Monday, March 2, 2009

Volunteer Guardianship Program

Volunteers are being sought to assist elderly residents of area nursing homes who have no family.

The Full Life Center Inc., a nonprofit organization led by New Philadelphia attorney Karen Dummermuth, has developed a volunteer guardianship program. Dummermuth, who serves as a guardian for several area residents, said there is a great need for more guardians of the elderly and legally incompetent.

Dummermuth: “The volunteers would befriend these people and provide them with a friend on the outside. As these people, who must meet the legal definition of a ‘ward,’ have no family, the guardian could be making medical decisions for them."

Full Article and Source:
Non-profit organizations seeks volunteers to serve as ‘guardians’ for residents of nursing homes

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found that most volunteer for Ombudsman, etc are good people with good intentions. However, when "push comes to shove', they are railroaded to agree with overseers of the agency if they wish to continue to serve.

Anonymous said...

This is bad -- you don't just volunteer to take someon onver.

Do they check out these volunteers at all or just turn themloose?

Anonymous said...

I hope they do a criminal background check on all applicants even though that will not guarantee the volunteers are doing this in good faith.

My first reaction is: this is a very bad idea like putting up a flashing sign: victims for the taking, come on in! take your pick.

After seeing the dark side of life first hand, I see how easy it is for financial predators to accomplish their shcemes their criminal activities with the help of society and government agencies.

Or, are these the persons who are impoverished either because they didn't have assets OR are these people the living products, the "leftovers" from the probate racket where the professional guardians drained their assets who are now left destitute?

Anonymous said...

Volunteers can visit -- that's all they need to do.

They don't need to be guardians to visit, just volunteers.

Anonymous said...

This is going to be a....DISASTER and easy pickings for the financial predators out there.