The Statewide Coalition of Presidents of Residents Councils
"The SCPRC is committed to reducing the sense of powerlessness and isolation often felt by nursing home residents, by raising awareness, and insisting that they be regarded as viable, valuable members of their communities at large."
The SCPRC is an organization of nursing home Resident Council Presidents who, with the assistance of the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, work together to empower Connecticut’s 30,000+ nursing home residents for stronger and more effective self-advocacy.
Currently the Coalition has an executive committee made up of residents from across the state who have served as presidents in their own resident councils and are interested in making change on a larger scale. This committee has developed the Coalition’s mission and goals, and its bylaws. The Executive Committee is given support and technical assistance from selected Ombudsman Program Volunteers who have a special interest in strengthening resident councils.
The Executive Committee meets every other month to determine the direction of its efforts. Regional Coalition meetings are also held every other month to encourage Resident Council Presidents, from specific service areas, to gather and discuss strategies for strengthening their councils and creating change in larger systems.
The Coalition joins with the Ombudsman Program in producing a quarterly newsletter for nursing home residents, updating them on any legislative or regulatory issues which directly affect them, and providing information on resident rights and resident council strategies. The newsletter profiles Executive Committee members and the Ombudsman Program Volunteers who serve as Regional Advisors. Nursing home residents are encouraged to share ideas, articles, poetry, recipes, and printable artwork.
The SCPRC helps to organize, and co-convenes, the annual VOICES Forum. This statewide event sponsored by the Ombudsman Program attracts Resident Council Presidents, Legislators, and other public officials, and provides them with an opportunity to interact and determine the most pressing challenges facing the state’s nursing home residents as a group. The VOICES Forum has helped the Coalition, the Department of Social Services, and the Ombudsman Program, to shape legislative and regulatory agendas on long term care issues.
The SCPRC plans to continue these initiatives with the ongoing goal of opening and activating communication channels between nursing home resident councils and larger systems such as: community elderly services networks, state and local governments, and the nursing home industry.
For further information on the SCPRC please contact the Ombudsman Program. We welcome your comments