VOR Weekly News Update
VOR is a national organization that advocates for high quality care and human rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
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VOR promises to empower you to make and protect quality of life choices for individuals with developmental disabilities
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VOR and YOU: Making Ripples
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“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” - Mother Teresa
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Ohio -
Closing of residential center for disabled might separate longtime friends
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch, July 14, 2018
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Mildred Blumenfeld’s youngest child was about to head to kindergarten when she learned that his developmental problems were unlikely to improve with time. Back then, few families acknowledged having a son or daughter with intellectual disabilities, and doctors often advised parents to opt for an institution.
Blumenfeld confronted both sentiments, dismissed them immediately and set out to become an advocate. Not just for little Lee. For all kids like him.
“If you do something just for yourself, it disappears,” she said.
Blumenfeld is 94 now, and her husband, Ted, is 91. After more than half a century of championing the rights of people with disabilities, they are gathering themselves once again, searching for the answer to a question the Bexley couple had thought was settled: Where will Lee be when they’re gone?
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His home of some 30 years, one that the Blumenfelds helped to establish, soon will cease to exist with the closing of Shalom House North.
The 14-bed residential center on the grounds of Wexner Heritage Village, a nursing home and senior community along College Avenue on the East Side, is structurally unsound, largely because of a shifting foundation.
Shalom House operators decided this spring to shut it down and transfer management to a large disability-services company. REM Ohio, along with case managers from the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, has been working with residents and their families to find new homes.
“This place was such a blessing,” Ted Blumenfeld said. “Never, never, never did we think it wouldn’t be here.”
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South Carolina - DDSN board picks new director: 'She's got the passion for the people we serve'
By Tim Smith, The Greenville News, July 19, 2018
The board of the state's disabilities agency has chosen Mary Poole, the director of York County's disabilities agency, to be the new executive director for the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. The DDSN board interviewed finalists for the job Thursday morning before making its selection during the commission's monthly meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Poole replaces interim Executive Director Pat Maley, a former state inspector general, who was hired in November to replace former Executive Director Beverly Buscemi. Buscemi had been the agency's chief executive since 2009. DDSN Chairwoman Eva Ravenel said the board is "very excited" about Poole's selection.
"She's got the passion for the people who we serve," she said. "I think she'll do a really good job."
DDSN oversees the care of people with intellectual disabilities, autism, brain and spinal cord injuries through a network of county disabilities agencies, DDSN-run regional centers, and private for-profit and nonprofit service providers.
Last year, The Greenville News reported on multiple problems in the agency, including a waiting list for services totaling almost 8,000; rising rates of critical incidents and allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation; and a payment system blamed for one county facility's recent decision to stop operating some of its facilities.
Poole will face a host of issues when she comes on board in about a month, Ravenel said, including filling the post of the deputy director of finances, which is vacant. Ravenel said Maley will continue with the agency in some capacity.
Poole has been working in the field of intellectual disabilities for more than 25 years, according to her county agency's website. She has worked in direct care, as a service coordinator supervisor, and as a residential and day program director before becoming director of the York County Board of Disabilities and Special Needs.
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Michigan - Feds: Mich. only state to need special ed intervention
By Jennifer Chambers, The Detroit News, July 16, 2018
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Michigan is the only state in the nation that failed to meet federal special education requirements and requires intervention, according to a U.S. Department of Education evaluation.
Federal education officials rated Michigan's annual performance on meeting the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, for the 2016-17 school year as "needs intervention."
Federal officials use both compliance and results data for a “letter of determination” on whether a state "meets requirements," "needs assistance" or "needs intervention."
Michigan’s rating came from its high drop-out rate and low graduation rate for students with disabilities, education experts say, as well as its poor performance in results data, which includes student assessments.
In Michigan, for students ages 3 through 21, federal education officials said:
- 29 percent of children with disabilities dropped out of school and 63 percent graduated with a regular high school diploma. That's compared to 15 percent and 74 percent in Massachusetts, for example, a state that meets federal IDEA requirements.
- 19 percent of eighth-graders with disabilities and 39 percent of fourth-graders scored basic or above in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. In Massachusetts, it was 46 percent for eighth-graders and 59 percent for fourth-graders.
- 22 percent of fourth-graders and 34 percent of eighth-graders scored basic or above in reading on the NAEP, compared to 45 percent and 56 percent respectively in Massachusetts.
Michigan is the only state to receive the "needs intervention" ranking, alongside Washington, D.C., Palau and Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth.
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California - Kids Endure Long Waits For Needed Medical Equipment
By Jocelyn Wiener, Kaiser Health News via Disability Scoop, July 20, 2018
Bev Baker-Ajene waited so long to get an adult-sized wheelchair for her teenage daughter, Savitri, that she eventually forgot she’d ordered it.
For the better part of a year, Baker-Ajene pushed Savitri — who has cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and epilepsy — in a child-sized chair that was too small for her. Baker-Ajene said she also has run into problems getting an appropriate shower chair for 17-year-old Savitri. Because of that, she mostly gives her daughter sponge baths in bed.
“It’s ridiculously difficult to get what you need for your child,” said the 62-year-old Clovis, Calif., resident and graphic designer. “I’m tired now. I try not to argue with people anymore, because I need my energy for her.”
Many California children with serious health care needs often wait months, or even years, before they receive essential medical equipment like custom wheelchairs, shower chairs and hospital beds, according to a recent report.
For some children, these long waits aggravate existing health problems, cause pain and pressure sores, or exacerbate developmental delays, said the report, published in May by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health.
“It’s a big bureaucratic mess, and kids are suffering,” said Maryann O’Sullivan, an independent health policy consultant and author of the report.
In one case Sullivan documented, a boy with muscular dystrophy started kindergarten in a stroller because his parents could not get him an appropriate wheelchair in time, in part due to the slow insurance approval process. In another case, a 7-year-old with a serious bone disorder has remained in diapers for years while waiting for a state public health program for children to find a vendor to supply him with a modified commode.
A variety of factors lead to the delays. Families say they are often bounced between private health insurance companies and publicly funded programs such as Medicare, Medi-Cal and California Children’s Services (CCS), which provides coverage for 200,000 children with special health care needs. Once families have navigated that bureaucratic maze to obtain approval for equipment, low reimbursement rates paid by some of the public insurers can make it difficult to find vendors willing to provide the equipment.
Juno Duenas, the executive director of the San Francisco-based Support for Families of Children With Disabilities, said appropriate equipment can be essential to a child’s independence, future job prospects and ability to contribute to society.
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From our Friends at ACCSES:
H.R. 5658 - Please sign on!
- Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) recently introduced the Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act (H.R. 5658). This bill will restore common sense to the definition of competitive integrated employment and provide increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities. People with disabilities across the country have been denied placements in high-paying jobs because of the regulations that implement the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). ACCSES supports expanding opportunities and keeping a full array of options available. We were honored to work with Congressman Grothman and his staff to help draft this legislation. Go to the ACCSES Action Center and tell your Members of Congress to cosponsor and pass this important bill to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities!
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Senate Approves Delay Of Caregiver Check-In Mandate
By Courtney Perkes, Disability Scoop, July 19, 2018
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Bipartisan legislation cleared the U.S. Senate this week that would delay until 2020 the start of a controversial electronic visit verification program to document when personal care services are provided to people with disabilities.
The legislation, which was passed by unanimous consent late Tuesday, was approved by the House of Representatives last month. President Donald Trump has 10 days to sign the bill into law.
“I’m thrilled, although I’ll be even more thrilled when it’s signed,” said Charles Carr, chair of the National Council on Independent Living’s EVV Task Force and a legislative liaison for the Disability Policy Consortium.
Electronic visit verification was mandated by Congress in 2016 as part of the 21st Century
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Cures Act and scheduled to start in January 2019. The intent was to crack down on fraudulent Medicaid billing by requiring in-home care providers to electronically check in and out when performing services.
In addition to the one-year delay, the legislation passed this week requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to hold at least one public meeting by the end of the year to solicit feedback from patients, caregivers and state health officials.
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ACCSES 2018 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
ACCSES's 2018 Annual Conference begins in nine days and it is not too late to register! The tremendous list of speakers includes:
- Helen Applewhaite - Branch Chief, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
- Carol Carr - President and CEO, Achieve Human Services & President, National Council of SourceAmerica Employers (NCSE)
- Johnny Collett – Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education
- Todd Culver - CEO, MARO (Michigan)
- Mary Lazare - Principal Deputy Administrator and Acting Commissioner on Disabilities, Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Ralph Lollar - Director of the Division Long-Term Services and Supports, Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- Joseph M. MacBeth - Executive Director, National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals
- Linda Mastandrea - Director, Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Jennifer Sheehy - Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor
- Stephen Wooderson - CEO, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
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Our Friends at the American Health Care Association (AHCA) / National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL)
Invite you to attend the
2018 Convention
October 7-10
San Diego, CA
Tuesday, October 9 is ID/DD Day
For more information go to
www.ahcaconvention.org
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836 South Arlington Heights Road #351 Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Toll Free: 877-399-4867 Fax: 877-866-8377
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