Volunteer Ombudsmen Make a Difference
The Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) is a resource for older adults and people with disabilities who live in long-term facilities such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other licensed adult care homes.
Volunteer Ombudsmen provide an essential service to some of our most vulnerable people. They bring lifetimes of expertise from various careers, transforming these skills into education, empowerment, and advocacy. They serve as vital mediators between facility residents and their care teams to identify complaints and concerns, monitor care, investigate complaints, help correct problems, and more.
To thank our brilliant volunteers for their years of dedicated service, we are sharing this Volunteer Spotlight series. We hope you listen to their stories, are moved by their experiences, and consider becoming a Volunteer Ombudsman today.
2022 Ombudsmen of the Year Learn about our Ombudsmen of the Year recognized on Older New Yorkers' Day 2022
Barbara Thomas has shown exceptional dedication as a volunteer for the New York State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP). When the need arose, she was willing to cover facilities outside of her county and now travels more than an hour each way to fulfill her duties, covering both a nursing home and an adult home.
In her four short years with LTCOP, Thomas has investigated over 300 complaints, made 301 facility visits, comprising 480 hours of service, in addition to nearly 168 hours of time spent travelling between locations and home.
Eileen Driscoll has served as an outstanding volunteer in the New York State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) since 2013. During this time, she has successfully assisted numerous nursing home residents.
She has helped residents create nursing home Resident Councils and a resident Family Council. She has participated in resident care planning sessions and used her generous spirit to build positive relationships with resident families, health care coordinators, and resident health care proxies/power of attorneys.
Video Spotlight
Meet Volunteer Ombudsman Joanne
Meet Other LTCOP Volunteers
LTCOP Interviews Several Individuals Donating Their Time to Help Others
The Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) has been meeting with some of the many volunteers who donate their time to helping residents of nursing homes, assisted living, and other long term care facilities. Catch our latest volunteer spotlight videos at the links below.
Meet Volunteer Ombudsman Barbara
Become an Ombudsman
Residents of nursing homes and other facilities need help from people like you!