Operation EM-Packs

A few weeks ago, I was working in my office when one of our Ombudsman staff came and asked if I had a few minutes to meet. She sat beside me and asked if we have funds dedicated to helping the people we serve when they have emergency needs. I asked for more details and found myself so moved by the story she shared that I immediately authorized some agency funds and, in fact, added to them from my own wallet.

An elderly female resident of a facility in another county went through a series of “dumps,” meaning she was moved from facility to facility with little notice, care, or planning. Unfortunately, the inappropriate transfer, eviction, or dumping of residents from long-term care facilities is all too common. It can happen due to room/bed shortages, adjustments to insurance, lack of funds, changes in conditions, etc. This woman ended up, after several moves, in a facility in one of the counties we serve without any possessions but the clothes on her back and no clear understanding of how this happened.

Many residents don’t know they have the right to appeal the process, which makes this preventable occurrence even more tragic. If there is no appeal, there is no paper trail, making it incredibly hard to track. Without an appeal, too many older and dependent adults in need of long-term facility levels of care are left with unsafe living conditions or lower levels of care than they need. The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care shared with the AARP that while a confirmed number of discharges is unknown, long-term care facility discharges have been the most common complaint received by long-term care Ombudsman programs for the last nine years.

That day, when our Ombudsman staff member came to my office and shared this story, I knew we needed to take more action. I asked other team members if they had experienced similar situations, and the overwhelming response was that this is a common issue across our service areas. Through Empowered Aging’s advocacy work for our Ombudsman Programs and Elder Justice Program, we help people in need. Sometimes, the cases are severe and require several steps to resolve. Other times, we respond by letting the people we serve know that we care and that they do matter.

Our dedicated team has been brainstorming on what else we can do to answer this need, and as a result, we are launching a campaign, Operation EM-Packs. This fundraiser will help us purchase products to stock all our service locations with essential emergency items for those in need, such as socks, pajamas, blankets, towels, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and more. With the generous gifts from our community, the Empowered Aging team will gather items that provide comfort, care, and the ability to support basic daily needs. Once we compile them, we will work to distribute these care packs when they are most needed – when someone must urgently leave an unsafe living space, suffers a series of dumps that leaves them with no possessions, or when someone just needs to know that people care.

— Susannah Meyer, Executive Director, Empowered Aging

Just because we age and slow down or have trouble remembering the people we’ve been touched by or the places we’ve seen doesn’t mean we haven’t lived a full life and deserve comfort and care. And it certainly doesn’t mean we should lose our ability to age with dignity and respect, with our rights fully intact. Unfortunately, abuse and neglect happen to vulnerable older adults every day. Operation EM-Packs is another way our team is working to fight these challenges that the elders in our community face by ensuring they have the basic necessities they need to thrive, especially when they may not have the family or friends to rally around them.

“One of our clients quickly left home to escape an abusive situation. Unfortunately, she left without personal belongings, including clothing, shoes, and even her ID. Our Elder Justice program was able to put her in touch with legal assistance, and after a month of being stranded without her personal belongings or hygiene items, she was transported back home to collect what she needed. Even though this client could obtain her personal items, she should never have gone a month, let alone a day, without daily necessities.”

“One of the residents we serve has advanced dementia and has lived at a local memory care facility for over two years. Unfortunately, this person’s family noticed she was wearing clothing that wasn’t hers. The facility says that residents exchange clothing but at the same time says that the resident in question has no clothing and demands that the family needs to buy more.”

“One of the facilities we serve houses a number of residents who were formerly homeless and living on the streets; however, recently, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program has identified many issues related to the care and well-being of the residents. Several residents have reported the loss and/or theft of personal property. When asked, the staff told the Ombudsman that the residents typically arrive with nothing, so the essentials given to them are donated goods – clothing, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Some residents also have a small income, and the staff provides them with “pocket money.” Our Ombudsman program has been working with the facility to take action and implement inventories for each resident, log each resident’s pocket money, and agree that regardless of how their personal belongings were acquired, they are of meaning to each resident. In addition, the facility is redistributing its theft and loss policy to all residents to prevent further victimization.”