California Resources for Addressing Elder Abuse

Following is a list of California agencies offering service to the elderly and their families.

California State Department of Health Services, Department of Licensing and Certification
This agency exercise regulatory oversight over most facilities providing health care within the State of California. This includes nursing homes (sometimes referred to as convalescent hospitals or long term care facilities). But this does not include residential care facilities for the elderly (sometimes referred to as retirement hotels, board and care facilities or community care facilities). Information regarding such residential care facilities for the elderly is presented below under "California Department of Social Service, Division of Community Care Licensing."

The California Department of Health Services is an agency within the executive branch of state government, and as such as is responsive to the Governor. In addition, because the Department of Health Services must ultimately look to the state’s Attorney General to enforce regulatory actions to prosecute nursing homes which fail to comply with basic care and nursing standards, both the Attorney General and the Governor are in a position to enhance or neutralize the effort of the Department of Health Services, to enforce decent care standards in our nursing homes. Until recently, California suffered from a Governor and an Attorney General who were negligent in enforcing laws setting minimum care standards, and for these reasons, the Department of Health Services has rightfully been criticized over the years for being "too responsive" to the political power of the nursing home industry, which donates substantial sums to political campaigns in our State. Nonetheless, the Department of Health Services is for the most part staffed by career professionals who manage to balance "office politics" with a genuine interest in protecting our elderly who are institutionalized in nursing homes. For more information about "What’s Wrong With California Nursing Homes," please click on that page in this website.

The district offices of Licensing and Certification in California are located throughout the State of California. The area office you call will depend upon the County in which the Nursing Home you are concerned with is located, as follows:

These facilities house elders whose mental or physical impairments are not so serious as to require care in a skilled nursing facility. Residential Care Facilities are supervised by the California Department of Social Service, Division of Community Care Licensing.

The operations of this Division occur in field offices which are organized in four basic Regions:

Northern Region (209) 229-4500

Chico District (530) 895-5033

Sacramento District (916) 574-2346

Redwood Empire District (707) 588-5026

Fresno District (209) 445-5691

 

Coastal Region (650) 266-8860

Central Coast Area District (Santa Barbara & Ventura) (805) 682-7647

Bay Area District (510) 286-7062

San Francisco Area District (650) 266-8800

San Jose District (408) 277-1289

 

Southern Region (760) 929-2121

San Diego District (619) 467-2367

Inland Empire District (909) 782-4207

Orange County District (714) 703-2840

 

Los Angeles Region (310) 665-1940

East District (323) 981-3300

Northern Valleys District (818) 596-4334

West District (310) 568-1807

Foundations

Non Profit Corporations and Foundations whose focus is on the problems with nursing home care are located throughout the country. The principal sites we recommend are:

Nationwide

The National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, Inc.
www.nccnhr.org

The National Senior citizen's Law Center, Inc.
www.nscla.org

In California 

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, Inc.

This group was established more than 12 years ago to provide assistance to residents of California’s nursing homes and to their families. CANHR has expanded its activities to include:

CANHR needs and is certainly deserving of our support, financial and otherwise. CANHR’s website is: www.canhr.org

Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Inc.

Bet Tzedek is a publicly and privately funded non profit corporation which provides a great variety of legal services to the residents of the County of Los Angeles, but its website provides very valuable information to residents nationwide, and also to persons with problems related to Medicare or Medicaid). Its website is at: www.comquest.com/bet-tzedek

Los Angeles Organizations Concerned with Elder Abuse

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