Volunteers advocate for seniors

The twilight years are not always easy on folks.

Families drift apart. Retirement tightens finances. Health sometimes decays.

For some, the prospect of happiness grows even dimmer when they move into a nursing home or assisted living communities.

But Cindy Oglesby and her team of volunteers are here to help.

Under the umbrella of the Area Agency on Aging of the Permian Basin, which is funded by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, about 23 volunteers work with the agency to help improve the lives of the elderly - defined as those 60 years old and older - across 17 counties.

They're called ombudsman, and they're the boots on the ground, day in and day out, that bring a little advocacy to a group of people society sometimes leaves behind.

Oglesby, a paid ombudsman at the agency who helps coordinate the region's volunteers, said the volunteer ombudsmen work at 21 nursing homes and 17 assisted living communities from Gaines to Boren counties and down to Reeves and Terrell counties.

"The ombudsman provides encouragement," Oglesby said. "The ombudsman provides smiles. But the ombudsman also handles simple issues."

She described the ombudsmen volunteers as the "backbone of the program."

They spend their time visiting with patients at the facilities for the elderly, Oglesby said, helping the patients assert their rights as citizens.

"You know, a lot of people come here without family and without friends," elderly ombudsman volunteer Areli Cobos said one Friday afternoon as she stood amidst a bustling dining hall at an Odessa nursing home.

"There are people here who don't have anybody. We just want to reassure them that just because you're in this place doesn't mean you don't have rights."

Some children have a difficult time caring for their parents when they get old, Oglesby said, and a nursing home or assisted care facility frequently is the only option they have available.

"Sometimes its not the family's fault," she said. "Maybe they've been physically moved across the country.

And this is also not to say that all nursing home or assisted living facilities treat their residents poorly, Oglesby noted.

But she said private companies that run such places, after all, are essentially trying to turn a profit and may let some aspects of their customers' lives slide.

"We fill in the gaps," she said.
Sometimes, Oglesby continued, it's easy for the corporate types to forget their residents are customers.

Despite what many people believe about the elderly in a nursing home, their personal rights are intact, Oglesby said, and those with the mental acuity to do so are fully entitled to make their own decisions and act independently of others' wishes.

The volunteers perform many tasks, from getting the attention of a nurse to just sitting down and visiting with them.

 "Sometimes we just lend a listening ear," Oglesby said. "Sometimes we're there just to let them talk."

Many of the people in nursing homes find it difficult to get out to go shopping around town, so ombudsmen also help many of the elderly obtain the things they want.

"Now I don't mean ‘whim,'" Oglesby said. "But they are customers. It is their home. Not their motel. Not their hotel room for a few days. It's their home."

Cobos said sometimes it's the little things that can make all the difference in somebody's life.

"Just something simple," she said, still standing in the dining hall. "I've noticed they know things like, ‘Hey, we've had this (meal) three days this week. We don't notice, but they notice. This is their home."

Brad Connery, a recently certified volunteer ombudsman, said he grew up watching his father, a doctor, advocate for the rights of the elderly across the state.

He said his father's example inspired him to try to make a difference in their lives.

"You learn how to be a helper," Connery said. "You learn how to be a problem solver. You learn how to make the residents' lives better."

ONLINE POLL
How would you like to spend your twilight years?
>> On the front porch in a rocking chair with a beer and a shotgun.
>> Traveling. Anywhere. Everywhere.
>> Anywhere but in a home or hospital.
>> At work. I'm never retiring. I'd go crazy with boredom.
Vote online at www.oaoa.com.

Twilight helpers: Local volunteers spend free time advocating for elderly.

Referred to volunteers as the "backbone of the program."
Cover 17 counties, 21 nursing homes, 17 assisted living communities.
Senior Celebration: May 21.

"Maybe the resident is lonely and feeling scared and doesn't know when to call for help."
Fulfill their wishes.

Important to ascertain if the individual has enough mental faculty to make informed decisions.

Financial planning services also are offered for families struggling to make ends meet while fronting the bill of a nursing home, which Oglesby assured is no small feat.
But then there are those family members who receive their family member's - or, in other words, almost always their parent's - government checks and keep it for themselves with little or no justification.
"To me, that's theft," Oglesby said. "That's pure financial exploitation."
"I love helping facilitate the improvement of the quality of life for these residents."

But the Permian Basin's chapter of the Area Agency on Aging, which is funded by the Texas Departmetn of Aging and Disability Services

WANT TO HELP
>> The Area Agency on Aging of the Permian Basin is in dire need of volunteers. Scheduling is flexible and gas expenses are reimbursed. To learn more, call the AAAPB at 563-1061.

IF YOU GO
>> What: Annual Senior Celebration Health Fair; this year's theme is ‘Ports of Call.'
>> When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 21.
>> Where: Horseshoe Arena, 2514 Arena Trail, Midland.
>> Admission: Free.
>> Call: 563-1061.