Iowa Senior Care Advocate's Job Plan, Silence Are Questioned | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com

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Written by CLARK KAUFFMAN (ckauffman@dmreg.com)

Iowa's top advocate for seniors in nursing homes wants to have her job performance evaluated by the industry she oversees.

At the same time, the director of the Iowa Department on Aging is telling the state's eight local long-term care ombudsmen that they should not speak out about a recent dramatic cut in the number of state nursing home inspectors.

"That is unconscionable," said John Tapscott, a former state legislator who now advocates for the elderly. "You can't tell our ombudsmen not to speak out on the issues that affect their constituents."

According to federal law, each of the nation's long-term care ombudsmen is to advocate independently for the elderly residents of care facilities - a job that historically has put the ombudsmen at odds with both nursing homes and state regulators.

But new questions are being raised about whether Iowa's ombudsman, Jeanne Yordi, is working independently or advocating effectively for the elderly.

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Branstad says Culver should fire state aging director | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register

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Republican candidate for governor Terry Branstad is calling on Gov. Chet Culver to fire the director of the Iowa Department on Aging.

Branstad, who served as governor from 1983 to 1999, said John McCalley's interference with the long-term care ombudsman's duties are cause for dismissal.
He said that when he was governor, he and the director of what was then called the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs had some differences of opinion with Iowa's long-term care ombudsman.

"We didn't always like what the ombudsman did, but we never tried to gag the ombudsman," he said.

Branstad said it shouldn't have taken an order from the U.S. Administration on Aging for McCalley and Culver "to enforce rules that allow our state's long-term care ombudsman to do her job and advocate for senior citizens."
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