Across the country, residents of nursing homes and other longterm care facilities will honor the individual rights of longterm care residents by celebrating Residents’ Rights Month.

Mayor Ed Burtner read and signed a proclamation Thursday at Fountain Circle Care & Rehabilitation Center, proclaiming October as National Long-Term Care Residents’ Rights Month.

Residents’ Rights Month is an annual event in October which the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care created to celebrate and focus on awareness of dignity, respect and the value of longterm care residents.

The theme for Residents’ Rights Month 2019 is “Stand for Quality.”

Lori Smetanka, executive director of Consumer Voice, said in a news release the theme emphasizes the importance of standing for quality in all aspects of residents’ experiences — quality care, quality of life, quality services and quality choices.

“We want to encourage residents, as well as family members, longterm care ombudsmen, facility staff and other advocates, to work together to stand for and promote quality,” Smetanka said.

According to the proclamation, there are 1.3 million individuals living 15,600 nursing homes and over 800,000 individuals living in 28,900 assisted living and resident care facilities in the U.S.

The Nursing Home Reform Law, passed in 1987, guarantees nursing home residents their individual rights, including but not limited to individualized care, respect, dignity, the right to visitation, the right to privacy, the right to complain and the right to make independent choices.

Residents who have made their home in other types of facilities maintain their rights as U.S. citizens, according to the release.

“We wish to honor and celebrate these citizens, to recognize their rich individuality and to reaffirm their right to vote and participate politically, including to the right have a say in their care,” Burtner said, reading the proclamation.

Residents’ Rights Month raises awareness about these rights and pays tribute to the unique contributions of longterm residents.

The National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program has worked for more than 40 years to promote residents’ rights daily. More than 8,000 volunteers and 1,000 paid staff are advocates for residents in all 50 state plus the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, according to the release.

Authorized under the Older Americans Act and administered by the Administration on Aging, the program also provides information on how to find a facility, conducts community education session and supports residents, their families and the public with one-on-one consultation regarding longterm care, according to the release.