Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Call Congress About National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

The following is an e-mail from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law:

Congressional Briefing for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Contact your Senators and Representative and ask their staff to attend the breakfast briefing!

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is pleased to announce a legislative briefing held in honor of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day on Thursday, May 7th.  The briefing will focus on Investing in the Educational Future of Youth with Mental Health Needs and the value of effective school-based mental health programs.

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is a day to promote positive youth development, resilience, recovery, and the transformation of mental health services delivery for children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families. This year we are extremely fortunate to have Academy-Award Winning Actress and Children's Mental Health Advocate Goldie Hawn at the briefing to talk about the importance of schools better addressing the needs of students with mental health needs.  Kathryn Power, Director of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), will also share newly released data on positive outcomes achieved with school and community-based grant programs administered through CMHS.  Howard Muscott, Ed.D., Director of the New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports, will discuss the positive outcomes they have achieved in New Hampshire with Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and their work in linking schools with the community mental health system.

Act Now!

Contact your House and Senate representatives today and urge them to attend this important breakfast briefing in honor of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.  They will receive a U.S. House of Representatives "Dear Colleague" letter about the briefing this week. 

Your calls, emails, and contact with Congressional offices will greatly impact turnout for the breakfast briefing.  Here is the vital information:

•    Date and Time:  Thursday, May 7th at 8:30 - 9:45 a.m.
•    Location:  Room 2168, Rayburn House Office Building

What to Say:

"Please attend a legislative briefing on May 7th at 8:30 a.m. in Room 2168 of the Rayburn House Office Building in honor of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.  This briefing is especially important for education and health staff in your office.  You will hear from children's mental health advocate Goldie Hawn about the importance of effective school-based mental health programs.  You will also learn about recently released data from the Center for Mental Health Services showing positive outcomes with effective school and community-based mental health services and supports.  These issues are extremely important to your constituents as we work to improve the academic and functional achievement of youth with mental health needs."

All House and Senate offices can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Please call or email your Congressional Representatives today!  Thanks for all that you do on behalf of children and families.

NCD Conducts Quarterly Meeting in Washington, DC

The following is a bulletin from the National Council on Disability News List:

NCD Bulletin

A Monthly Newsletter from the National Council on Disability (NCD)                    

John R. Vaughn, Chairperson
April 2009
NCD—31 Years of Disability Policy Leadership—1978–2009

NCD Conducts Quarterly Meeting in Washington, DC

NCD’s Spring quarterly meeting was held in Washington, DC, March 30–April 1, 2009, with 70 people in attendance.

On March 30, speakers addressing NCD included: Stephanie Ortoleva, Foreign Affairs Officer, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State; Robert Horvath, U.S. Agency for International Development, Displaced Children and Orphans Fund/Leahy War Victims Fund; Eric Rosenthal, Board Member, United States International Council on Disabilities and Founder and Executive Director, Mental Disability Rights International; Susan Daniels, President, Daniels and Associates; and William A. Yasnoff, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Partner, NHII Advisors.

On March 31, NCD heard from several distinguished speakers and released two very important reports. The speakers included: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy; Connie Garner, Democratic Policy Director, Disability and Special Needs Populations, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Sharon Lewis, Senior Disability Policy Advisor, U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, representing the Committee Chairman George Miller; and Janet Smith, Co-Director, Nathalie P. Voorhees Center, Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Summaries of the panel discussions will be posted at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/quarterly/quarterly.htm.

NCD Releases Progress Report

On March 31, during the quarterly meeting, NCD released its annual report to the President and Congress calling for a new integrated approach to disability policy within the Federal Government.

The report, National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, can be found at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/Progress_Report_HTML/NCD_Progress_Report.html.

The release was followed by an expert panel reacting to the report. It included Elizabeth Leef, Policy Analyst, National Council on Independent Living; John Kemp, Principal, Powers Pyles, Sutter, & Verville; and Peter Thomas, Co-Chair, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Health Task Force.

NCD Releases Employment Paper

During the quarterly meeting, NCD also released an important policy paper, Federal Employment of People with Disabilities  (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/pdf/Federal_Employment_of_People_with_Disabilities.pdf).Among other findings, the paper concludes that current efforts to employ people with disabilities in the Federal Government have not worked well, and makes recommendations for reversing this trend.

As part of the employment paper release, Susan Parker, Director of Policy Development, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor discussed her reaction to the paper.

NCD Web Page

During the business portion of the quarterly meeting, NCD voted to continue increasing accessibility and usability of its Web site at http://www.ncd.gov/. The site currently receives approximately 11 million successful hits per year with readers downloading nearly 600,000 publications per year. NCD is committed to having an accessible and user-friendly Web site. If you have any suggestions for improvements, please send them to ncd@ncd.gov.

NCD Needs Your Input—Economic Stimulus Package

NCD is also very interested in learning about examples of expenditures from the economic stimulus package being put to use in each state, and how it is affecting people with disabilities. For example, the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency in Ohio is using stimulus money to hire back some retired VR counselors to handle the increased workload for the next year or two. Another example was received from Virginia, where the VR agency is opening up the order of selection list to allow more people with disabilities to receive services. If you know of other specific examples that will help people with disabilities, please send them to us at ncd@ncd.gov.

Future Quarterly Meetings
Summer 2009, July 20–22, Marriott City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN
Fall 2009, October 26–28, Holiday Inn Express, 920 Broadway, Nashville, TN
Winter 2010, January 19–21, Houston, TX
Spring 2010, April 26–28, Detroit, MI
Summer 2010, July 28–29, Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC, immediately following the National Summit on Disability Policy at the same location. 

Please visit http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/quarterly/quarterly.htm for updated information about all meetings when it becomes available.

Current Issues

NCD’s list of current and proposed research projects include studies and reports on:

The Current State of Healthcare for People with Disabilities
Effective Emergency Preparedness Practices for Use by Communities and People with Disabilities
National Disability Policy: A Progress Report
Housing
Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act: Implementation Evaluation and Recommendations for Reauthorization
Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs
The Accessibility of United States Overseas Development Projects and Embassies
2010 National Summit on Disability Policy Update
Planning continues for NCD’s invitation-only 2010 National Summit on Disability Policy, which will take place July 26–27, 2010, in Washington, DC.

The purpose of the Summit will be to exchange ideas on significant themes for all people with disabilities and develop policy recommendations for the next decade. It will also be a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law on July 26, 1990. Three hundred people with disabilities and other stakeholders, including federal, community, and private sector disability experts, will be invited to participate as delegates to this summit.

Issue papers are being prepared to identify key factors surrounding important issues, and will become the foundation of discussion for Summit delegates as they develop policy recommendations for the future. Topics include Civil Rights (including voting issues), Employment (including asset accumulation and finance), Disability Statistics and Data Education, Healthcare (including Mental Health Care, i.e. whole health), Homeland Security (including emergency preparedness), Housing, International issues, Telecommunications and Technology, and Transportation.

NCD is currently seeking co-sponsors who may be interested in supporting this worthwhile endeavor. Interested parties should contact NCD Executive Director Mike Collins at ncd@ncd.gov. A dedicated Summit Web page is nearing completion. Please visit http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/2010NationalSummit.html this Spring to find the link.

NCD Member Activities

On April 8, NCD Vice Chairperson Pat Pound participated in a wrap session for Health/Special Needs at the National Hurricane Conference in Austin, TX. She highlighted NCD's soon-to-be-released report on homeland security and the input NCD received from around the country.

Ms. Pound will also participate April 30–May 1 in The Galveston Brain Injury Conference sponsored annually by The University of Texas Medical Branch and the Transitional Learning Center. This is an invitation-only conference that brings together leaders in brain injury to discuss various topics—this year's topic is emergencies and people with head injuries.

NCD Board Members Kathy Martinez and Linda Wetters will provide public policy updates on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and emergency preparedness, respectively, at the Ninth Annual Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion & Disability: Change, Challenge & Collaboration Conference April 28–29 at the Ohio State University Columbus Campus.

Ticket to Work

The U.S. Department of Labor has posted a calendar of events for the Ticket to Work Program to make people aware of local Work Incentives Seminar Events in their areas. More information is available at: http://www.cessi.net/WISE.

ADA Update

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a reminder to state and local governments, business owners, and building professionals about their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act as they build or alter facilities using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. For more information, please call

800-514-0301 (Voice), 800-514-0383 (TTY), or visit the ADA Website www.ada.gov.

DTV Update

The TV Converter Box Coupon Program is now accepting applications from consumers whose coupons expired without being redeemed. Replacement coupons will only be issued to eligible households upon request. Please visit https://www.dtv2009.gov/.

Also, the Coupon Program has completed processing approved coupon applications that were placed on a waiting list beginning in January 2009. Consumers who had been notified they were approved for coupons but placed on a waiting list due to a lack of program funds will be issued coupons.

The transition to digital will be effective by June 12, 2009.

About the NCD Bulletin

The Bulletin, which is also available at NCD’s Web site (http://www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form.

Editorial comments can be sent to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley at mquigley@ncd.gov.

Is a Guardian Personally Liable for Nursing Home Costs of Ward?

Excerpt from the GeriLaw blog: (click for entire article)

Is a Guardian Personally Liable for Nursing Home Costs of Ward?

That is the question posed (on narrow facts) in this week's Elder Law Issues article at elder-law.com. The answer in that case -- and probably in most cases raising similar questions -- turned on the language of the admission contract itself.

Aging boomers face health care dilemma

Excerpt from Citizen.com: (click for entire article)

In the last three years, Carol Gonyea of Belmont has had five knee surgeries, aortic valve surgery and, just two weeks ago, a pacemaker installed.

Due to the physical limitations caused by these conditions, such as not being able to stand for long periods of time, not walking very far and not being able to raise her arms above her head, Gonyea, 65, needs help with everyday tasks such as preparing meals and cleaning as well as with health care needs, including changing her bandages daily.

Her brother, Leo Gonyea, 70, of Vermont has been staying at Gonyea's mobile home since October when his sister's aortic valve was replaced. He has been cooking, cleaning and driving his sister to her appointments. His wife travels from Vermont from time to time to visit and help as well.

Carol Gonyea also has a nurse from Community Health and Hospice in Laconia visit her once a week to check her bandaged wounds and other health indicators, such as her blood pressure, temperature and breathing.

"Between the nurses and Leo ... without them, I don't know where I'd be, in a nursing home probably," said Carol Gonyea, who also is recovering from a staph infection and is anemic. "This way, I can stay at home and be comfortable in my own surroundings with my family and friends."

This combination of family and professional home health care is likely to become the norm for more elders in the coming years as the Baby Boomers continue to age.

Landlord demands dead victim’s late rent, fees

Patti's Comments:  My comment to this mom, "Just say 'no!'"  She has no legal obligation to pay these folks a single penny; and good for her for going to the press!

Excerpt from Kenosha News: (click for entire article)

When she opened the letter from her dead son’s former landlord this week, Danelle Eckert thought there had to be some mistake.

The letter, addressed to Eckert and to the estate of her son, Colin Byars, was demanding March and April rent, late fees and an “early termination fee” because he had left his apartment before the end of his lease. Byars, a 24-year-old teacher, was killed Feb. 21 when he was punched in the head on a Kenosha street.

“I thought they must not understand that Colin was killed. But no, they understood completely,” Eckert said.

Seven Days To Say Good-Bye

Patti's Comments: This is so sweet - it does not even seem real.  We should all be so lucky to have a chance like this!

Excerpt from The Elder Storytelling Place: (click for entire article)

On April 10, 2009, I was suddenly no one’s child any more, an orphan at the age of 59. On Good Friday, my 91-year-old mother passed away, 17 years following the death of her husband and my father. But for 58 days my brothers and I were witness to the most amazing spiritual journey of our lives. On Friday, April 17th I proudly gave the following eulogy in honor of my mother. I want to share it so others may know of my mother’s life and my blessings.

Trenton Gang Member Admits Using Mentally Ill Man’s Identity Information to Steal and Deposit Disability Checks

Patti's Comments: Does anyone think this veteran will ever see his money again?

Excerpt from the United States Department of Justice: (click for entire article)

A so-called “five-star general” in the Gangsta Killa Bloods set of the Bloods street gang pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft and stealing government money, admitting he stole the identity of a paranoid schizophrenic military veteran in order to steal the victim’s disability benefits payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced.

H.R. 60, The Early Detection of Dyslexia in Children Act of 2009

Patti's Comments: Check out this proposed legislation and let me know what you think of it.

Excerpt from WashingtonWatch.com: (click for entire article)

H.R. 60 would require the Secretary of Education to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report on methods for identifying and treating children with dyslexia in kindergarten through third grade.

Bazelon Center Releases New Supportive Housing Fact Sheet

The following is an e-mail from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law:

Supportive Housing is Effective for Problem Documented in The Soloist
April 24, 2009 -- The Soloist, released today, tells a heartwarming tale of friendship between a homeless musician with a mental illness and a Los Angeles newspaper reporter.

Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx, is forced to give up his dream of becoming a world-class musician when paranoid schizophrenia overwhelms him, taking him from the halls of Julliard to the streets of Los Angeles.

The fundamental aspects of this true story - chronic homelessness due to mental illness - is unfortunately all too common. However, growing research shows that there is a solution to this hopeless cycle through supportive housing.

Bazelon Center Releases New Supportive Housing Fact Sheet

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law announces the release of a fact sheet which details research and praise for supportive housing as the most effective and integrated housing for people with mental disabilities - including some of the most challenging cases, the chronically homeless with mental illnesses.

The fact sheet describes the many benefits of supportive housing, including cost-effectiveness and the key role it plays in well-being and recovery.  The piece also describes components that administrators and policymakers must consider when developing successful supportive housing programs.

View the new fact sheet and other supportive housing information at www.bazelon.org/issues/housing

Thie fact sheet was developed by the Bazelon Center under a grant to the University of Pennsylvania from the Department of Education.

# # #

The Bazelon Center (www.bazelon.org) is the leading national legal-advocacy organization representing people with mental disabilities. It promotes laws and policies that can enable people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities to exercise their life choices and access the resources they need to participate fully in their communities.

Pittsburgh TV station investigates abuses at Pennsylvania group homes for people with intellectual disabilities

Patti's Comments:  In Michigan our mental health recipient right’s system has the exact same types of conflicts of interest!

Excerpt from the Media dis&dat blog: (click for entire post)

A Team 4 investigation uncovers abuse and neglect of the most vulnerable adults in our community -- those with mental retardation.

And as if that's not bad enough, here's something else:

Pennsylvania allows for an inescapable conflict of interest when it comes to investigating reports of abuse in group homes. The companies that own them are permitted to investigate themselves.