The local long-term care ombudsman
TODO — Your region's Long-Term Care Ombudsman office. This page needs real, primary-sourced content specific to your state and metro. Do not copy another site's content here. Research and write:
- Which ombudsman region/office covers each county you serve, and its phone number and address.
- That the ombudsman is free, independent, and acts only with resident consent.
- Whether your coverage area spans more than one ombudsman region (common when a metro straddles a state's administrative boundaries).
Reporting abuse or neglect
TODO — Your state's Adult Protective Services structure. This page needs real, primary-sourced content specific to your state and metro. Do not copy another site's content here. Research and write:
- Whether APS is a single statewide hotline or county-administered (structure varies a lot by state).
- The specific phone number(s) for each county you cover, plus any statewide fallback line.
- The state health department's facility complaint line (separate from APS).
Which one to call
The long-term care ombudsman and the state health regulator do different jobs, and using one does not preclude the other. The ombudsman advocates for a resident and can attend a care conference with you, but does not license, inspect or fine a facility. The state regulator investigates regulatory complaints and can take enforcement action, but is not an advocate for an individual resident's preferences the way an ombudsman is.
The consent rule
An ombudsman acts only with the consent of the resident or their legal representative. This surprises adult children. If a parent has capacity and does not want a complaint pursued, that decision stands, even where family disagrees with it.
