Area Agency on Aging

In North Carolina there are 17 Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) which cover all 100 counties. They are housed in Lead Regional Organizations, which are called Councils of Governments or multi-county planning and development commissions. The Older Americans Act specifies that the AAA’s are to carry out a wide range of functions including advocacy, planning, evaluation, and monitoring of services for older adults. Furthermore, the Older Americans Act stresses that the aging network should ensure the development of a comprehensive, community-based service system in each county to assist older adults in leading independent, meaningful lives in their own homes and communities as long as possible. The term "aging network" refers to the tiered service system for implementing the Older Americans Act, and other funding sources, administered by the Division of Aging and the 17 regional AAA’s, and implemented by senior centers, councils on aging and other service providers.

The Long-term Care Ombudsman Program

One of the most frequent questions asked is "What is an Ombudsman?" The Ombudsman is a professional staff member of the AAA working as an advocate to assist persons in exercising their rights and help them to negotiate the complex rules and regulations of a given bureaucracy. In North Carolina the Regional Ombudsman serve residents in long term care facilities.

In 1978, the federal government recognized the needs of institutionalized individuals and put in place an Ombudsman Program, which would afford advocacy resources to the institutionalized elderly. The program is funded through the Older Americans Act of 1965.

A State Long-term Care Ombudsman was appointed within the North Carolina Division of Aging (DOA) to carry out the training and oversight of local Community Advisory Committees. These Advisory Committees help maintain the Resident’s Bill of Rights in long-term care facilities. By 1983, the Division of Aging realized that one state Ombudsman could not handle the oversight of the entire Local Community Advisory Committees’ responsibilities. Additional manpower was given to the program by creating the Regional Ombudsman Program. Currently there are twenty-six Regional Ombudsmen in North Carolina, who are supervised by the Area Agencies on Aging.

The Regional Ombudsman’s role, in addition to advocacy responsibilities, is to provide training, technical assistance and on-going administrative support to the local Community Advisory Committees. The program also provides guidance concerning the long-term care system and the process for receiving assistance. The Ombudsman provides:

1. Information on long-term care placement
   
2. Education to community groups and long-term care providers on various topics
   
3. Investigations on complaints in order to help families, residents and facilities resolve concerns and problems
   
4. Help to individuals to get complaints or concerns to the appropriate regulatory agency when resolution of an issue is not possible at the local level
   
5. Information to regulatory agencies for use in helping guide the Licensure and Certification process
   
6. Training and oversight to the Community Advisory Committees
   
7. Information to local, state and national government policy-making groups as an advocate for long term care residents

As a whole, the program works with residents, families, facilities and others to improve the quality of life for residents in long-term care.