I emailed the Oklahoma State Eldercare Ombudsman on a separate issue (seeking support on the iPod Project) and, to date, haven't had the courtesy of a reply. That was over a month ago.
Emails won't cut it for important stuff Don. It has to be the old fashioned way on paper, by certified mail, return receipt requested and most importantly, to a specific person in that office if there's any way you can get a name.
This nursing home situation is country wide and probably world wide. My younger sister took care of our mother about 10 years ago through this mess until she died. She was able to get her company to let her work part time and I provided her with some financial support to make up for it. She transferred our mother to 6 or 7 different homes over a 3 year period due to crap like this. I'm sure it's not just this, you probably have problems getting your meds correctly too. My mom was taking around 15 different meds that had to be coordinated as to time of day, certain combinations of food intake with some of them, liquids etc. My sister had all of that printed out and updated in her computer and watched the various homes like a friggin hawk and caught 90% of the staff messing up the meds schedule. There were a few good ones but like you said these people come and go all the time.
Try to document this by writing stuff you see going wrong in a little notebook you can hide so nobody sees you doing it if that's possible. You can also do it in your computer and email the file to someone who can print it out for you and keep it somewhere safe. Documented notes like that with names, dates and time of day go a long way in front of a judge.
You can start by writing out precisely what just happened while it's fresh in your memory including the previous incidents. Try to be as exact and concise as possible. Imagine how a prosecutor would use your notes with a witness... "Tell me Mr XX, Mr Gaynor says here in his notes dated August 23, 2012 that you personally did blah, blah. What do you have to say about that?"
After you've compiled a damning bunch of these, then contact the state licensing boards and present them with copies of that stuff including the VA of course. Again, it has to be hard copies mailed certified to a specific person.
Now getting off my high horse here, there's a potential other side to this. You live in a small area and all of these people at facilities all over town probably know each other. You could get tagged as a big time troublemaker and could suffer some consequences from that even if you get transferred to another facility but, oth they also know you're not someone to be trifled with either.
I can't advise you on that, just pointing it out.
Good luck man, and the fact that I will probably be in the same situation in the not too distant future does not make me a happy camper either.
Bob
Dansk
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