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February 3, 2015

Share the Love with Consumer Voice

This Valentine's Day, share love with those who are important in your life.  Make a $10 contribution to the Consumer Voice, and we will post your message of love on our Share Love page.  Messages can be posted to consumers, family, friends, staff or volunteers.  Tell someone you care or that you appreciate all that they do.

Make a $10 contribution now!

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Registration Almost Full for Free Advocacy Skills Training Webinar

Webinar #1
Strategizing and Crafting an Effective Advocacy Message

February 12, 2015, 2-3:30 PM ET


Registration is first come, first served, so register now! To register, click here.

In this first advocacy skills training webinar, we will use the subject of nursing home staffing to teach participants how to develop a strategy around an issue and then choose key points about the issue to create an effective advocacy message. We'll also address methods of tailoring those key points to a particular audience. The session will include:

  • How to use a “strategy chart”
  • Identifying the right decision maker for your message
  • Describing why the issue is important to the decision maker
  • Supporting your message using data and real examples
  • Making the “ask”
*While the webinars are free, your contribution of $10 or more - or your membership in Consumer Voice - will help support our Public Policy and Advocacy programs. You can join the Consumer Voice here  or make a contribution here.

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Thank You to Those Who Collected Staffing Postcards

Congratulations to Arlene Germain, President of Massachusetts Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, for winning our contest to collect the most signed staffing postcards!  Arlene gathered and submitted over 300 postcards, with the promise of more on the way.   As the winner, Arlene will receive a $100 gift card, and many thanks from us.

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Space Still Available in Free Webinar for Long-Term Care Ombudsman

Register Today!

LGBT-Affirming Intake:  Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Thursday, February 19, 2015
3:00- 4:00 EST

Join The National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) for this opportunity to hear from Dr. Tim R. Johnston of SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) in a webinar focused on how to ask older adults demographic questions related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The webinar will begin with a discussion of how to have respectful and affirming conversations with older adults that may identify as LGBT. Next, we will discuss tips for asking LGBT related demographic questions in general intake interviews. Finally, Dr. Johnston will answer common questions and concerns related to these questions, and provide advice for supporting staff members who are responsible for conducting these interviews. The overall goal is to increase comfort with these questions, as well as to give participants the skills to support others in acquiring this important information.

  • Learn practical tips from experts regarding how to ask sexual orientation and gender identity questions
  • Understand why these questions are important for all service organizations
    Learn the nuances of asking these questions to older adults
  • Learn how to respectfully ask and answer questions that arise in interviews
This webinar is free and open to state and local long-term care ombudsmen. Registration is limited.  To maximize participation, we ask that individuals from the same organization share a phone line and only register one person.

Register Today!

Can’t make this webinar? Slides and resources will be posted on the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center website.

Questions? Contact us at ombudcenter@theconsumervoice.org.

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Kaiser Family Foundation Seeks Senior Medicaid Beneficiaries for Video Project

Kaiser Family Foundation is seeking seniors using long-term care services to feature in a video project.  "Faces of Medicaid" seeks to put a face to some of the 68 million Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States.  Similar projects include Faces of Medicaid and Faces of Medicaid Expansion.  Kaiser Family Foundation seeks seniors and their adult children who help with care and accessing services, and physicians and hospital administrators who can discuss the impact of Medicaid on their work.  For more information and to participate, contact Melissa Majerol at melissam@kff.org or (202)347-5270.

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National Center on Elder Abuse Fact Sheet for Victims of Elder Financial Abuse

The National Center on Elder Abuse has developed a new fact sheet titled "Scammed? Now what..." for victims of elder financial abuse who are unsure of where to turn to after the fact. . The fact sheet provides guidance for victims of scams by outlining key questions that should be addressed and by providing resources on what agencies and organizations to contact.  Access the fact sheet here.

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Help Wanted!

The Consumer Voice is currently working on a project to identify ways in which the nursing home transition process can be improved for individuals moving out of the nursing home and back into the community.  A key part of this project entails interviewing former nursing home residents from across the country who have transitioned (either successfully or unsuccessfully) out of a facility about their experiences and recommendations. We will use this information to: (1) publish a national report which will describe consumer recommendations for improved nursing home transitions and recommend policy actions based on consumer input; (2) develop a “How To” guide that will provide suggestions to state advocates for implementing the report’s recommendations; and (3) empower individuals with disabilities and older adults who want to transition out of a nursing home to be self-advocates by creating a Transition Checklist that will highlight steps residents can take to better ensure a successful transition.
 
Consumers will be interviewed by phone, and the call will last approximately 30 minutes.  Individuals’ names will remain confidential unless permission is given for release.   
 
Please help us identify former nursing home residents who are willing to be interviewed!  If you know individuals who have moved out of a nursing home and into the community, put us in contact  with them!  All you have to do is provide us with their name and contact information, and we’ll take it from there. Please let them know that we will be contacting them.

For more information or to provide us with the names of people we can interview, email acelentano@theconsumervoice.org or call  Amanda at 202-332-2275, ext 221.

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In this Issue

Share the Love with Consumer Voice

Registration Almost Full for Free Advocacy Skills Training Webinar

Thank You to Those Who Collected Staffing Postcards

Space Still Available in Free Webinar for Long-Term Care Ombudsman

Kaiser Family Foundation Seeks Senior Medicaid Beneficiaries for Video Project

National Center on Elder Abuse Fact Sheet for Victims of Elder Financial Abuse

Help Wanted!


4.1 It CAN Be Done!

As part of our nursing home staffing campaign, Better Staffing: The Key to Better Care, Consumer Voice is advocating for a minimum of 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident per day.  To show your support of this campaign, individuals can send us a photo with the slogan "4.1 - It CAN Be Done" by tweeting us pictures @ConsumerVoices, posting on our Facebook or emailing your photos to info@theconsumervoice.org.  Get the word out and encourage consumers to participate by sending in their photos too!


Calendar of Events

Thursday, February 5: Forming the Relationship with Your Client: Client communication, interview skills, and confidentiality/mandatory reporting concerns, 2:00pm EST, Module Two of a five-part webinar series

Thursday, February 12: How to Craft an Effective Advocacy Message, Advocacy skills training webinar from the Consumer Voice

Thursday, April 30: Delivering Your Message in Person: The Nuts and Bolts of Meeting with a Key Decision Maker, Advocacy skills training webinar from the Consumer Voice

Tuesday, June 30: Delivering Your Message: Utilizing Both Traditional Approaches and Social Media, Advocacy skills training webinar from the Consumer Voice

Thursday, August 27: How to Grow, Support, and Activate Your Network, Advocacy skills training webinar from the Consumer Voice


Your Car Can Help Promote Quality Care

Do you, a loved one or friend have a car that you or they would like to dispose of?  Now, Consumer Voice can help – and your used car can help Consumer Voice!  By working with our car disposal agency, Vehicle Donation to Any Charity (V-DAC), the proceeds from the sale of your car become a contribution to Consumer Voice. 

Note: We are actually registered with the service as “NCCNHR” so when asked which charity you would like to benefit, just say or type in “NCCNHR.”

Here is a link to our page on the V-DAC site http://v-dac.com/org?id=52-1122531 and you can get started there – or just call 877-999-8322 toll free.   And to discuss your donation with Consumer Voice, just write to us at info@theconsumervoice.org or call (202) 332-2275 x209


Now is a Great Time to Join the Consumer Voice

Here are a few reasons why you should join as a member:

  1. Most organizations are raising their membership fees, but we have either kept ours very low or we have reduced them for seniors and for long-term care professionals.
  2. We are enhancing our benefits and will make special members-only offers.
  3. We also have special offers for only a small added contribution.
But most of all, we are making progress in advocating for the rights and well-being of all long-term care consumers.  The source of our capabilities is the membership and support of people like you and many partner organizations.

By purchasing a membership now, you support Consumer Voice and the movement advocating for the rights and well-being of everyone who now or in the future depends upon long-term care.

Support Consumer Voice While You Shop Online

When you shop with AmazonSmile, part of your purchase is contributed to Consumer Voice. Shop now by clicking this link or going to smile.amazon.com and input "NCCNHR" as your charity of choice.


Join the conversation and follow us on social media!

Last Week's Most Popular Post:

Monday, January 26:
Another day, another investigative report highlighting how the systems of long-term care are not functioning for consumers

Last Week's Most Popular Tweet:

Tuesday, January 27
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Older Americans Act Reauthorization will be considered in the Senate HELP Committee tomorrow; HELP support it today!


Long-Term Care Resources & News


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Sponsor the Gazette - Consumer Voice is now accepting sponsorship for each weekly issue of The Gazette.  As a benefit of sponsorship, the contributor may honor, remember, or thank an individual or organization.  For more information, contact Richard Gelula at rgelula@theconsumervoice.org

About The Gazette

The Gazette is a weekly e-newsletter, published by the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care and the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center. If you do not wish to continue receiving this publication, please unsubscribe below. Your contributions and comments are welcome and should be sent to info@theconsumervoice.org. Copyright © 2015.

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The Consumer Voice is the leading national voice representing consumers in issues related to long-term care, helping to ensure that consumers are empowered to advocate for themselves. We are a primary source of information and tools for consumers, families, caregivers, advocates and ombudsmen to help ensure quality care for the individual. The Consumer Voice's mission is to represent consumers at the national level for quality long-term care, services and supports.


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