CLTCOA - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• President
• Executive Director of Senior Advocacy Services

Crista Barnett Nelson is the Executive Director of Senior Advocacy Services (SAS) and the LTC Ombudsman for Sonoma County.

Job Titles:

• Member at Large

For over 10 years, Devora Gonzalez has been with the Kern County Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Ms. Gonzalez began as a case manager in 2010 and became the program's Director in 2017. Ms. Gonzalez and her wonderful team of Ombudsman have advocated strongly with Kern's District Attorney's Office on wrongful discharges in nursing homes and unlicensed facilities providing care. Ms. Gonzalez has a Master degree in Public Health with a specialization in mental health. She also participates in many Kern County organizations, such as the Civil Task Force, Commission on Aging and Elder Death Review Team. When she's not busy fighting the good fight for long-term care residents, she is completing her traveling "bucket list" and enjoying being a soccer mom to her son Milo.

Job Titles:

• Immediate past President
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Director of the Ombudsman Program at the Council

Elizabeth (Libby) Anderson is the Director of the Ombudsman Program at the Council on Aging, Southern California. She has served in this position since January 2016. Libby joined the Ombudsman Program as a volunteer in 2011 and then was hired by the Program to serve as a Regional Coordinator in 2014. She is an attorney licensed to practice law in Illinois, where she was in private practice for 19 years prior to moving to California. Her practice areas included estate planning, planning for disability, guardianships for disabled adults and elder law. Libby received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and her Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law.

Job Titles:

• Association Director
• Director of the California Long Term Care Ombudsman Association

Jason Sullivan-Halpern, the Director of the California Long Term Care Ombudsman Association (CLTCOA), joined our organization in November 2022 with over a decade of relevant experience working in the nonprofit and human services sectors. Before working for CLTCOA, Jason managed complex volunteer-based programs supporting vulnerable adults and low-income families for a number of nonprofit organizations in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Solar Community Housing Association (Davis), California CareForce (Roseville), Sacramento Tree Foundation (Sacramento), and Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Oakland). He also served as Programs Chair of the Board of Directors of the Directors of Volunteers in Agencies (DOVIA) chapter in Sacramento and volunteered with the East Bay Naturalization Collaborative in Oakland. Jason obtained his B.A. in Philosophy & Political Science from UC Davis in 2014. He studied law at The Pennsylvania State University and received his J.D. with concentrations in Advocacy and Public Interest Law cum laude in 2021. During his time at Penn State, Jason was Editor-in-Chief of the Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs and President of the PSL Public Interest Law Fund. He also represented survivors of domestic violence in emergency hearings at the Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas while working with MidPenn Legal Services, a nonprofit legal aid provider. Jason currently lives and works in Sacramento. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his children, volunteering, listening to live music, playing guitar, and exploring hiking trails across Northern California.

Job Titles:

• Treasurer
• Treasurer of the Board of Directors
• Treasurer for the California Ling Term Care Ombudsman Association

Karen has served as the Executive Director/Program Director since November 1998. Karen is the Treasurer for the California Ling Term Care Ombudsman Association (CLTCOA). She is Chair for the National Local Long Term Care Ombudsman Association (NALLTCO). She participates with many groups that comment on or advocate for legislation that can benefit care facility residents or the elderly. She also participates in many San Luis Obispo County organizations, such as Adult Services Policy Council, Commission on Aging, and the District Attorney's First Responder Team. Karen is a California native and lives in Nipomo. She has two daughters, four grandchildren, one horse, and several household pets. In her free time she spoils her grandkids, and spends time trail riding with her horse.

Job Titles:

• Staff Member

Leza Coleman, the former Executive Director for the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association (CLTCOA), was introduced to the world of elder justice and self-determination as a volunteer Long-Term Care Ombudsman, where she honed her advocacy skills supporting residents and their families in achieving the highest levels of care. Inspired to ensure dignity and respect for all residents, Leza obtained her administrator's license and joined the leadership team to open an assisted living facility committed to person-centered models of care. Not satisfied to serve seniors in a single community Leza took on the leadership of CLTCOA from 2012-2021, where she supported, resourced, and magnified the work of the 35 local LTC Ombudsman programs in California. She serves as a board member for the California Elder Justice Coalition, the Village Movement California, California Health Advocates, and serves on the policy committee for the California Association for Long-Term Care Medicine and the California Aging and Disability Alliance. Leza has been active in multiple statewide legislative efforts and is passionate about working on statewide efforts to promote "aging well" in California. Leza is currently the Legislative Director for the California Commission on Aging.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member at Large

Before becoming an Ombudsman Representative five years ago, Marco worked more than 15 years in nursing facilities as a C.N.A., Medical Records Technician and Admissions Coordinator. He also worked 6 years as a senior case manager helping seniors to obtain Medicare, Medi-Cal and housing. Marco is very involved with the senior community and he is the president for L.E.O.N. (Latino Elders Outreach Network), a group of volunteers whose main goal is to link the Latino, and other senior communities to resources available to them. Marco is part of the Santa Barbara APS MDT on Crime and the Elder Death Review team.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member at Large

My name is Melissa Flaherty, and I am the Stanislaus Ombudsman Coordinator. I have eleven years of experience working in the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. The Ombudsman program advocates for residents living in skilled nursing facilities and residential care communities for elderly. As Coordinator, my responsibilities includes investigation and resolution of complaints on behalf of residents. In addition, I manage the day-to-day operation of the Ombudsman Program. This involves supervising staff and volunteers, educating the community, providing in-services to facility staff, facilitating presentations at resident council meetings, focusing on topics such as, Ombudsman Program, Residents' Rights and Mandated Reporting. Elder Abuse Prevention is an area where I dedicate my time educating the community by doing outreaches for elder abuse, prevention and awareness. More recently, I have been nominated to be a CLTCOA Board of Directors member at large.

Job Titles:

• Vice - President
• Vice - President of the Board of Directors

Paulette Erwin works for the County of Inyo as the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Coordinator for the Eastern Sierra Area Agency on Aging, which serves Inyo and Mono Counties. She became an Ombudsman representative in 2011 and subsequently became the Program Coordinator in 2015. Prior to becoming the Program Coordinator, she worked for the Department of Social Services as an Integrated Case Worker and as a Family Partner in the Wraparound Program. Paulette's career path was inspired by her Grandparents and her Great Aunt who she lived with at a young age. Paulette received her degree in Human Services, along with a certificate in Substance Abuse Counseling. When she is not advocating for residents she enjoys spending time with her family.

Job Titles:

• Secretary
• Secretary of the Board of Directors
• Vice President of Ombudsman Services at WISE & Healthy Aging

Rachel Tate is the Vice President of Ombudsman Services at WISE & Healthy Aging. Her primary responsibilities include the administration of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program in Los Angeles, which serves 76,000 residents in skilled nursing, assisted living, and board and care facilities. She has been a Long-Term Care Ombudsman for sixteen years. She works with several multidisciplinary teams to address concerns related to individuals residing in long term care. She is passionate about improving quality of life and quality of care for facility residents and has worked to make it a community effort by collaborating with city officials, law enforcement and fire departments. Rachel has a master's in Social Work from California State University, Bakersfield where she was a recipient of the Hartford Foundation Gerontology Intensive Fellowship Training Program (GIFT). While at CSUB She became an advocate for appropriate end of life services for correctional inmates. She also participated in a Hartford Foundation Change AGEnts Policy Institute. In 2017 she received the Heart of Social Work Award from USC. In 2018 she received the Howard Hinds Memorial Award from the National Consumer Voice for effective advocacy for long term care consumers at the local level.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member at Large

Sergio Landeros earned his BS in Gerontology from Sacramento State. He is currently working on my Master's in Public Administration at McGeorge School of Law. Sergio began working with the Ombudsman in 2016,. as an Intern at the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, while volunteering as an Ombudsman for the local program. After graduation he worked as a Regional Ombudsman for the local Ombudsman program overseeing over 300 facilities. In 2019 he was promoted to be the Ombudsman Program Manager. Under Sergio's leadership, his team provides advocacy activities for over 1,400 long-term care facilities in 7 different counites: Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba.