An Act concerning State veterans’ memorial homes and supplementing Title 38A of the New Jersey Statues.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
C.38A:3-2b8 Resident advocate at State veterans’ memorial home.
1. a. The Division of Veterans’ Healthcare Services in the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs shall establish a position to be known as a resident advocate at each State veterans’ memorial home. The resident advocate shall have a direct reporting relationship to the director of the division.
b. The resident advocate shall:
(1) act as a liaison between the State veterans’ memorial home and each of the residents at the State veterans’ memorial home;
(2) receive complaints from residents at the State veterans memorial home; and
(3) respond to any concerns or grievances from the residents at the State veterans’ memorial home and, if appropriate, submit concerns or grievances to the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
c. A resident advocate who receives an oral or written complaint from a resident at a State veterans’ memorial home shall log the complaint from the resident on a written or electronic form. The division shall develop, publish, and distribute the written and electronic form to be used by the resident advocate. At a minimum, the written and electronic form shall contain spaces for the following information:
(1) the name of the resident submitting the complaint;
(2) the nature of the complaint;
(3) whether the complaint is an emergency that requires an immediate response, a critical situation that requires a reasonably prompt response, or a noncritical situation that requires an appropriately timely response; and
(4) a plan of action for the complaint and an estimate time frame within which the action will be taken.
d. A resident advocate who fills out a form under subsection c. of this section shall provide one copy of the form to the resident submitting the complaint and one copy to the administrator of the State veterans’ memorial home. The resident advocate shall also retain the advocate’s copy for not less than one year after the complaint is resolved.
e. A State veterans’ memorial home shall make every reasonable effort to make the resident advocate at that memorial home easily identifiable by posting the name and work hours of the resident advocate and shall make every reasonable effort to assure that the plan of action prepared by the resident advocate under paragraph (4) of subsection c. of this section is carried out within the time frame set forth in the plan of action.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Approved September 16, 2021.