By Kay Kaylor
Special to The SUN
As the part-time long-term care ombudsman for Archuleta County, I advocate for residents at Pine Ridge, a 24-hour extended care home, and BeeHive, an assisted living residence. Federal and state laws protect residents to promote quality of care and quality of life.
Pine Ridge recently hired Kodee Buck as the social services director. Buck spent four years as a social worker in the Intensive Care Unit of the Medical Center of Aurora before serving eight years as a social worker in the Park County Adult Protective Services (APS). Most recently, she worked for the Archuleta County APS for six months. Legally, a nursing home must provide medically related social services to “attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.”
So far, two Pine Ridge residents have shared some of their past in honor of Older Americans Month (May). These stories show that residents had a lively past that visitors might want to learn.
Both named Lois, one resident was a jet engine mechanic at an air force base in Oklahoma. For five years, she also made fur coats. Currently crocheting all day and even taking orders, she is a former owner of sewing and upholstery businesses with her husband and son.
The other Lois was a telephone operator near Wray, Colo., in Haigler, Neb., a small town of less than 200 now. The area also borders Kansas and Lois was born in Yuma County, Colo.. Her husband was a rural mail carrier in all three states and her dad was a sheriff. After visiting her Pagosa Springs son in summers, she moved here, noting, “I’ve always liked the mountains.”
For further information, please call me at 403-2164 or send an email to ombudsman2@sjbaaa.org.
