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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

OR Needs More Caring Volunteers for Seniors

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Monday, August 18, 2008   

Portland, OR – The State of Oregon needs more people to look out for seniors through the Long Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO) program for volunteer advocates. After being trained and certified, the volunteers are assigned to a senior living facility, which they visit regularly. They also serve as the voice for residents if problems arise.

Last year, the agency received almost 5,000 requests for assistance, and most of them were handled by LTCO advocates. The time commitment is about 10 hours per month. Advocates are needed around the state, says Timi Elwood of Portland, a former high school teacher, who has volunteered for nine years. Elwood signed up because she feels strongly that the way older people are viewed and treated in this country must change.

"It just irritates me that we are so youth-oriented--that we tuck Grandma away someplace and hope she stays there and behaves herself. Having the chance to give people a voice and help them maintain whatever independence they are capable of just called to me."

Elwood sees being an advocate as a big responsibility, but says the payoff is rewarding: Getting to know the residents of her facility (Laurelhurst Village, Portland) and feeling she is performing a valuable service on their behalf. Advocacy is a good fit, she adds, for people with certain skills and personality traits.

"I think you need to be able to have the capacity to mediate, because I do a lot of that. You have to be a little bit of an administrator, too, because there's some paperwork involved. And I think you just need the ability to care, and to want to make a difference."

New training sessions for volunteer advocates begin Aug. 27 in Grants Pass, and Sept. 12 in Portland. "Friendly visitors" also are needed in long-term care facilities; volunteers are trained separately for that program.

Information about both programs is available by calling the Oregon Long Term Care Ombudsman office, 1-800-522-6202, or by going to www.oregon.gov/LTCO/index.shtml.



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