ElderCare Rights Alliance
www.eldercarerights.org

Assuring your right to 
just and dignified care

The ElderCare Rights Alliance prides itself on its ability to address the needs of residents in nursing homes and recipients of long-term care in our communities. Supporters of the Alliance - residents, family members and community partners - believe that Minnesotans know how to improve the quality of long-term care services, and are organizing resources to do so.

The primary resource and use of it, of course, is information and the application of this information so that a person can make an informed decision about long-term care. Our primary role is to ensure the availability of information and assistance in making the right choice.

The right to self-determination is one of many factors that make a nursing home, or housing with services, a desirable place to live. If an individual does not receive dignified and respectful care, what is her recourse? If an individual receiving home care experiences abuse or neglect, what action can he take? How does a family help their loved one choose a nursing home or an assisted living arrangement? We offer information and several options to these questions and concerns.

How does the Alliance help me?

• We provide information about community resources and responsibilities of care providers under Minnesota law. We provide information about your rights as a recipient of just and dignified care in your home, in assisted living or in a nursing home.
• Our staff will assist you in advocating for yourself, a family member or friend receiving long-term care services. We offer guidance and assistance through advocacy coaching.
• We conduct advocacy training for individual care recipients to organize a care partner network of family and friends who become primary caregivers in the community.
• We provide crime victim support and assistance for individuals who experience neglect, abuse or exploitation in the long-term care system. In addition, we provide elders and people with disabilities information about how to prevent criminal acts against them.
• We work with the nursing home residents' councils and family councils assisting them in starting and strengthening their councils. We provide coaching and advocacy training to assure self-governance and full participation in care decisions that affect the quality of life in the nursing home or in assisted living. 
• We conduct civic leadership and legislative advocacy training for caregivers of relatives or friends with long-term illness.

Know your rights

Each year we recognize and celebrate Residents' Rights in the month of October. Residents' rights are assured through a complaint and appeals process initiated by oneself or by another on behalf of an adult who must depend upon others for care and safety in a nursing home. There are other "consumer rights" established for people receiving home care, hospital care and to a very limited extent, foster care.

Minnesota's Nursing Home Residents' Bill of Rights

State law covers five categories:

1. Informational rights - the right to be informed and make informed decisions about one's medical conditions, services, access to relevant providers.
    
2. Participation and control rights - basic issues of autonomy: the right to participate in care planning; the right to consent or refuse treatment; the right to evaluate one's own care.
    
3. General civic rights and protections - fundamental freedoms: the right to be treated with respect and dignity; freedom from discrimination, abuse, neglect and exploitation; respect for privacy and property.
    
4. Remedial rights - basic protections: the right to complain without fear of retaliation; the right to know how to issue a formal complaint and to whom; the right to access information about complaints against provider agencies.
    
5. Quality rights - as they relate to care and the most difficult to measure: the right to safe and professional care; the right to continuity of care and competent providers.

This is a brief overview of the 26 defined rights in Minnesota state statute. Long-term care is about people caring for people. Is there someone there to answer your call? Do they make you feel as if you belong? Is your place of residence your home? 

Families of nursing home residents have rights as well; the most significant being the right to know your loved one is treated with dignity and respect. We all want this for ourselves, and we measure our own worth by assuring these fundamental rights for others. For more information about Residents' Bill of Rights, or rights of any individual dependent upon others for daily care and support, call the ElderCare Rights Alliance.

How do I access 
ElderCare Rights Alliance services?

Simply call our office at (952) 854-7304, or (952) 854-7360, and speak with staff.

How do I support the ElderCare Rights Alliance and the people who seek these services?

Volunteer to advocate on behalf of elders or take action on proposed legislation about elder care. Give generously of your time to ensure the rights and dignity of people in need of long-term care.

This article was prepared by Kathleen Kelso, executive director of ElderCare Rights Alliance. See the ElderCare Rights Alliance web site at: www.eldercarerights.org