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HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93010_0031IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BRIEFING MINUTES FEBRUARY 15 2000 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in Briefing Session on Tuesday, February 15, 2000, 5:00 p.m., in the Iredell County Government Center (South Wing Conference Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC 28677. Present: Chairman Sara Haire Tice Vice Chairman Steve D. Johnson Tommy E. Bowles Alice T. Fortner Alice M. Stewart Staff Present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, Finance Director Susan Blumenstein, Planning Supervisor William Allison, Solid Waste Director Ron Weatherman, ChiefDeputy Rodney Proctor, Tax Collector Joe Ketchie, County Assessor Brent Weisner, Health Director Ray Rabe, DSS Director Don Wall, and Clerk to the Board Jean Moore. CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Tice. DEBI LEE, OMBUDSMAN WITH CENTRALINA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS, DISCUSSES NURSING HOME ADVISORY COMMITTEES: Ombudsman Debi Lee, Lead Regional Ombudsman Lottie Massey, Nursing Home Advisory Committee Members Louise Cook (Chairman) and Ruth Waters attended the meeting. Lee said the nursing committee's role was to serve as an advocate for patients and their families in the resolvement of problems through negotiation. Ms. Lee said the committee members were supposed to visit the homes quarterly, and the state was mandated to visit at least once per year. Lee said they were not charged with determining if a violation of the statutes had occurred. She said, however, that official complaint visit forms were sent to the state and entered into a tracking system. Ms. Lee said the committee members could report neglect or abuse to the local DSS office, but "protocol" needed to be followed. She continued by saying that if there were suspicions that a patient was being abused, that certainly a report should be made to DSS. She said her agency could not make the homes hire more employees and the ombudsman program was neither a regulatory nor an emergency -type program. Lee continued by saying that if a patient, or family member, complained about something, it was the committee members' role to try and work through the problem with the facility's staff. Commissioner Fortner said she had heard that if complaints were voiced at one particular facility the administrator would say, "If you don't like the way our home is operated, then you can take your mother somewhere else." Lee said she couldn't make the administrators be nice people. She said that if a complaint were made, there was a 30 -day transfer/discharge amount of time that had to elapse before the ' patient was discharged. A question was asked about withholding funds for homes providing poor care. Lee said her program did not initiate this type of action. She said it was the responsibility of the Division of Facility Services to determine when a facility was not up to state and federal regulations in temis of Medicare and Medicaid. Commissioner Stewart questioned how beneficial the committee could be if it had no authority. Lee said that almost 90% of complaints were resolved by using the negotiation method. } Stewart mentioned a recent incident where a nursing home administrator had demanded that one committee member not be allowed to return. Lee said that just because one or two members were prevented from returning, it did not mean the others were stopped from making visits. Stewart said the other committee members probably would not want to be subjected to the same type of treatment.