(a) The investigation of complaints filed by residents, sponsors, organizations or long-term care facilities on behalf of residents of long-term care facilities relating to the health, safety, welfare and rights of a resident and to ensure that residents have regular and timely access to the services of the State Ombudsman Program without inappropriate disclosure of resident-identifying information.

(b) The pursuit of efforts to resolve complaints informally and represent residents before governmental agencies.

(c) The reviewing of the development and implementation of federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies relating to long-term care and, if appropriate, to comment on those laws, regulations and policies.

(d) The training of volunteers:

(i) Training of volunteers shall be approved by the State Long-Term Care Facilities Ombudsman as appropriate to the level of responsibility of the volunteer, and shall be carried out in accordance with the training manual developed by the Office of the State Long-Term Care Facilities Ombudsman;

(ii) Volunteers who have met the training and designation requirements appropriate to their level of responsibility shall be given identification cards which shall be presented to employees of a long-term care facility upon request;

(iii) No volunteer shall perform any of the duties enumerated by Sections 43-7-51 through 43-7-79 prior to completion of the training and designation program, except as a supervised portion of that training program.

(e) The providing of public forums, scheduling of public hearings, sponsoring of conferences and workshops, and conducting other meetings to gather, disseminate and discuss information relative to the needs and problems of the residents in long-term care facilities as requested by resident and family councils.

(f) The encouragement and assistance in the development and operation of referral services which can provide current, valid and reliable information on long-term care facilities and alternatives to institutionalization for persons in need of these services.

(g) The submission of reports as required by the Office of the State Long-Term Care Facilities Ombudsman.

(h) The development of an ongoing program of publicity concerning the purposes and mode of operation of the long-term care facilities ombudsman program through contact with the media and civic organizations.