NALLTCO

The National Association
of Local Long Term Care Ombudsmen

Eileen Bennett (MD)
NALLTCO Chair

Eileen Bennett currently serves as Chair of the NALLTCO Board. She has been an active member since 1997 and served for three years as secretary. Eileen has worked on a variety of committees including membership, newsletter, training and by-laws and was a state coordinator. She has been an active liaison for NALLTCO on the Elder Justice Coalition and is excited to see some of our efforts included in provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As chair in 2010, she testified at the Administration Aging listening forums regarding the Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. She is forging forward to develop improved communications and a working relationship with the board of NASOP. to represent the needs of local, district, and regional ombudsmen.
Eileen has been a local ombudsman in Maryland for the past 21 years, working with long term care residents to improve their quality of life through her advocacy. She has helped empower residents to have a presence and speak about their experiences in national forums. She recruits and trains volunteers to become strong advocates, and coordinates the largest volunteer ombudsman corps in Maryland. She has been active in Maryland's efforts to develop and implement a strategic plan for operational improvement, including providing testimony at the state legislature and participating in workgroups for software/data consistency, training, and volunteer management. When traveling, Eileen enjoys meeting with local and regional ombudsmen in various areas of the country.

Cindy Kincaid (NC)
NALLTCO Vice Chair

Cindy Kincaid graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA and received her Masters in Gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has worked in the aging field for the past 20 years. Cindy started in Adult Day Care, worked 10 years in the mental health field on a geriatric psychiatric unit and has served as a regional ombudsman for the past 7 years. She works hard to create a strong working relationship between the Ombudsman Program, AAA's and Lead Regional Organizations.

Karen Guice (AL)
NALLTCO Secretary

Karen Guice, though a Louisiana native and a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, has made Birmingham, Alabama her home for the past 29 years. During this time, she has served as Minister of Education and Outreach for Crestway Baptist Church, taught and coached for nine years at Briarwood Christian School, and served as the Director of the Irondale Senior Citizens' Center. Karen is actively involved in advocacy for seniors throughout the State of Alabama and presently serves as the Jefferson County Lead Ombudsman; an advocate for residents in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and boarding homes. She currently resides in Pelham, Alabama. Her hobbies are singing and entertaining, outdoor activities, and working with the Ms. Senior Alabama Inc. Board of Directors. She has served as the Contestant Consultant, Pageant Emcee, and has written and assisted in the production of the Ms. Senior Alabama State Pageant for the past five years.

Tonya Amos(IA)
NALLTCO Treasurer

Tonya Amos currently serves as a Local Long-Term Care Ombudsman for 10 counties in Iowa. She has worked for the LTCO program for 5 years, serving the residents in Iowa in many capacities such as the program coordinator, volunteer coordinator and now LLTCO. Tonya has served on many committees and has also given testimony to Iowa legislators on behalf of the Department on Aging. She currently serves as the Chairperson for the Iowa Caregivers Association conference planning committee. Tonya has been instrumental in creating the program standards for the Ombudsmen in Iowa. These program standards are now being shared and used by other states. Tonya currently serves on the NALLTCO Board as the treasurer. She maintains a database of the NALLTCO members and is responsible for the treasury. Tonya joined NALLTCO in 2006 because she believes that Local Ombudsmen deserve a professional organization to share ideas, information and experiences. Prior to her work as an Ombudsman, Tonya was a licensed social worker in a nursing home. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in social work.

Jackie Case (NJ)

Jackie is a retired Director of the New York City Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. She was with the program for almost 20 years, and began as a volunteer. During that time, she helped found the New York State Ombudsman Association and served as its President for four years and is its current Government Affairs Officer. She has always put the residents and their rights and needs as the philosophical underpinnings of all her advocacy work. To that end, she continues to work for at least adequate surveys to be done by the NYS Department of Health and to improve the complaint hot line and the resultant investigations done by the NYS Department of Health as they oversee nursing and board and care homes and assisted living facilities through her volunteer work with other advocacy organizations. For the past year, she has served as the Chairperson of NALLTCO, and has served as a Board member for six years. As an officer of NALLTCO, she meets quarterly with the "National Ombudsman" and brings the perspective of the local programs to the table. She believes we should always work to increase ombudsman membership in the organization so that local programs can be a strong force when discussing policy issues. Jackie is also on the Board of Directors of NCCNHR, representing a local program in New York State.

Carla Chropkowski

Carla is a volunteer Long Term Care Ombudsman in St. Louis County, Missouri. She has volunteered in this capacity from March 2008 until present. She is currently serving two skilled nursing facilities, and as well, assists in the area of follow-up and support for victims of crime in facilities in the St. Louis City and County area.

Vanessa Fitchett (MT)

Vanessa has been the Regional Ombudsman for Region 5 with the Area VI Agency on Aging in Polson, Montana since 2007. She supervises twelve local Ombudsmen in seven counties in the north west corner of the state. In addition to the NALLTCO board, she is a board member in the Montana Gerontology Society, which is an organization of professionals and volunteers with an interest in gerontology providing educational opportunities for anyone in the field of aging. Prior to her work as an Ombudsman, Vanessa worked five years as office manager and administrator at a small nursing and rehabilitation facility. Vanessa feels that her experience in the administration of long term care plus over twenty years working in the medical field has enhanced her advocacy skills with insights into the challenges of day to day operations of a long term care facility plus an understanding of the challenges individuals face when navigating the insurance and billing aspect of medical and long term care. Vanessa is married, has 3 children and 6 grandchildren.

Sue McCauley(AZ)

Sue has been an ombudsman since 1998 for Yavapai County in Arizona at the Northern Arizona Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging. As an advocate, she believes the strongest success for advocacy lies with volunteers, who can visit more residents, than a coordinator alone, could ever hope to. Continued volunteer training is one of Sue's constants with her regional program. Sue is also the manager of the Elder Rights Unit at her agency and oversees the Legal Advocacy and Medicare/Benefits Counseling programs in the four county region of Northeast Arizona. Sue is the chairperson of the Yavapai County Elder Abuse Task Force and is a member of Arizona State Elder Abuse Task Force. She has successfully planned and developed as conference chairperson, two Aging Issues conferences that attracted over 200 participants in the last two years. Participating in NALLTCO as a board member twice had provided Sue with an open door and network with co-advocates throughout the country that is invaluable for strengthening knowledge and inspiring the spirit of advocacy in Arizona and the Southwest. As a board member, Sue looks forward to the continued opportunity of uniting with others for service to our elders.

Alice Nicholson(VT)

Alice Nicholson has been a Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman in Vermont for more than 19 years. She has also serves as the Vermont Long Term Care Ombudsman Program’s Volunteer Coordinator. Training, organizing, and mentoring are a few of the skills she has learned and excelled in over the years. Alice has been a member of NALLTCO and served on the Board for 14 years. She served 3 years as Chair of NALLTCO. Alice currently serves as the State Coordinator Manager for NALLTCO, as well as on various committees and projects. She has also served as a chair and co-chair to the National OmbudsManager User’s Group and continues to be an active member of that group. On a personal note, Alice has served in many capacities in both girl and boy scouting over a span of 40 years, serving in both leadership and non-leadership role. She raised one son and now enjoys time with two grandsons.

Amity Overall (TX)

Amity Overall-Laib is the Regional Ombudsman for the Houston-Galveston Area Council/Area Agency on Aging. The H-GAC/AAA Ombudsman program serves residents in 65 nursing homes and 125 assisted living facilities in 12 rural counties in the gulf coast of Texas. Amity Overall-Laib has a Masters in Sociology from the University of Houston and has worked with the H-GAC/AAA Ombudsman program since January 2004, acting as the Regional Ombudsman since December 2005. She has presented at state and national conferences, including NCCNHR's Annual Conference in 2008 as a co-presenter for "The Creativity Continuum: 3 Programs to Ignite Resident Memories" workshop. Amity also lead the creation of the Gulf Coast Culture Change Coalition resulting in two one-day, free conferences for regional long-term care providers, staff, owners, advocates and state regulators promoting Culture Change practices. She believes strong advocacy relies on effective communication and continual education and strives to provide her staff, volunteers, residents and families with the best tools, including systems advocacy, to influence change in long-term care.

Kim Salisbury (NY)

Kim is a graduate of Corning Community College and Elmira College with a BS Degree in Human Services/Aging Services. Having interned with the Chemung County Department of Aging & LTC (Office for the Aging ) in 1988, Kim participated in the certification- training program for Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. Upon certification, she was hired as an consultant and her responsibilities included assisting ombudsman volunteers with program documentation, training volunteers and special assignments. Kim was appointed as the Coordinator of the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program in 1992. As the program coordinator, she oversees all responsibilities of the program and ensures compliance with the NY State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program standards. The main goals of this federally mandate program is to ensure that long-term care residents receive the highest quality of life and care and that their rights are protected. Her primary responsibilities include the management and supervision of twenty-five volunteer ombudsman including volunteer recruitment, screening, interviewing and training. This regional program provides advocacy services to approximately 1700 long-term care residents who reside in Chemung, Schuyler and Tioga New York counties. Kim work's closely with local, state and federal aging service professionals, state regulatory agencies, legal service providers and others to provided effective advocacy to long -term care residents.

Drew Strayer (OR)

Drew Strayer serves as a Deputy State Long Term Care Ombudsman in the Oregon State LTCO office. He serves residents in his areas of local coverage. Previously, Drew worked as a Certified Ombudsman Specialist in the LTCO Program in Dayton, Ohio. Drew received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and History from Anderson University, Indiana and obtained his Masters' degree in Organizational Leadership and Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia. This background developed skills and provided training he uses each day to resolve residents' concerns. While in Ohio, Drew served as Secretary and then Vice President of the Ohio Association of Regional Long Term Care Ombudsmen (OARLTCO), and was a member of the organization's legislative issues subgroup. Drew's experience also includes two Classical (government) Ombudsman offices and an Organizational (employee) Ombudsman office. Drew is married and has two children. Drew's favorite activities include hiking and camping with his family, playing with the kids, having coffee with good friends, listening to music, and reading books on a range of subjects.


John Weir (MI)

John Weir has been a local ombudsman in Michigan for 20 years. He continues to serve a 5 county area which includes residents who live in both urban and rural homes. For all but about 2 years he has been a 1 person office so naturally he says he wants to make sure that as changes are proposed to the Ombudsman Program that AOA & others hear the concerns of offices like his, that not only have limited funding but also limited coverage & time possible as well. Besides being a certified Eden Associate he has run a regional support group for homes that have started the culture change journey. He organized a local Chapter in the Kalamazoo area of the Michigan Campaign for Quality Care and has run a couple of fundraisers for the state group as well. John was awarded the Wilma Douahue Award by the Elder Law & Advocacy Section of the State Bar of Michigan for both his years of service to the his clients and the leadership he provides to the other 7 regional Ombudsman offices around the State. He was also recognized by the Michigan Commission on Services to the Aging & the Office of Services to the Aging for his dedication & commitment to assisting persons who were relocated to Nursing Homes in his area after Hurricane Katrina. One of John's biggest concerns is to help families & residents to learn about their rights and to expect to receive quality care in the setting of their choice - not to accept just what they receive because they don't know they are entitled to the highest quality of care.