PRINTER'S NO. 3062
No. 551 Session of 2008
INTRODUCED BY BROOKS, BEAR, BEYER, BLACKWELL, BOBACK, BOYD,
BRENNAN, CALTAGIRONE, CAUSER, CREIGHTON, DiGIROLAMO,
DONATUCCI, J. EVANS, EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FLECK, GEIST, GEORGE,
GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GRUCELA, HARHART, HELM, HENNESSEY,
HERSHEY, HESS, HUTCHINSON, JAMES, KAUFFMAN, KIRKLAND, KOTIK,
MAJOR, MANTZ, McILHATTAN, MELIO, MICOZZIE, MILLARD, MOYER,
MURT, MUSTIO, PALLONE, PAYNE, PHILLIPS, PICKETT, RAPP,
READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROSS, RUBLEY, SAINATO, SAYLOR, SCAVELLO,
SCHRODER, SHAPIRO, SIPTROTH, SOLOBAY, SONNEY, STERN, SWANGER,
TANGRETTI, THOMAS, VEREB, VULAKOVICH, WATSON, WOJNAROSKI AND
D. O'BRIEN, JANUARY 14, 2008
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
JANUARY 14, 2008
A RESOLUTION
1 Congratulating graduates of the Pennsylvania Empowered Expert
2 Residents (PEER) Project and recognizing Wednesday, May 7,
3 2008, as "Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Residents (PEER) Day"
4 in Pennsylvania.
5 WHEREAS, The Department of Aging administers the Long-Term
6 Care Ombudsman Program Statewide for consumers 60 years of age
7 or older, and the department partners with the 52 local Area
8 Agencies on Aging in this Commonwealth; and
9 WHEREAS, The ombudsman program supports and empowers
10 consumers to resolve individual complaints involving long-term
11 care services and also works to improve and enhance the long-
12 term care system, its laws, regulations, policies and
13 administration through public education and empowerment; and
14 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is the first state nationwide to
1 creatively include a resident dimension within its ombudsman
2 program to support individuals living in long-term care settings
3 and to educate residents and staff on resident rights; and
4 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Residents (PEER)
5 Project offers an additional mechanism to equip residents with
6 the knowledge to enable them to be a part of the solution; and
7 WHEREAS, The PEER Project was developed to train resident
8 advocates to work from within the respective long-term care
9 settings where they reside to enhance the quality of care and
10 quality of life; and
11 WHEREAS, PEER Project graduates volunteer their time and
12 expertise to self-advocate issues that resonate among their
13 peers; and
14 WHEREAS, The PEER Project, working with and supporting local
15 ombudsman programs in counties throughout this Commonwealth has
16 grown since its inception in June 2002; and
17 WHEREAS, The PEER Project has graduated more than 350
18 residents in long-term care settings in the following 19
19 counties: Cambria, Chester, Clearfield, Columbia and Montour,
20 Crawford, Elk, Jefferson, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Luzerne and
21 Wyoming, Lycoming, Mercer, Mifflin and Juniata, Montgomery,
22 Perry and Schuylkill; and
23 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania State Long-Term Care Ombudsman
24 Program recognizes PEER Project graduates as volunteers and
25 congratulates all participants for promoting and educating
26 advocacy among residents of long-term care settings in this
27 Commonwealth; therefore be it
28 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives congratulate
29 every PEER Project graduate's advocacy on behalf of their fellow
30 residents in long-term care settings and recognize May 7, 2008,
20080H0551R3062 - 2 -
1 as "Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Residents (PEER) Day" in
2 Pennsylvania.
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