How You Can Help the Nursing Home Reform Cause by Becoming a Volunteer Worker

Our mission is to organize a volunteer force of Kentuckians who want to be a part of improving care in nursing homes, and who want to help educate the public and lawmakers about the problems in nursing homes, mainly the shortage of front-line caregivers.

As a volunteer, you can expend as much of your spare time as you care. But please know that anything you can do will be appreciated and important to our success.

Here’s What You Can Do………

BE AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE.

During a legislative session there will be important votes on bills affecting nursing home reform. Or, Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform may have a bill it is strongly behind being voted on. Legislators need to be aware of your support for these bills.

As an active participant in the Legislative Hotline you will be contacted by e-mail or telephone and told exactly when and whom to call, and given information about the bill. We recommend using the state legislative hotline so your calls are toll free.

ATTEND A LEGISLATIVE HEARING.

Have you heard the saying, "Strength in numbers"? This axiom applies to support for bills being debated in the legislature. When a bill is brought out before a committee of the House or Senate it is good to have as many supporters of the legislation as possible in the hearing room.

TESTIFY AT A LEGISLATIVE HEARING.

If you have the time and are willing to drive to Frankfort, let us know if we can call on you to attend a Frankfort legislative hearing and tell your story to the legislators. We will help you with your testimony, which really should be in your own words in the first place, to make it most effective, brief and to the point being discussed.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper describing the problems you have found personally in nursing homes. We can help you. You may simply draft your thoughts on paper or on your computer, send them to us, and we will put them in the form of a letter to your local newspaper and tell you how to send it. We have volunteer professional writers standing by to make sure your letter is effective. We do not endorse, however, writing letters about specific nursing home facilities by name or in any way attacking by name the staff of a facility. Write your letter and send it to us today for processing.

TELL YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH POOR NURSING HOME CARE.

Thanks to one of our members, there is now a Web site where you can tell your story about the poor care you or a loved one received in a nursing home. People sometimes ask us, “Is there really a problem with nursing home care?” If they have not been in a nursing home as a resident or had a loved one there, most people do not know how often neglect and abuse occur in many nursing homes. Telling your story helps us answer questions from the public and from lawmakers. Just go to the new Web site: http://www.nursinghomereality.wordpress.com/

OTHER WAYS TO VOLUNTEER.

• If you have expertise in writing grants, we need you.
• We will sponsor free educational seminars on long-term care issues, and we need people to help organize them.
• Would you have time and the desire to talk to groups about nursing home reform? If so, you are a candidate for our Nursing Home Reform Speakers Bureau.

So . . ., what do you do now?

Just send us an e-mail about which of the volunteer activities above you would like to be a part of. We will get in touch with you when the time to act arrives. Make sure you tell us your hometown, too, because that affects what legislator we will ask you to call. And be sure to include your telephone number where we can reach you quickly.

Send your e-mail about volunteering to: KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com

AND THANKS FOR HELPING.