Agenda - 12-16-1997 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Annual Report for 1996 1. Were all the homes in the County served by the committee? The members made 25 official visits and 3 friendly visits to the adult care homes in 1996. The members provided 1300 hours of service and traveled over 1400 miles. The members were not able to make official visits to all of the developmentally disabled homes due to not having full membership. 2. Describe educational efforts by the committee. The Committee members met with our local state senators to discuss concerns and issues'garding long term care. The meeting was held to enlighten our policy makers concerning the!needs of a long term care population as well as to let them know the Committee could be utilized as a resource of information during the 1997 General Assembly Session. 3. Describe community involvement by the committee. Some of the members were able to help educate leaders and policy makers on a regional and state level. Members Florence Soltys was initially involved in setting up a state advisory committee that is reviewing restraint use policies in NC. Member Polly Johnson has worked close with state agencies in reviewing and developing training for staff in adult care homes. 4. Describe problems encountered by the committee. The committee has served for quite some time without full membership. While there is a superb quality and dedication from the members as volunteers,the members services can only be stretched to a certain limit. The members first priority was to make visits to the adult care homes. The members would like to have been involved in some additional outreach programs in our community but not having full membership curtailed some of those possibilities. In 1995,the Division of Facily Services threatened to close a family care home after a series of state rules and laws were violated including the residents being left alone for several hours. The home was given a provisional license and almost five months to make improvements but eventually decided to"close" in April, 1996. The members felt this home was an example of the state not enforcing current laws and rules and giving too much time for a facility to stay on a provisional license. The members main concern was the welfare of the resident during this time of "improvement." 5. Was the committee involved in a grievance resolution during the year? If so,please identify what type of facility was involved and the nature of the problem. yes. In May 1996,an official visit was made to a family care home and the visiting team found the residents were left alone. The visiting team was at the facility for nearly two hours without a sign of the administrator or the supervisor in charge. The Department of Social Services was called and the Adult Home Specialist (Gwen Phillips) quickly arrived at the home.(Subsequently,the administrator arrived approximately 5 minutes before Ms.Phillips.) The visiting team expressed its alarm,concern and disappointment with the administrator. The administrator responded that she had hired a supervisor to be in charge while she was away and the sic should have never left the facility.