Long-Term Care Help
The resources below will help you answer the following questions:
• When is the right time for long-term care?
• How to choose a long-term care home.
• How to find a long-term care home that is on the journey.
Pioneer Network's Community Outreach Tool Kit
We are all aging. Aging is a privilege! As we age, we might need to seek help in our day to day lives. The issues that we face now regarding the delivery of quality long-term care for elders and others in nursing homes and other care settings will continue to grow. But as you already know, we don't have to accept things as they are. Thanks to you and many others, change is already underway in our nation.
Many long-term care settings have changed. More need to. Informed consumers will play an important role in driving demand at the community-level.
Be an Ambassador for Change in Your Community!
Inform more people about efforts to promote person-directed living and give them the tools they need to be a more knowledgeable consumer.
Transform conventional thinking and expectations for care settings, which in turn will promote transformation throughout the care-continuum.
Inspire more people to join with us to be part of the change - to advocate for care settings that embrace Pioneer values where an individual's dignity and choice are preserved; where their voices, and those of their caregivers, are heard and respected.
To download the Pioneer Network Community Outreach toolkit, visit Pioneer Network - Inform Transform Inspire.
A Webinar for Consumers
Live a Good Life Wherever You Call Home
Sponsored by AARP and Pioneer Network
We all treasure our lifestyle choices and personal interests. Maintaining our choices throughout our lifetime takes some planning. If you or a loved one needs long-term care now - or think you will in the future - you should still be able to count on living a good life wherever you call home.
This free webinar offers consumers exciting information about how long-term care is changing, and how you can find and advocate for care that focuses on your, or your loved one's individual interests and needs. Get practical tips on how to assess whether potential care settings such as assisted living residences or nursing homes will help you live the life you want. Whether you're helping a loved one now or planning for the future, this webinar offers insights to change the way you look at long-term care.
This webinar was originally offered on February 24, 2011. Special thanks to AARP for sharing the link.
To view the webinar, visit AARP/Pioneer Network - Live a Good Life.
Key Questions
Pioneer Network is working to create person-directed care in all long-term care settings including nursing homes, assisted living and a wide variety of residential, home and community based care settings. Person-directed care allows the elder to make their own choices, continue familiar routines and maintain their dignity after moving into the new setting - or in other words, be at home wherever home may be.
A Consumer's Guide to Finding a Nursing Home on the Culture Change Journey
To find those key questions to gauge whether a community is practicing person-directed care, visit Pioneer Network - Key Questions.
Missouri Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
The Missouri Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is comprised of volunteers whose main responsibility is to help residents in long-term care maintain or improve their quality of life by helping ensure their rights are not violated.
The ombudsman has many different roles that may be applicable:
Facilitator: Helps people formulate or simplify problems and complaints.
Educator: Provides learning materials and educational brochures to staff, families, residents and the community at large, thus encouraging self-help and problem solving.
Broker: Makes referrals and monitors the referral to see that the problem is solved.
Intermediary: Promotes communication among those involved in a problem concerning long-term care.
Collaborator: Works with residents and staff toward mutually beneficial solutions.
Mediator: Brings together all pertinent individuals to arrive at an agreement or a compromise.
Advocate: Act on behalf of someone else.
Investigator: Gathers pertinent information from many sources. It is particularly important to evaluate the facts impartially.
Problem solvers: Brings about resolutions to problems or complaints concerning various aspects of long-term care.
Negotiator: Arranges for differing parties to discuss their issues and provides an objective third party viewpoint.
The Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) houses the Missouri Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. The office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO) is the highest reporting authority for the state and local ombudsman programs. The state Long-Term Care Ombudsman coordinates the activities between the DHSS, the Regional Ombudsmen and the local ombudsmen volunteers. The state Long-Term Care Ombudsman works with advocacy groups, associations, and other interested agencies for the purpose of promoting the ombudsman program.
For more information, visit the Missouri Ombudsman Program.
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (formerly NCCNHR)The Consumer Voice is the leading national voice representing consumers in issues related to long-term care, helping to ensure that consumers are empowered to advocate for themselves. They are a primary source of information and tools for consumers, families, caregivers, advocates and ombudsmen to help ensure quality care for the individual.
To carry out their mission, they:
Advocate for public policies that support quality care and quality of life responsive to consumers’ needs in all long-term care settings,
Empower and educate consumers and families with the knowledge and tools they need to advocate for themselves,
Train and support individuals and groups that empower and advocate for consumers of long-term care, and
Promote the critical role of direct-care workers and best practices in quality-care delivery.
To learn more, visit the Consumer Voice.
Advancing Excellence
The Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign is a major initiative of the Advancing Excellence in Long Term Care Collaborative assisting all stakeholders of long term care.
The Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign was founded in 2006 by an unprecedented coalition of 28 organizations representing groups ranging from nursing home providers to quality improvement experts to government agencies. The Campaign now includes more than 62% of the nation’s nursing homes and we have Local Area Networks for Excellence (LANEs) in every state and DC. The Campaign helps nursing homes improve the quality of care and quality of life for the more than 1.5 million residents of America’s nursing homes by establishing and supporting the infrastructure of LANEs, strengthening the workforce, and improving clinical and organizational outcomes.
Sign up to receive free, practical and evidence-based resources to support quality improvement efforts in America’s nursing homes by visiting Advancing Excellence.