“It is a hands-on experience. I get to see the results of my work. The outcome may not always be what is desired, but I can see the impact you can have for someone just be being there for them,” shares Marilyn.
“It is a hands-on experience. I get to see the results of my work. The outcome may not always be what is desired, but I can see the impact you can have for someone just be being there for them,” shares Marilyn.
Marilyn has been volunteering with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) for three and a half years. She learned about the program when she was participating in MSC’s online auction fundraiser during COVID.
Marilyn had retired from a career as a middle school teacher in 2019, right before the start of the COVID pandemic. When she saw the opportunity with LTCOP it made her think about her family members’ experience in facilities, “Some of it was phenomenal, and some was not,” she shares.
With Marilyn’s background in education, she saw clearly how many underserved groups there are in our population, seniors being one of these groups. “Seniors are often dismissed and forgotten, I wanted to volunteer doing something that was needed but not maybe the most popular volunteer opportunity like working with kids.”
As a LTCOP volunteer, Marilyn spends about four hours a week visiting the two facilities she is assigned to including attending resident council meetings and town halls, as well as monitoring and responding to complaints at more than 100 adult family homes in her zip code.
She visits the two larger facilities about twice a month each. Her consistent presence over the last several years has helped her to build trusting relationships with both the residents and the staff, making residents more likely to come to her with concerns and improving communications and resolution with staff.
“The variety is wonderful. There is a continuum of needs that people need help advocating for and I get to meet people from different backgrounds and hear their life stories.”
Marilyn’s goal is to get residents to advocate for themselves first. If they are fearful or not in a place to do so, or have tried and haven’t gotten anywhere, Marilyn can step in and advocate for them with their permission. When she does this, she is advocating for what they want, not what she feels would be best for them.
“Our goal is to allow residents to live life with as much dignity as possible and with as much similarity as if they were living in their own home,” says Marilyn, “Their decisions should be respected. If they want to eat breakfast at 10am instead of 7am they should be able to do so.”
“It is like seeing my own destiny. I am happy I am not in a long-term care facility, but if I have to be, I hope there is someone to advocate for me.”
April is volunteer appreciation month and Marilyn is one of the close to 600 volunteers that help MSC directly serve the community through programs like LTCOP and our food bank. We truly appreciate our volunteers and couldn’t do it without you!
