18 Miss. Code. R. 26-4-D
Document every Training to a local Ombudsman or Volunteer in WellSky as "Training for ombudsman/volunteer" under Program Activities, including the training topic, number of participants, time spent, and other NORS required fields. Activity comments are highly recommended as well. If this includes the annual two required community education events, then it should be notated in the activity comments section. Note: The location can be Facility Not Applicable or Unknown. However, if a Representative of the Office is training another Representative of the Office on a field visit, then the name of the facility should be included in the activity.
The person conducting or arranging the training reports this as an Ombudsman activity. The session and hours are unduplicated. A session is a meeting, whether it lasts for two hours, all day or a week.
Hours of direct service of the volunteer ombudsman shall be tracked by the local ombudsman and reported quarterly to the State Ombudsman. Volunteer long-term care ombudsman shall work under the supervision of the local ombudsman for their geographical region. When serving as a volunteer ombudsman, he or she must act as an advocate and not in other professional roles such as a social worker, nurse or an accountant. They are considered Representatives of the Office and must do the same training and be free from all conflicts of interest as the district and local ombudsman. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and agree to a criminal background check. Volunteer ombudsman must maintain confidentiality in all Ombudsman activities and follow all laws, regulations, and policies relating to resident consent and disclosure of information. A volunteer must notify the local ombudsman of his/her decision to resign with at least 14 days' notice, and return all Ombudsman materials (including the training manual, designation certificate and the ombudsman name badge) and any notes pertaining to the facilities and its residents. The district ombudsman must notify all staff and residents of any facilities to which the volunteer ombudsman was assigned that the volunteer is no longer a representative of the ombudsman program. Volunteers who do not wish to respond to complaints nor do the required certification training may be considered as "friendly visitors". As such, "friendly visitors" must refer complaints to the LTCOP.
18 Miss. Code. R. 26-4-D