just visiting and helping with follow
up on cases. If they get a complaint, then they
bring that back to us. The training is to kind
of cover all the bases of things they might encounter
when they're visiting in a particular situation.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And how does it work to become a volunteer. Can
they go online? Can they call? Can they stop in
or yes? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, all of the above,
so they could stop into Hawkins Corner. And how long
does the process actually take to say hey, I want
to be a volunteer before you're actually as you would say,
out in the field.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So the process there are three Usually the sixteen hours
of classroom time are divide it up into three days
and that's usually over like maybe a two week period
usally about five hours for each of those days, and
then they do three in person visits with a staff
on bosman, So that could take another two or three weeks,
depending on the staff on bos of schedule and their schedule,
the volunteer schedule.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
In terms of volunteers, are you always in need?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Pretty much? Yes?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Okay, all right, good to know, and we'll make sure
we throw out some information in terms of a telephone number.
Let's go there next. If somebody wants to be a volunteer,
they know where it's at, of course, a Hawkins Corner
located in Ontario on Park Avenue West. But what's a
telephone number they could call?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I have six seven two four seven six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
All right, say that for us one more time.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Five six seven two four seven six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
All right. You're hearing from Melissa Wilson this morning, long
term Care Budsman program. She is the volunteer coordinator. We're
going to go back to the program director, Bevett, who
is with us, Bevlo, let's next talk about being in
Budsman representative. I know what you talked earlier about, you know,
maybe in home nursing homes, you know, working with health agencies.
(08:31):
Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, the majority of our work is is definitely within
nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Anyone can call us
if they have a problem. It can be the resident,
it can be you know, family member, friend. We get
calls from doctors' offices, hospital personnel, so anyone can call us,
and you know, we will take information about the concern
(08:55):
and then the representative will go out to first visit
the concerns, figure out if it's that person that the
consumer or a representative that they should be working with,
to figure out what they want us to do to
address the issue, and then we start in earnest to
work with the care provider to address the issue. It
(09:20):
could be anything aarin from they're not getting mom up
every day and getting addressed to hygiene care needs not
being met, not getting the right diet that's ordered for them,
or what their preference is a lot of times some
of our concerns from residents are that, you know, I
(09:41):
want this, this is how I want my care, and
the facility is doing something that fits their needs better
and not their residence needs. And so we really do
try to advocate to really look at what we call
person centered care. That means, let's look at what the
resident wants and how can we try to make sure that,
(10:02):
you know, if they want to get up at nine am,
they're getting up at nine am, not six am, because
it's easier for the you know, the home.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We are visiting this morning and learning about the long
term care Budsman program with the Ohio District five Area
Agency on Aging the program director. Right, they're hearing from
her Bev Tatro and again remember the Ohio District five
representing Ashland, Crawford, Knox, Huron, Marion, Richland, Morris, Seneca in
(10:31):
Windatt counties. Beb I thought it was an interesting point, somebody,
may you know, have a question, they don't know, you know,
call and ask, right, I would assume that I've interviewed
so many people from the Area Agency and people say,
there may be different programs. I don't know if I
could get this help or that help. You don't know
until you ask. And if they have a question in
terms of your program, they got to ask, right.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Absolutely, we really encourage them to do that because sometimes
we can just provide information and answer questions that then
doesn't really require us to open a case go out
and try to, you know, work with a consumer and
the provider to solve something. They just may need some
information about well, what's normal in this situation? What can
(11:16):
I ask for? And then we try to empower them
with information to address things themselves. Like I said, anyone
can call us. They can call the Area Agency's eight
hundred number, which is one eight hundred eight six zero
five seven ninety nine. And if it's in regard to
a care concerned or question about long term care in
(11:37):
a facility, then they should ask for an onbutsman and
they'll get directed to one of us.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, and basically then you'll be in contact, reach out
from that point, but to get the ball roll and
they can go ahead and call the number you just gave.
Absolutely all right, very important from the Ohio District five
Area Agency on Aging again in their region here of
Region five covering local course based in Ontario Park Avenue
(12:03):
West and BEV Tatro Melissa Wilson with the long Term
Care Onmbudsman program with us in studio here today. So
Bev you brought up earlier that you know they can
reach out to a representative and I just you know, looking,
you guys have a lot of great information provided to
me and I want you to continue sharing that. You
know there's resources, whether it's benefits, it's insurance, whatever it
(12:23):
is they reach out to you guys, you really have
a lot you can provide them with.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
We really can. We have quite a bit of knowledge
in regard to just care and services of long term care.
And if it's not something that we know about, or
they have a question that we can't answer, then we
can also refer them to other programs and agencies that
might be more appropriate, whether that's you know, an insurance question,
(12:49):
medicare question. Yes, some things we can answer for them
and explain other things we might need to refer them
to another entity that has more information. But we're happy
to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Now, I have a question. When somebody has a concern,
does it have to be maybe you know, the daughter
or the son of somebody who all can call it
to say, hey, I got a question, I got a concern.
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Anybody can call? However, as advocates for residents, that's where
we start. We always have to then go right to
the resident and find out, you know, what they want
if they have the same concerns as those presented to
us from whoever has made that referral. And the other
thing is we do not move forward to address something
(13:36):
and release the name of a consumer unless they give
us specific consent to allow us to do that. And
if they don't want to give us consent, that's okay too.
Depending upon the issue, we may be able to address
it just on behalf of all consumers or all residents.
If it's something broad enough that could affect many people,
(13:57):
like their food is cold when they get it, that's
probably not just them that that's happening too. And if
they say, I don't really want you to tell them
it's me that's complaining about that we say, okay, that's fine,
we won't and we don't. We just make sure that
it's something that we can address with the provider, and
(14:17):
sometimes we just have to then talk with more residents
in that facility and see what the scope of the
concern is, is it broad or is it narrow, and
then address it with the facility without using anybody's name.
There are times when the concern is so specific to
that consumer that if they don't give us consent, there's
(14:39):
not a whole lot we can do. And we explain
that very clearly to them so that they understand what
we can and cannot do without consent.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Conversation today with the Ohio District five Area Agency on
Aging in the Long Term Care Imbudsman program, you're hearing
again right there from Bev Tatro, who's the program director,
and Melissa Wilson, who's the volunteer coordinator, is with us
as well. Before I let you go, I wanted to
bring this up, Bev, in terms of somebody who reaches
out to you guys. I feeling I can answer this question,
(15:11):
but I'll go ahead and ask it. I'm sure each
you know specific question and you guys look into it.
There's not a timeframe. I'm sure you know others take
longer than others.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
H got it. That's true. What I can say is
that regardless of what the issue is and how we
address it, we do follow up to make sure that
the resolution is in place and holding before we kind
of back out of the situation. But it depends on
many things, but including what the issue is, what kind
(15:42):
of cooperation we're getting from the provider of the service,
and how long we feel like we need to, you know,
check back in to make sure that things are okay.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Bev Tatro Melissa Wilson with the Long Term Care I'mbudsman
program are with us today on iHeartRadio and they're podcast
age with us. Back to Melissa Wilson before we wrap
it up. Do we miss anything that you want to
share in terms of the volunteer program.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yes, we love our volunteers. Without them, we could reach
so few people. They get the nice connections with individuals
in their home that they visit. Where we're not in
each home as often as the volunteers are. They make
that good connection the residents trust to share information with them.
Trust it, They're going to hold that in confidence as
they tell them to and then they're able to share
(16:30):
that information with us and we could resolve situations through
and with the volunteers.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Depending on time of the year, does it matter, do
you need more volunteers than summer, spring, winter, fall or not? Necessarily?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I don't think there are seasons for when people have needs,
so definitely we could use volunteers anytime of the year.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, terrific. Could you throw out the information again phone
number if somebody wants to volunteer, sure.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
The phone number is five sixty seven two four seven
six four four zero.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right again, you're hearing there from Melissa Wilson, volunteer
coordinator with the Long Term Care Imbudsman program. Back to
the program director, Bev ch Trow. Anything you want to
leave the listeners with that we've missed this morning, or
just overall, circle back to you one more.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Time again, just to make sure people call us. That's
usually the easiest, best and quickest way to get to
us and share their information and then we will go
from there and follow you know, our protocols to make
sure we include the resident and try to do our
(17:38):
best to help negotiate and find resolutions to issues.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Bev. If you could if somebody has a concern and issue,
what's the number that they can call.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Sure, they can call one eight hundred eight six zero
five seven ninety nine, which is the eight hundred number
for the Area Agency on Aging at Hawkins Corner and
that's where our offices are and ask to speak with
a no budsman all right.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Located in Ontario on Park Avenue West, Hawkins Corner, the
Ohio District five Area Agency on Aging covering Ashland, Crawford, Huron, Knox, Marion, Marril, Richland,
Seneca and Wine Dot counties. It's been great to learn
very important information about the long term care Imbudsman program
with the program director, Bev Tetrow and the volunteer coordinator
(18:26):
for the program, Melissa Wilson. It was great to meet
both of you and learn about the program. Thanks so
much for being with us today.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Well, thank you, thank you very much.
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