Nursing home residents rally for their rights

This past week residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities celebrated Residents’ Rights Week, designated by the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.

Jill Hacker, a resident at Richmond Beach Rehabilitation and Special Care Center in Shoreline, who suffers from advanced stages of multiplesclerosis, is on the state-wide board of directors for the Residents’ Councils of Washington.

“The reason we have Residents’ Rights Week is as a celebration of the fact that people in long-term care aren’t just locked away and forgotten about. They are still viable human beings and they do have needs and wants, and to make it possible to have their needs recognized,” Hacker said.

Hacker also serves on the Residents’ Council at Richmond Beach Rehabilitation Center and says all nursing homes and residential care facilities should have a Residents’ Council.

“We meet weekly to discuss any problems anybody is having, and if there is a problem with nursing, housekeeping and maintenance, we are responded to by the heads of those departments,” she said.

Hacker said every nursing home should also have an ombudsman, a volunteer who comes into the nursing home and listens to both sides – the resident and the administration – and then helps resolve conflicts.

Such conflicts could range from “being able to put your own mementos on the walls, to being able to wear your own clothes, not hospital gowns they put you in at night,” she said.

“More serious issues could involve people coming into your room and either stealing your things or making menacing motions toward you. Residents have the right to be undisturbed in their rooms, since there’s no locks on the doors because they couldn’t get to you if there were some kind of emergency,” Hacker said.

Richmond Beach Rehabilitation and Specialty Care celebrated Residents’ Rights Week with a kick-off pep rally Oct. 6. and Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, was the guest speaker at the event.