California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) is a phenomenal resource and fierce advocate for residents in long-term care facilities; and the Ombudsman on the ground serving them. CANHR is sponsoring / co-sponsoring five bills at the State Capitol this year aimed at remedying a fundamental unfairness or inequity in the long term care system. These proposals would improve legal protections for long term care consumers and their loved ones, and replicate lessons learned from one long term care setting into another. CANHR’s 2 ..read more

In this Newsletter: Advocacy Data Insights Technical Assistance Quality Review ODIN Corner Dates to Remember Program Reminders Local Ombudsman Spotlight- Sonoma County’s Kevin Goulding CLICK HERE TO SEE NEWSLETTER The post Long Term Care Ombudsman Spring Newsletter appeared first on Senior Advocacy Services ..read more

The National Consumer Voice is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that advocates for the rights, safety and dignity of long-term care residents in the U.S. National Consumer Voice, along with 75 other organizations including Senior Advocacy Services, sent a letter to the Adminstrator of the Center’s for Medicare and Medicaid strongly supporting a Federal nursing home minimum staffing standard. You can read the letter here: https://theconsumervoice.org/uploads/files/issues/Organizational_Sign_on_Letter_for_Staffing_NPRM.pdf The post Letter Supporting a Federal Minimum Staffing Standard appeare ..read more

Identity Theft, Scams and Elder Abuse – February Windsor Ready! Talk – YouTube Hear what Officer Charity Koch of the Windsor Police Dept and Donata Bohanec with Senior Advocacy Services have to say about identifying and protecting yourself from identity theft, scams and elder abuse. This talk was part of the Windsor Ready! Talk Series, which are free, interactive monthly talks at the Windsor Senior Recreation Center. Each month, speakers cover a different topic, ranging from being emergency ready to topics like identity theft/scams. This series is facilitated by Windsor COPE, in partnership wi ..read more

As Long Term Care Resident advocates, the Sonoma County Ombudsman aren’t always thanked for our work, so it’s a special day when we receive a heartfelt thanks! Each day, we visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities to ask residents about themselves and what might make their lives just a little bit better; sometimes we are given information that leads to abuse investigations or holding a facility accountable to meeting the needs of their residents. This was a good day when BV warmly welcomed Ombudsman Judy with a big heartfelt thanks, Judy paused and asked for permission to record and ..read more

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HICAP isn’t just for people new to Medicare. Things change over time, so it’s important to review your plan every year during Open Enrollment (Oct 15-Dec 7). When you contact HICAP, a counselor will give you one-on-one confidential guidance based on your unique needs. The post Annual Enrollment is HERE! Don’t Delay- Call HICAP Today appeared first on Senior Advocacy Services ..read more

Here is an overview of the most common Medicare card schemes, along with the opportunistic methods that scammers use to convince beneficiaries to provide their number. It’s Elder Abuse Awareness month and HICAP is a liaison for Senior Medicare Patrol which is a national non profit organization focused specifically on Medicare fraud prevention.  We are presenting related seminars in various communities in the North Bay and encourage you to attend and become educated.  See dates and locations in the Calendar section of our website menu bar. <Read More> The post Evolution of Medic ..read more

June is Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in Sonoma County, across California and the United States.  Internationally, we recognized June 15th as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.  Check out our displays of purple flags at each of the 9 Senior Centers in Sonoma County and at most of our Police Depeartments. In each community, 1 purple flage represents 1 report of abuse in that community.  In total, there were 6,979 reports of elder and dependent adult abuse in Sonoma County in 2022 with the cities and regional areas having the following number of reports: Santa Rosa ..read more

All month long unbiased HICAP counselors talk with individuals about specific issues and concerns.  These 12 issues frequently come up. Here is what to know about this plan option if you decide to have your Medicare this way instead of through Original Medicare. <read more> The post Medicare Advantage plans seem enticing, but here are 12 things to consider before signing up appeared first on Senior Advocacy Services ..read more