05/26/2022
ODA Ombudsman states Long-Term Care complaints up 50 percent since pandemic started
The new interim state long-term care ombudsman identified to the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee on Wednesday that complaints from residents in long-term care facilities are 50% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Committee Chair Senator Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) inquired about the effectiveness of the Ohio Department of Aging’s (ODA) ombudsman program during the pandemic following occupational licensing testimony from Alex Lapso, ODA’s legislative liaison. Lapso confirmed that ODA is happy with the performance of the ombudsman program, but asked the agency’s new leader, Erin Pettigrew, to explain the situation in more detail.
“It has been very challenging. Our complaints are up about 50% prior to the pandemic, and it’s not going away,” Pettigrew said. “Even though vaccinations have made things better and visitation has opened up, our complaints are still quite high. Through window visits, telephone calls, greeting cards etc., we managed to reach approximately 8,000 residents and their family members in the first six months or so of the pandemic,” Pettigrew said. “We were able to get back into the buildings very quickly. Ohio was one of the first states that permitted our staff to go back in with appropriate PPE and some training on infection control, of course.”
Johnson then asked what lessons ODA has learned during the pandemic and how the state is preparing for future pandemics or other crises.
“We have learned quite a few lessons. We’ve learned that our communication needs to be very nimble, very timely, to get word out to families and friends of residents on what to expect. I think from the federal government on down, we’ve realized how important visitation is to residents. I don’t believe, at least in Ohio, that we would ever face the scenario where a resident would go without a compassionate caregiver, so that’s been a lesson learned and put into place for future pandemics,” Pettigrew said.
