Recently, active Otsego County volunteer Fiona Dejardin found out that she is one of two out of 90 nominees chosen Ombudsman of the Year by the New York State Office of the Aging.
According to a media release, Dejardin works “significant volunteer hours with the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program.”
The Ombudsman Program is an advocate and resource for older adults and people with disabilities who live in nursing homes, assisted living, and other licensed adult care homes. Ombudsmen help residents understand and exercise their rights to good care in an environment that promotes and protects their dignity and quality of life.
In addition to weekly visits at facilities, Dejardin is credited with always being ready to go to a facility when a case gets called into the office. Additionally, she is known for her always present compassion for the residents.
As further stated in the release, the staff is very receptive to Dejardin’s quiet diplomatic way of getting to the bottom of any concerns. She works with the resident council to educate and empower them to speak up and make changes. She works tenaciously to help residents in her facilities.
Dejardin has lived in New York for the past 37 years, including 28 years as a professor of art history at Hartwick College and as director of Yager Museum for six years.
She and her husband of 36 years live in Schenevus in a home surrounded by gardens that she tends to herself. She shares her gardening skills as an Otsego Master Gardener Volunteer, a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties.
Dejardin has been a volunteer for 12 years and an ombudsman for nine. “My work as an ombudsman is one of the most rewarding activities of my life,” Dejardin stated in the release.
When not volunteering, Dejardin is a glass artist and jeweler who enjoys art, museums, reading, cats and traveling.