By Susan Zachem

Retired GCIU Rep. William D. McFadden volunteers as a monitor of conditions in long-term care facilities.

When William D. McFadden was a GCIU representative, he got satisfaction from making a difference in peoples' lives by helping to negotiate the best contracts he could get.

Now retired, McFadden also is making a difference in people's lives, this time by serving as a volunteer ombudsman in Pennsylvania's Franklin County Area Agency on Aging, a consumer protection coalition that monitors long-term care facilities.

McFadden said he moved from an urban area to the more rural county last year and was looking for volunteer work. When he got a letter in October 1998 from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) that called for volunteers to help seniors and other people in long-term care facilities, he knew that was it.

"I wanted to spend some time helping other people – there but for the grace of God go I," McFadden said.

He filled out a card in the AARP letter and that was forwarded to his area program, which is part of the Pennsylvania Long Term Care Ombudsman program. In time, the Franklin County program got in touch with him and arranged training.

The training is necessary, McFadden said, because the ombudsman volunteers are the eyes and ears for the county agency. "The Franklin County Area Agency on Aging has three full-time employees with some 30 facilities in the county, so they can't possibly cover them all," he said. "So, 27 volunteers go to the facilities and see that everything is running properly."

Volunteers are trained in the state rules for such facilities, how to investigate complaints, and how to approach residents and ask about the food, treatment, and their situations. "It's almost like being a shop steward," said McFadden, who served in that post with his Philadelphia local.

After training, McFadden was assigned as an ombudsman to two facilities: a state-run home with 240 residents, all wards of the state, and a private nursing home/assisted living facility. In both places, "they get good treatment," he said, "but you have to make sure everything is up to snuff."

The volunteers have access to their assigned facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so they can walk in without notice to check conditions, McFadden said. They look for cleanliness, safety, and that residents appear healthy and well-treated.

"If I see someone being mistreated," McFadden said, "I first go to the head nurse and report the situation, then to the head of the facility. If the resident wants to register an official complaint, the state will come in, investigate, and cite the facility if the complaint is found valid."

Fortunately most of the problems so far have not been too serious and fairly simple to correct, such as too many wheelchairs parked in corridors or residents left unattended in activity rooms, McFadden said.

The unofficial part of his job but one of the most rewarding, McFadden said, is to visit with residents.

The state-run facility in South Mountain is on a mountaintop. "A lot of the residents don't have family, and it's remote, so visitors are few and far between," McFadden explained. "I've come to know some of the residents. It helps just to sit and talk to them for a while and ask them how they're doing. They're just so glad to have someone to talk with – that's part of the job, too. It makes their day, and it's gratifying."

McFadden said he wishes more retirees would volunteer for the long-term care, meals-on-wheels, and other types of assistance programs that are advertised in the AARP's monthly magazine.

"It's sorely needed," McFadden said. "It only takes a little bit of your time each week, and the satisfaction that people get out of it is a reward of its own."