Butler County Senior News
April 2013
Volume 7, Number 11
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Chuck LeClaire/Butler County Senior News
The Ombudsmen program staff: Steve Slagle, Renee Hewitt, Doris Gotwald, Douglena Spencer and Susan Shultz.
Ombudsman program gives longterm care residents peace of mind By Gina Mazza For Butler County Senior News It always helps to have an advocate in your corner. Especially for residents of personal care and long-term care facilities, knowing that they have someone who they can talk to about a problem or complaint they may be experiencing with their care can be very comforting.
That’s the goal of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s Ombudsman program, administered locally through the Butler County Area Agency on Aging. “We’ve been providing ombudsman services for a very long time but a lot of people still aren’t aware that the program exists until they’re in a situation where they need it,” says Renee Hewitt, advocacy services coordinator for the
Find a local support group on page 3.
agency. There is no cost for ombudsman services. So what exactly is an ombudsman and how does the program benefit long-term care residents? A somewhat unusual word, “ombudsman” is Swedish for “citizen representative.” Ombudsmen are trained to answer questions and investigate complaints Continued on page 4
Read about the recent health fair held at the Southeast Senior Center on page 8.