“When you think about how much government touches our lives,” said Diane Welborn, who heads the office. “We all have social security numbers … government is all into our lives, and we need the services of government to function. It’s when they don’t, that people come to us.”
Welborn has served as the Ombudsman for Dayton since 1999, but the history of the office dates back to its inception in 1971. The Ombudsman Office is the third oldest in the United States just after Hawaii and Nebraska. Welborn was hired as a director by her predecessor Marie Ferguson and stepped into the Ombudsman position when Ferguson retired.
“I think our longevity does give us some recognition,” Welborn said. “On our referral forms we ask how did you hear about the Ombudsman Office? They frequently say some kind of relative, my mother, my sister. Somebody told me to call you. Actually, a lot say that a previous contact is how they heard about us.”
The office serves all residents of Montgomery County and has a board with nine people: three county commissioners, three representatives from the City of Dayton and three members of the Dayton Board of Education. The office employs 13 staff members, including volunteers, and receives 600-1,000 complaints every year.
The members of Welborn’s team includes numerous staff for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, which was established in 1979. This group’s mission is to work with individuals at long-term care facilities and nursing homes in the area. One of the biggest issues Welborn has seen how lonely many residents can become. Many residents cannot reach out and have family that connect the office.
“They’re [long-term care ombudsmen] really serving some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” she said. “It’s not uncommon kids grow up and move to a different part of the country … So it’s often the children that will call us and say, ‘I talked to mom on Sunday afternoon, and she didn’t sound good. Can you check this out?’”
The more common complaints that come into the office are Social Security issues, SNAP (food stamp) programs, housing, taxes, Medicaid coverage and even garbage collection. However, Welborn acknowledges that these complaints might not all be due to neglect. It just so happens that a lot of people use these services.
“Some of our larger agencies doesn’t mean they’re worse,” she said. “We don’t grade them. We don’t do that type of thing. But if there’s an agency that is running multiple benefit programs, then there’s a lot of opportunity for something to go wrong … So the larger volume the agency is, are going to be the ones we get more complaints about.”
Sometimes when the complaints are received, Welborn can simply direct people to what person or agency they need to contact. Many older Americans are still dealing with the digital divide and do not know where to turn. The office also has a robust group of volunteers, many of whom have proficiencies in one area or another. Many of the volunteers are retired financial planners and lawyers who can give their time and advice.
“Volunteers are just curious,” she said. “They’re curious people, and they’re well-meaning. They want to help people. We even attempt as best we can to give credit to the volunteers our column. We really need our volunteers because when we are short, we just don’t have the number of people to do everything we want.”
One of Welborn’s biggest jobs, and one she is proud of, is the outreach the office has been able to do. Besides the Dayton Daily News column, she also sends out a weekly update to elected officials and colleagues in the community. She also does a show on Dayton Public Access Television the first Monday of every month. Usually, the people running the cameras are students looking to gain digital skills.
“Outreach is so important to us so that people are continually reminded that we are there,” she said. “It’s not unusual that one of the student camera men or women will after the show ask, ‘Can you help my mother?’”
On the TV show, Welborn will feature a director of an agency or two and give them a chance to talk about what they do and how they can help. She’s had people from Dayton Premier, Job and Family Services and other organizations on the show. Welborn also said that the only other Ombudsman TV show she knows about is in Vienna, Austria.
Funding is always an issue with any government agency, and Welborn’s group has felt the squeeze. Dayton planned to stop funding office in 2022, so Welborn and many others in the community voiced their concerns. Eventually, the decision was reversed, but the office did still see a reduction in funding.
“I’m so grateful this community came to our assistance,” she said. “Really there was a steady stream of people that were coming to the city commission and saying, ‘Don’t cut the Ombudsman.’ We need this … The majority of the ombudsman are independent of the agency they investigate. We have objectivity and we’re impartial, so while we appear to be an advocate, that’s not how we go into a case”
Anyone who needs to file a compliant can do so in multiple ways. The office has a website where complaints can be submitted, but people can call the office or make an appointment to talk to someone in person. Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the website at www.dayton-ombudsman.org.
Welborn is also on the Board of Directors for the International Ombudsman Institute and is a past president, as well as a former treasurer and vice president of the Board of Directors of the United States Ombudsman Association. Welborn said the thing that she loves about her job the most is the resolutions to complaints that her office makes.
“It’s kind of a peacemaking part of it because no one comes here happy,” she said. “They never do. A lot of them leave us happy with what has turned out. Sometimes they are due financially more than they even thought they were, and that’s a nice plus. Or they have a complaint resolved that they’ve been trying to get fixed … And better than just to take it, it’s better to reach out and try to get some resolution.”
For more about the Office of the Ombudsman, visit www.dayton-ombudsman.org.
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