The Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 6 named five county residents to the Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee.

Joan Batson, Faye Boyd, James Cahoon, Linda Holton and Edwina LaBonte were appointed to one-year terms. Re-appointees or successors will serve staggered three-year terms.

State law recommends that counties with adult care or nursing homes maintain advisory committees. Tyrrell House assisted living facility opened in Columbia last August.

Committee members are to be advocates for long-term care residents. They are to receive training and technical assistance from the ombudsman in the Area Agency on Aging within the Albemarle Commission in Hertford.

Some functions of adult care home community advisory committees, as stated in section 131D-32 of the General Statutes, are:

(a) The committee shall serve as the nucleus for increased community involvement with adult care homes and their residents.

(b) The committee shall promote community education and awareness of the needs of aging and disabled persons who reside in adult care homes, and shall work towards keeping the public informed about aspects of long-term care and the operation of adult care homes in North Carolina.

(c) The committee shall develop and recruit volunteer resources to enhance the quality of

life for adult care home residents.

(d) The committee shall establish linkages with the adult care home administrators and

the county department of social services for the purpose of maintaining the intent of the Adult Care Home Residents’ Bill of Rights.

(e) Each committee shall apprise itself of the general conditions under which the persons

are residing in the homes, and shall work for the best interests of the persons in the homes. This may include assisting persons who have grievances with the home and facilitating the resolution of grievances at the local level.

(g) Each committee shall quarterly visit the adult care homes with 10 or more beds it

serves. The committee shall make at least one visit annually to each other type of adult care home licensed in the county. In addition, each committee may visit the adult care homes it serves whenever it deems it necessary to carry out its duties. When visits are made to group homes for developmentally disabled adults, rules concerning confidentiality as adopted by the Commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services shall apply.

(h) Individual members of the committee shall have the right between 10:00 a.m. and

8:00 p.m. to enter the facility the committee serves in order to carry out the members’

responsibilities.

(i) The committee shall prepare reports as required by the Department of Health and

Human Services containing an appraisal of the problems of adult care homes facilities as well as issues affecting long-term care in general. Copies of the report shall be sent to the board of county commissioners, county department of social services and the Division of Aging.