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OPI award winners
Superintendent Alice Pavey and Director of Community Relations Jenny Dexter represented People For DD Services, which won an award for public relations efforts. Famed Reds bat boy Ted Kremer, won for Personal Achievement, Logan Brinson won the Self-Advocate award, and former Ohio Senator Eric Kearney, won for Community/Elected Official. The Cincinnati Enquirer also wrote about Kremer and his OPI award. Click here to see more photos from the awards luncheon, which was held in Columbus.
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CARF surveyors visit for agency re-accreditation
Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) surveyors spent March 25-27 in Cincinnati to assess Hamilton County DD Services' programs and administration for re-accreditation.
This survey's focus was on community integration, transition services and community services coordination. At the end of the visit, surveyors noted the agency's many strengths.
Surveyors Linda Brimmer and Donna Ennis commended HCDDS for its "focus on inclusion and community integration," as well as striving to "make sure services are maintained and become better."
Brimmer said the "advocacy for people with disabilities is phenomenal."
She also praised the excellent communication and collaboration among agency staff and with the community.
The official report and survey results should be available by the end of May.
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Rost School raises money for cancer awareness
Last fall, Deb Benderman and Peggy Vedder's classroom began a project to raise money and awareness for ovarian cancer in memory of and in support of current Rost employees fighting their own battles with cancer.
Their goal was to be able to
donate $25 per month to the Cancer Support Community of Greater Cincinnati. They started making chocolate-dipped pretzels and the students helped stamp, fold and attach the tags.
The students also sell and deliver the treats throughout the school building, as well as bring the monthly checks to the cancer center themselves. All products are stamped with a specially designed signature stamp that reads "Crafted by Margaret B. Rost School Students."
Since the project began, they've been able to donate $844 to the center, with nearly $300 was raised in February alone! Their project has well exceeded intital goals and expanded to include homemade mini thin mints, tagalongs and cake pops.
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2014 Annual Report
The Hamilton County DD Services 2014 Annual Report is now online.
It
includes information about how many people HCDDS serves, the agency finances and highlights from the year. Click here to read the annual report.
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Celebrating Pi Day
Franks Adult Center celebrated "Pi Day," which is March 14, with a pie baking contest. Activities Supervisor Peg Genis edged out the competition with her Dutch apple pie!
The contest judges were Mary Reddington, a nurse at Franks, and Rick Ratterman, director of the Office of Budget and Administrative Operations.
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|  People for DD Services is hosting a fluid station for the Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday, May 3. The station is at Mile 25.
We need volunteers to help on race day. If you'd like to join us, email Lisa Danford for details. |
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Organizing Families for Advocacy
This is a time of great change in Ohio for people with developmental disabilities (DD) and their families. For many, it has also been a time of great frustration. The rapid pace and wide scope of changes to DD services that Ohio has planned to meet the demands of federal legislation has created an air of uncertainty.
Many families have expressed a profound concern about what they see happening in Ohio. Many have told us they feel they had no voice in these life-altering changes and they want to be sure that their voices are heard now. We want to tell you about something new that is happening across Ohio to help us all work more effectively to be heard by our elected officials and policy makers.
The Advocacy Chair program was started by the Ohio Association of County Boards of Developmental Disabilities (OACB) to help families in the 88 Ohio counties connect with legislators and other public officials at all levels of government. We have the honor of being Hamilton County's first Advocacy Co-Chairs. Hamilton County Board of DD Services is excited to participate in this program to organize citizens with a vested interest in DD services into a grassroots movement.
Our goal is to improve communication to you about policy and legislative actions and to provide you with several ways to let our elected officials know where you stand. If you would like to be involved, please email us at [email protected].
We would appreciate your input as we get this movement off the ground. Please let us know your concerns, and write out your stories for us to take to our legislators when we visit them. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
| Robert Harris Advocacy Co-Chair |
Cynthia Molloy, MD
Advocacy Co-Chair
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Sports enthusiast headed to 2015 Special Olympics World Games
By Emma Jones, Community Relations intern
Amid the numerous trophies, medals, and University of Tennessee memorabilia, anyone can walk into Sheryl Fairbanks' apartment and instantly realize her devotion for sports and Tennessee Women's basketball.
"I love Tennessee. I love Pat Summit," Fairbanks said. "I went downtown for a Tennessee women's basketball game once and walked right over to Pat Summit to get her autograph and take pictures. It was really big for me."
Fairbanks, 59, is a sports enthusiast. "I play basketball, softball, bowling," she said. "But this summer I get to go to L.A. for the Special Olympics for 10 days. I didn't know they were going to pick me, but they picked me! I am going to play bocce ball. I am really excited to go."
Janet Smith, executive director of Hamilton County Special Olympics and a longtime friend of Fairbanks, will be accompanying her to Los Angeles. "Sheryl comes to the office on Fridays and we actually practice bocce ball in the hallway. She is so excited to go," Smith said.
Both Smith and Fairbanks' involvement with the Special Olympics has led to a 30-year friendship between the two. "Everyone always says, wherever Janet is, Sheryl is real close behind. And this is so true," Smith said. "To be quite honest with you, I am not sure how this whole friendship thing got started. We all of a sudden just started doing things together."
Smith and Fairbanks' love for sports is just one of many things they have in common. "A while ago, I asked Sheryl to be my teammate in my bowling program. She was hesitant at first because bowling was never considered a 'sport sport' to Sheryl. But she became my teammate because Sheryl just loves to go out and have fun," Smith said. "She always asks 'You're my buddy, right Janet? You're my buddy?' and that's what we are, we're buddies."
Fairbanks currently lives in her own apartment on the West Side of Cincinnati. "I love living by myself. I take the bus to work every day, come home, clean up, and play my Wii bowling," she said.
For the past 24 years, Fairbanks has worked at the Kroger near her apartment. "My favorite part about working at Kroger is meeting the people," she said. "I go outside, help put grocery bags into their cars, and then go back inside to help bag other groceries."
"Everyone who grocery shops at that Kroger knows Sheryl," said Smith. "She is a friendly face that people love to talk to."
Video: Sheryl talks about her experiences
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Upcoming events
- 2015 Autism & All Special Needs Expo. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at the Sharonville Convention Center. Free event with activities for families to connect with providers and autism resources in the community. Click here for details.
- Creative Solutions Circle. 10 a.m. to noon Monday, April 20 at the Support Center, 1520 Madison Road. Topic will be posted on the agency website and Facebook page.
- Poetry Group. 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 21 at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Rookwood, 2629 Madison Road. April's topic is spring and participants are encouraged to bring poetry, short stories or other personal writing work. Contact Holly Watson-Otto for details or click here for the flier.
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New agency blog
March 19 was the three-year anniversary of Ohio's Employment First initiative. To mark the anniversary, we'd like to introduce you to our new blog, "Employment Spotlight."
It features local success stories about the people we serve, training opportunities, innovative ideas, and news for families and businesses. You can follow the blog on WordPress or sign up to receive an email whenever there is a new post. Click here to check out our blog. We hope you enjoy it!
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The Innovation and Quality team has been conducting focus group sessions with new Service and Support Administrators (SSAs) who have been with the agency for six months. The team addresses expert interviews, mentoring, shadowing, supervision and caseload acquisition with the SSAs.
These focus groups provide essential feedback to both the SSAs and agency administrators about progress and experience.
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SSAs Tonisha Speakes, Ryan Braun and Deanna Dieckmann talk with Innovation & Quality team members Rebecca Meyer and Mark Buttelwerth (not pictured) during a focus group session.
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For more news & updates:
 
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