Concern about guaranteeing the rights of older adults has become present, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts point out that older adults should know that they have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
“All individuals have rights that must be respected and protected,” said Blanca Castro, California’s long-term care advocate, at a press conference organized by Ethnic Media Services in which experts gathered to discuss the issues facing nursing home residents.
And it is that in California there are at least 300,000 older adults in nursing homes who are sometimes unaware or unaware that they have the right to receive dignified treatment.
“Just by entering a long-term care facility, you are still the same person you were before you entered. You still have a name, you still have a family, you still matter,” Castro said.
He also noted that "the Ombudsman's office is not a police agency, but it does ensure that the rights of people in nursing homes and long-term care residences are protected."
He also pointed out that the Ombudsman is responsible for being the voice of the elderly and those in care homes.
Castro said that last year he received more than 40,000 complaints, which ranged from being discharged in an inappropriate manner to not being given medication.
For his part, Hagar Dickman, a lawyer for California Justice in Aging, noted that the Nursing Home Reform Act allows for regulation of nursing homes and that facilities are required to provide the highest level of care they can offer.
Dickman also stressed the importance of residents and their families knowing their rights.
"Residents have the right to be free from physical restraints unless they are used to treat medical conditions or symptoms, and consent from the resident or a family member is required," she said.
Issues with staff affect residents
Anna Chodos, a geriatrics professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), said that since the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in diseases, the number of nurses has decreased.
Jerry Kirouac, an advocate for the Long-Term Care Agency in Northern California, said that nursing home staff are sometimes apathetic and that "they go for the paycheck and if it's low, they decide to do the bare minimum," which is why he pointed out the need for nurses and workers to be properly trained.
Kirouac was also in a veterans' residence, so some of them shared their experience and pointed out the importance of solving administrative problems, since most of the time, complaints do not reach the appropriate authorities and therefore, the problems are not solved.
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