a. The office shall promote community contact and involvement with patients, residents and clients of facilities through the use of volunteers and volunteer programs. The volunteers, as private citizens, may exercise, but need not be limited to, such functions as visitation, consultation, problem solving, eliciting complaints, and, generally serving as advocates on behalf of the institutionalized elderly.

The office shall develop and propose programs for use, training, and coordination of volunteers and may:

(1) Establish and conduct recruitment programs for volunteers;

(2) Establish and conduct training seminars, meetings and other programs for volunteers and supply personnel, written materials and such other reasonable assistance including publicizing their activities as may be deemed necessary;

(3) Elicit the support of, and cooperate with, appropriate private, nonprofit and voluntary agencies and community groups in the development and coordination of volunteer programs and activities;

(4) Establish a reporting system volunteers can use to document the major problems and concerns affecting the patients, residents or clients of facilities;

(5) Reimburse volunteers for some or all their actual expenses, including, but not limited to, telephone and mileage incurred in performance of their duties under this act;

(6) Encourage, cooperate with and assist the development and operation of referral services where current, valid and reliable information on facilities and alternatives to institutionalization can be secured by elderly persons in need of these services and the general public;

(7) Request the participation and advice of such government agencies and other entities or persons as the office may deem appropriate or necessary to the development of volunteer programs and the effective use of volunteers;

(8) Establish and conduct meetings and other programs for administrators, professional personnel, and other personnel employed by or in contract with the facilities.

b. The office may assist in the development and use, by patients, residents or clients of facilities, of councils and other forums which permit such patients, residents or clients to discuss and communicate, on a continuing basis, their views on the strengths and weaknesses of the operations of the facility and on the quality of care provided and quality of life fostered. Memberships on such councils shall be determined by the patients, residents or clients of the particular facility and may include, but shall not be limited to, such patients, residents or clients, interested relatives, friends or community persons. Assistance by the office may include, but shall not be limited to, conference with administrators, operators or managers of facilities on the purpose and function of such councils and, upon request, participation in the formation of a council which the office deems appropriate to the individual needs of the facility and its patients, residents or clients.

In implementing the provisions of this section the ombudsman shall coordinate the efforts of the office concerning volunteers and councils with all relevant government agencies, and with the administrators of such private facilities as he may deem appropriate, to insure coordination and avoid duplication of effort, so that the volunteer programs and councils developed and supported by the office may genuinely serve the interests of the institutionalized elderly without in any way disrupting the legitimate functioning of any facility in this State.

L.1977, c. 239, s. 10, eff. Sept. 29, 1977.