Dementia/Nursing Homes:

We represent the Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman within the State Department on Aging in Connecticut.  The Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman is charged with protecting and advocating for the care & services and rights of residents in Connecticut nursing facilities.  Over the past few years at a federal level there has been an initiative to decrease the use of antipsychotic medications used in nursing homes.  It was identified that many of these medications were being used to manage behaviors among residents with a diagnosis of dementia.  As medications were being reviewed and decreased, nursing facilities have been looking for alternative strategies to manage what they have identified as behaviors.

Our office celebrates our nursing home residents each year in October, during National Nursing Home week and holds a state wide conference for the residents that are leaders within their communities.  This year our focus is on the national initiative to decrease antipsychotic medications in nursing homes and alternative and innovative programs designed to manage identified behaviors in a more holistic way.  We will highlight programs such as music therapy, interactive computer programming, horticulture therapy, aroma therapy etc. as alternatives.  We will be providing each resident that attends the conference with a Tangle to be used for his or her own relaxation purpose.

Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman,
State Department on Aging,
Connecticut, USA.