Link to Ventura County Star article.

I want to pass this link onto you regarding a class action suit here in Ventura County involving informed consent. The Ventura County ombudsman office investigated and filed this complaint with Department of Public Health and it was substantiated.

I want to thank CANHR for bringing the problem of toxic drugs to the forefront and partnering with us a year ago to educate the public on the adverse effects of antipsychotic drugs for elderly persons with dementia.

This is a huge step forward for least medicating. Thank you to everyone who has supported this effort!

Sylvia

I am so excited to share some very special news with you!!! Many of you may
recall that a little over a year ago the Ventura County Ombudsman Program
and California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform hosted a symposium in
Oxnard, “Toxic Drugs – The Problem with Drugging as First Resort in Dementia
Care”. It was the first of its kind in California and was well attended by
250 providers and interested parties. I have attached the flyer announcing our event if you didn’t get a chance to attend.

Many of you who did attend our symposium may recall that it was not well
received by everyone and actually created a bit of indignation on the part
of some. It did create controversy, most significant causes do, and much of that was reported in the Ventura County Star at the time.

But because of the perseverance of CANHR and other local ombudsman advocates the trend continued, and last fall, two more symposia, based on the model we created in Oxnard, were held in northern California with almost 1,000 attendees.

Since then, this subject has garnered attention and late last year became
the focus of national attention, with experts appearing before the senate in Washington to give testimony about the inappropriate use of anti-psychotic drugs for elderly persons with dementia.

I cannot tell you how exciting it is to share this press release from CANHR with you.

Thank you so much for standing with us and for your support!

Best
Sylvia

Sylvia Taylor-Stein
Executive Director
Long Term Care Services of Ventura County, Inc.,
2021 Sperry Avenue Suite 35
Ventura, CA 93003
T: 805.656.1986 ext 102
Fax: 805.658.8540
www.ombudsmanventura.org
a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization

CALIFORNIA ADVOCATES FOR NURSING HOME REFORM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 28, 201

ADVOCATES FOR NURSING HOME RESIDENTS APPLAUD NEW FEDERAL CAMPAIGN TO END USE OF ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS AS CHEMICAL RESTRAINTS

Advocates for nursing home residents who have been working for many years to eliminate all misuse of antipsychotic drugs for nursing home residents
applaud the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’s
(CMS’s) new national initiative to address the drugging epidemic.

CMS’s “National Initiative to Improve Behavioral Health & Reduce the Use of Antipsychotic Medications in Nursing Home Residents” will be announced via webcast on March 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. PST. “We thank former CMS Administrator Donald Berwick for his leadership in responding so forcefully to this national disgrace and for setting the wheels in motion to implement this long- overdue initiative,” said Janet Wells, Director of Public Policy, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.

CMS is developing a national action plan that includes raising public
awareness of misuse of antipsychotic drugs, regulatory oversight, technical assistance, and research. The Initiative will be launched with a video streaming event at 1 p.m. EDT, March 29.

http://surveyortraining.cms.hhs.gov/pubs/VideoInformation.aspx?cid=1098

Several hundred thousand nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia are given one or more antipsychotic
drugs. The HHS Office of Inspector General reported last year that
the overwhelming majority of Medicare claims for antipsychotic drug were
inappropriate.

“Hundreds of thousands of nursing home residents are inappropriately given
antipsychotic drugs each day, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s
‘Black Box’ warnings that these drugs can kill residents who have dementia,” said Michael Connors, Long-Term Care Advocate with California Advocates for
Nursing Home Reform. “Too many nursing homes use antipsychotic drugs as a
way to control residents when they don’t have enough well-trained staff who know their residents well and can give them the time and attention they
need,” he said.

Richard Mollot, Executive Director of the Long-Term Care Community Coalition in New York, agreed that “poor staffing levels and inadequately trained staff lead to the gross misuse of drugs as chemical restraints.” He continued, “The word needs to get out that chemical restraints are as
dangerous for residents as physical restraints.”

“Nursing home staff who take the time to understand what residents are
communicating with their behavior can provide care to their residents
without using chemical restraints,” said Claire Curry, Legal Director, Civil Advocacy Program, Legal Aid Justice Center, Charlottesville, Virginia. “We have seen good care like this in some facilities and know that all facilities can do the same.”

“Federal law, to a large extent, already prohibits the drugging of
residents,” said Toby S. Edelman, Senior Policy Attorney, Center for
Medicare Advocacy, Washington, DC, “but the law is too timidly enforced.
CMS needs to dramatically step up strong enforcement of the law to ensure
that all residents get the care and services they need. CMS needs to ensure that no resident receives antipsychotic drugs except in full compliance with the law.”

In August 2010, CANHR launched a campaign to end nursing home misuse of
psychoactive drugs in response to the longstanding, widespread misuse of
these drugs to chemically restrain residents. The campaign features a
special website, educational presentations, consumer advice, administrative and legislative advocacy, stop-drugging blog and much more. For more information about CANHR’s Campaign or the CMS initiative, please contact Michael Connors or Tony Chicotel, (415) 974-5171, or visit CANHR’s website www.canhr.org/stop-drugging.

CLICK HERE (35) for a PDF of press release from CANHR

Contacts:

Michael Connors Tony Chicotel
(415) 974-5171 (415) 974-5171
Michael@canhr.org tony@canhr.org

Claire Curry Richard Mollot
(434) 977-0553 (212) 385-0355
Claire@justice4all.org Richard@ltccc.org

Toby S. Edelman Janet Wells
(202) 293-5760 (202) 332-2275, ext.
205
tedelman@medicareadvocacy.org
jwells@theconsumervoice.org

I am so thrilled and happy to report that we met our goal of raising $50,000 by November 30th!!

From all of us here at the Ombudsman Program in Ventura County, THANK YOU!!!

When we first received this unexpected blessing of a matching grant the night of our 30th Anniversary, and understood that everything we brought in that night, and any amounts we could bring in through the end of November, would be matched up to $50,000, we were simply overwhelmed. What an amazingly unanticipated, most welcome gift, but how to do this in 3 weeks was the question. Our hope and prayer was that we could. We weren’t sure how, but then you stepped up with open hearts and open wallets, and your generosity made it happen. Every dollar you gave counted and was doubled, and it was enough!

It is such a blessing to be part of a program that is so highly regarded that it is the recipient of such generous giving hearts in our own community, and even outside our state. We received gifts from as far away as Pennsylvania and Florida.

We can only believe that some of you must have been spreading the word, and we thank you so much!

Knowing that so many non-profits are struggling to keep their doors open today, we can only express with humble hearts, what this gift means to us. It will help us keep doing what we do – advocating and giving an unfettered voice to those who have no voice – and continuing to show them that they are important, they are not forgotten, and we care about them.

On behalf of our Board of Directors, Staff, and Volunteers, we wish all the blessings of this wonderful season on you and yours. Again, Thank You!!

Warmest Regards,

Sylvia

We are not there yet, but we are on our way.

As you will recall, Amgen has given us a challenge matching grant and will match every dollar we bring in between now and the end of November. This wonderful and unexpected announcement came from Amgen Foundation, President, Jean Lim Terra, the night of our 30th anniversary gala fundraiser.

We have now received all our income from our Gala, including credit card sales and outstanding checks, and our net proceeds are $32,536.71. Yesterday we received an anonymous gift of $5,000 and collected another $1450 today, bringing our total funds eligible for the match to $38,986.71

Won’t you please consider making an early year end gift to the Ombudsman Program in Ventura County, which is the only program created solely to provide free and confidential advocacy and support services to over 8,000 elderly persons living in long term care facilities throughout out county – 60% of whom in nursing homes have no family or friends who ever visit or check in on them. Ombudsmen fight for the rights and needs of these vulnerable individuals who have no voice.

What your gift will provide:

1. It will help us bring in more state certified volunteers, and provide the training and support they need to be strong effective advocates for this population.

2. It will help us reimburse the mileage for these volunteers as they travel the almost 50,000 miles each year across Ventura County, visiting and advocating for our elderly neighbors in long term care.

3. It will help us meet the continuing education requirements our volunteers and staff must complete each year to qualify for recertification by the state of California.

4. It will help us maintain our weekly visitations to all nursing homes in Ventura County.

5.Your donation will do this and much much more.

Remember…your gift is 100% tax deductible and will be doubled by the Amgen matching grant.

Thank you again from all of us here and we wish you a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratefully,
Sylvia