Across the country, resident of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities along with family members, ombudsmen, citizen advocates, facility staff and others will honor the individual rights of long-term care residents by celebrating Residents’ Rights Month. Residents’ Rights Month is an annual event held in October to celebrate and focus an awareness of dignity, respect and the value of long-term care residents.
The theme for Residents’ Rights Month 2018 is “Speak Up: Know Your Rights and How to Use Them” – to emphasize the importance of residents being informed about their rights and being engaged partners in achieving quality care and quality of life.
The proportion of older people in Moore County is projected to increase to 34 percent in the next 20 years growing more than any other age group over the same time span. The projection is based largely on local life expectancy, which ranks as the ninth in the state.
According to the 2016 State of the County Health Report, published by Moore County Health Department and Moore Health, Inc., the county boasts one of the highest life expectancy rates in North Carolina.
Conversely, Alzheimer’s disease is the third leading cause of death in Moore County behind cancer and heart disease. The local death rate for Alzheimer’s patients is nearly three times higher than the state average.
Otis Ritter, the commissioners’ liaison to the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) maintains the growing number of elderly residents makes the prevalence of Alzheimer’s cases here something of a foregone conclusion. “As the population ages due to medical advances, the number of Alzheimer’s cases will surely increase due to the lack of successful Alzheimer’s treatment” said Mr. Ritter.
In keeping with Resident Rights Month, the Moore County Community Advisory Committee (CAC) encourages participation from interested volunteers. CAC volunteers are advocates for residents living in long-term care facilities. The CAC makes official quarterly unannounced visits to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and family care homes and reports the findings to the Regional Ombudsman, Moore County and the General Public.
According to Chairman, Sandy Nussbaum, the goals of the CAC are to advocate for improvements in the quality of care, promote resident rights and keep the community informed and involved with the elderly population.
If you would like to volunteer with the CAC or seek additional information, please contact Sandy Nusbaum, 910-684-8246 or cacvol@twc.com
