✨✨General Discussions

How does your CCRC's Resident Council and Healthcare Council work together? Ours are completely separate in bylaws. But the Healthcare Council is getting ideas for them to work more together. They have some things in common and some stark differences. This began with residents in Healthcare having issues similar to those in Independent Living and wanting to submit a suggestion/problem form to the Resident Council.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

Linda, if you do not mind, what type of problems do those in healthcare encounter?

In my community, our residents' association has seven advisory committees, one of which is healthcare. These committees have one or more corporate staff members. Most issues that arise are resolved directly by a staff member within the committee. When that's not possible, the committee reports the issue to the resident association board. At that level, the corporate CEO works with the resident association directors to resolve the issue.

Much of what gets accomplished depends on the drive and engagement of the residents appointed to chair these committees.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member & VP

Forum Moderator

Healthcare is a vast concept. Here are some of the issues broken down into categories that will clarify issues.

1. Organizing by Care Level (Varying Priorities)

Because healthcare needs differ wildly across a campus, a one-size-fits-all meeting rarely works.

• Establish Care-Specific Committees: Create dedicated sub-committees or separate meeting times for assisted living, skilled nursing, and memory care. This ensures clinical care, medication management, and staffing issues aren't overshadowed by independent living lifestyle discussions.

2. Securing Healthcare Rights & Reporting

Facilities often control the feedback loop; councils must establish independent, fear-free channels.

• Create Council-Managed Box Systems: Set up physical, locked grievance boxes in private, unmonitored locations (away from staff desks) that only council officers can open. This allows residents to report care failures or medication delays completely anonymously.
• Require Resident-Driven Surveys: Push back against vague, marketing-driven facility surveys. Demand that the resident council has input on the questions asked and insist that results are tallied independently.
• Build Direct Lines to the Ombudsman: Invite the state long-term care ombudsman to present at council meetings annually. Ensure their direct contact information is permanently posted on council bulletin boards in every wing of the facility.

3. Using Data to Confront Neglect (Senior Abuse Statistics)

A facility administration can easily dismiss a single resident's complaint as an isolated incident, but they cannot ignore tracked, community-wide data and national realities.

• Leverage Hard Statistics: Councils can use clear, national data.
• 1 in 6: The number of long-term care residents who experience mistreatment or neglect annually.
• 1 in 2: The rate of abuse for highly vulnerable seniors with dementia or cognitive decline.
• 95%: The percentage of nursing home residents who report witnessing or experiencing neglect (like unanswered call lights or missed medications), often caused by severe facility understaffing.
• Present Patterns, Not Gossip: When residents share concerns, track them by specific, objective details

4. Maximizing Collective Advocacy

There is safety and power in numbers when confronting facility management.

• Insist on Written Responses: When presenting healthcare or safety concerns to administration, do it via formal, written memos. Under federal law (for nursing care), facilities must provide a formal written response to council recommendations. Keep a paper trail.
• Know the Regulations: Task at least one council member with understanding the state's specific administrative codes regarding staffing ratios and resident rights. When a council can say, "State regulation X requires a registered nurse on-site during these hours," the dynamic shifts from an optional request to a firm request for compliance. (Gemini AI assisted response.)

Maura Conry

NaCCRA

Forum Moderator

At Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads in Falls Church, VA we have a resident run Health Committee which reports to the resident run Resident Council. We do not have a separate committee or group representing the Health Care Center for nursing care or the Assisted living floor or the Memory Unit. Because the individuals on those units' health care needs and concerns are made known to the Health Committee by fellow Independent Living residents' spouses, family members and friends. The committee makes a concerted effort to solicit their concerns. I visit the Independent Living residents who are temporarily residing on those units to hear their concerns.

Ron Karpick, Chair, Health Committee