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

United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit Receives Challenge Grant from Art Van

Patti's Comments: Congratulations UCP - keep up the good work!

From United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit:

United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit Announces Challenge Grant Award from Art Van

QuickRamps for Kids !!!

Quick Ramp

Southfield, MI - July 31, 2009 -

United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit has been approved a grant of $15,000 to support the QuickRamps for Kids program.  The purpose of the Art Van Grants is to support programs serving children as well as health and human services through out Michigan.

More than 550 applications were submitted.

On Monday, August 3, 2009 a press conference will be held at  Art Van Furniture and United Cerebral Palsy will be represented.

About United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit

The mission of UCP/Detroit is to advance the independence of all people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities while supporting their right to self-determination and inclusion through programs that focus on person centered advocacy, employment, assistive technology and independence (adopted 7/21/09).

Founded in 1949 as United Cerebral Palsy Association of Metropolitan Detroit, Inc. UCP/Detroit is one 105 independent, state and local non-profit affiliates of United Cerebral Palsy Associations. UCP/Detroit is Southeast Michigan's source for information, referral and service for individuals with disabilities, their families and friends. We work to advance the independence of ALL people with any physical, mental or emotional limitation that society calls a "disability" and to secure their right to self-determination and inclusion.

Doctors fear Gov. Jennifer Granholm's cuts to Medicaid dental coverage could cost more in emergency care

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

Disabled and unable to work, Laurel Gruchow waited Wednesday at Ferguson Dental Center for a decision about whether she would have to pay to have several damaged teeth removed to ward off infection. If she somehow managed to catch a break, she wondered how she would afford about $1,300 for the dentures she would need.

Adult dental coverage is optional under Medicaid, and many states -- including Michigan as of July 1 -- have yanked such programs to plug budget deficits. Vision, chiropractic and podiatry services also got the ax in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's executive order.

End-of-Life Decisions: Medicare Is Already in the Room

Patti's Comments: This is really interesting stuff that I really did not think much about until I read this. No matter what happens with the health care reform debate, please, please tell your loved ones what you want in terms of end of life decision making; and better yet, do not leave it to chance — draft a patient advocate designation or living will.

Excerpt from The Huffington Post: (click for entire article)

Except for soldiers and caregivers, Americans don't know much about death. The question President Obama took from Mary in North Carolina at the AARP Tele-Town Hall on Health Care Reform July 28 dramatizes this innocence. "Everyone that's Medicare age will be visited and told to decide how they wish to die. . . . This bothers me greatly, and I'd like for you [Mr. President] to promise me that this is not in this bill." Mary was referring to the section in the 1018-page House health care reform bill that says Medicare in future will pay for an "Advanced Care Planning Consultation" every five years for Medicare recipients. One of the many ironies about the rumor that health care reform will mean government intrusion into end-of-life decisions is that the impetus for pages 425-434, which deal with this topic in draft bill H.R.3200, is restricting such a free consultation to every five years, except in certain instances, on the assumption that this is the kind of personal care that people will want.

But many Americans are afraid to think about the subject. We all know we are going to die but we manage most of the time to forget it. Therefore, the bill drafters envisioning a stampede for knowledge is in itself part of the national ignorance. Nor has White House Press Secretary, and by extension his boss, dealt well with the dynamic of fear fueling the rumor about a government directive. Compartmentalizing the issue as merely one of euthanasia or the same kind of brouhaha that surrounded the late Terry Schiavo, as Gibbs did in his press briefing of July 28, will not deal with the national unease. A lot of people are intimidated, if not downright scared, by the prospect of a will of any variety. So the White House, too, is displaying obliviousness. Is it any wonder that support for an overhaul of our health care system is eroding?

Tara's Law to give 'voice to the voiceless'

Patti's Comments: Horrible story that happens all over the country to people every day!

Excerpt from The Hub: (click for entire article)

Abill designed to protect individuals with developmental disabilities who are living in community care residences has been introduced by 12th District legislators.

Sen. Jennifer Beck and Assembly members Declan O'Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande, 12th District Republicans, hosted a press conference July 21 at their office in Red Bank to announce the introduction of Tara's Law.

Tara's Law would require written monthly case manager reports about individuals with developmental disabilities who are residing in community care residences and would establish a registry of offending community care residence providers.

Should Disability Funding Be Part of Health Reform?

Patti's Comments: This article is a good summary of the issues and explains the anger, frustration, and disappointment of people with disabilities and their families!

Reforming long term services and supports is more important right now than health care reform!

Excerpt from The American Prospect: (click for entire article)

With an estimated 37.5 million eligible voters with a disability -- and the aging baby boom generation means the ranks of the disabled will grow -- disability rights is an emerging brand of identity politics. The Democratic Party has been attuned to the change. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) disability caucus is growing in size and prominence. The Obama campaign had a comprehensive disability-issues platform, and President Obama hired Kareem Dale to be the first White House special assistant for disability policy. On July 21 the president also announced the U.S. will sign on to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

So why are disability activists in an uproar? Instead of celebrating Obama's announcement, on July 21 a coalition of disability-rights organizations held 26 simultaneous protests at the DNC headquarters, local Democratic Party offices, and at Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus' state office in Missoula, Montana. In April, 400 activists chained themselves to the White House fence and were arrested for civil disobedience. Why do they say they are being ignored, and even that they are victims of political discrimination? Because, like other key progressive constituencies, such as gay-rights and reproductive-rights advocates, disability-rights groups are watching long-awaited priorities be delayed as the president and Congress focus on the economy, climate-change legislation, and health reform.

KaiseNew Report Spotlights How Some Families Affected By Cancer Are Faring in the Recession

From the Kaiser Family Foundation:

The deepest recession in decades has caused more than 7 million people to lose their jobs and in many cases their job-based health insurance – a worrisome development for any American, but especially for those also grappling with cancer or other serious illnesses. A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society profiles six cancer patients and survivors and the challenges they face to help gauge how the recession is affecting workers who are most in need of ongoing medical care.

The report, Patients Under Pressure: Profiles of How Families Affected by Cancer are Faring in the Recession, illustrates the kinds of problems such patients face in the midst of a recession, including:

• The obstacles to continuing coverage through COBRA;
• The difficulty in finding an insurer who will sell them non-group coverage;
• The limited availability of public coverage;
• The medical debt that patients can incur and the delays in care they often suffer if they are uninsured even for short periods of time.

The report is a follow up to Spending to Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System, a joint project of the Foundation and the American Cancer Society, which was released in February. Both reports draw upon the personal stories of patients selected to illustrate typical cases from the many people who call the American Cancer Society’s Health Insurance Assistance Service. The service, which has fielded calls from more than 25,000 people, helps families affected by cancer who encounter problems navigating the health care system.

Emerging Trends Public Consultation

From the National Council on Disability News List:

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is gathering public input for a study of emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of people with disabilities. Information gathered will be used in the development of NCD's next annual progress report to the President and Congress, "National Disability Policy: A Progress Report," which is required by Section 401(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

 

The purpose of this public consultation is to gather input to inform NCD's assessment of the status of the nation in achieving policies that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, and empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

 

If you would like to participate, the entire document and information on how to respond is available at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/NationalCouncilonDisability.doc.

 

Please send your responses to NCD by September 15, 2009.

 

Mark S. Quigley

Director of External Affairs

National Council on Disability

1331 F Street, NW Suite 850

Washington, DC 20004

202-272-2008

202-272-2022 fax

www.ncd.gov

 

You also may want to join more than 2,000 subscribers who receive the latest news from NCD via its listserv. Please sign up at http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/ and click on On-line mailing list archives, then select NCD-NEWS-L and complete the short subscription form.

Consumer Alert: The Senior Census - Fact or Fiction?

From Mike Cox, Attorney General:

Consumer Alert

The Senior Census – Fact or Fiction? – The attached consumer alert warns Michigan seniors that recent mailings asking them to complete a survey and provide a "donation" to ensure their state and federal representatives are aware of their opinion are unnecessary.  Michigan seniors and other citizens can easily make their opinions known for free.  The consumer alert also provides Michigan seniors and others with information on how to contact their state and federal representatives.

Please See Attached Consumer Alert

MIKE COX
ATTORNEY GENERAL
STATE OF MICHIGAN

Download Senior Census Consumer Alert 7-2009

After Two Decades, On the Verge of Freedom

Patti's Comments:

After you read this article and about his project, you may be able to empathize with Professor Gates’ distrust of the police and the criminal justice system. Just because we have one of the best systems in the world, that does not mean we cannot improve it!

Excerpt from The Innocence Project Online: (click for entire article)

Lebrew Jones, who has served more than two decades in prison for a New York City murder he has always said he didn’t commit, learned last week that he’ll be released on parole in November. His parole follows mounting evidence of his innocence and comes as his legal team including attorneys at the Innocence Project seeks DNA testing in the case.

 

Alzheimer’s Expert Tells of Astor’s Decline

Patti's Comments: The doctor’s response that doctors do not determine competency, Courts do, is surprising as most Probate Judges look to medical experts for evidence on this issue.

So, a Judge will rely on the doctor, and the doctor wants to rely on the Judge?

Excerpt from The New York Times: (click for entire article)

An Alzheimer’s specialist who diagnosed moderate dementia in Brooke Astor in 2001 testified on Tuesday that her condition significantly declined during the next three years.

The specialist, Dr. Norman R. Relkin, treated Mrs. Astor from April 2001 to August 2004, he said during the trial of her son, Anthony D. Marshall, in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

At first, Dr. Relkin testified, Mrs. Astor seemed younger than her years, but by the time he last saw her, in 2004, she was in a wheelchair, struggled with basic activities and spoke of wanting to die.

It was toward the end of this period that Mrs. Astor signed three amendments, or codicils, to her will that gave Mr. Marshall control over the bulk of her fortune and became the center of the criminal case against him. Prosecutors say that Mr. Marshall and his co-defendant, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who did estate planning, exploited Mrs. Astor’s fraying mental condition for their own financial gain, having her make changes to her will that she could not understand.