Eureka College student to present nursing home ombudsmen manual at national conference

June 25 and 26 in Chicago

Eureka College senior Tami Wacker of Hudson will present a manual that she wrote for nursing home ombudsmen at the National Association of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs conference June 25 and 26 in Chicago.  As a representative of the National Association of Local Long Term Care Ombudsmen, Wacker will explain how the federal regulations manual she compiled can be used as a “best practices” tool by ombudsmen nationwide.

Wacker developed the manual as part of a practicum in the organizational leadership weekend degree completion program at Eureka College. 

The manual is a guide for ombudsmen to quickly identify federal regulatory tags when investigating complaints against long-term care facilities. It will enable ombudsmen and facility administrators to “speak the same language when discussing certain complaint codes that identify the types of concerns that are reported in long-term care facilities, like abuse, neglect, care issues, theft or family conflict,” Wacker said.

Wacker is operations manager and regional ombudsman at the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging in Bloomington. She is scheduled to receive a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership from Eureka College in December.
           
Dr. Junius Rodriguez, faculty advisor to the organizational leadership program, said, "We are tremendously proud of Tami for having attained national recognition in producing a valuable resource that will be used by advocates for the elderly across the nation. Her achievement highlights the ways in which an ordinary academic exercise can transform itself into an extraordinary policy initiative when shaped by the talents of a student possessing visionary leadership."

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Contact:

Michele Lehman

Media Relations Coordinator

mlehman@eureka.edu

(309) 467-6318