how to empower your agency - national advocacy campaign...empower your organization, see pages 7,...
TRANSCRIPT
A n A N C O R p u b l i c a t i o n o f p r i v a t e p r o v i d e r p r a c t i c e a n d f e d e r a l p o l i c y i s s u e s
M a y 2 0 1 1 • V o l u m e 4 2 • N u m b e r 5 w w w . a n c o r . o r g
L INKS
Inside this Issue of LINKS:
For more articles on how to be empower your organization, see pages
7, 10, 11, and 16.
Learn how to communicate on the state level on page 21.
To learn why now is the time to innovate, see the State Association
View on page 23.
How to Empower Your AgencyThe Big “C” Word of the Century: Collaboration
By Bonnie-Jean BrooksANCOR Foundation Board of Directors
ANCOR members, particularly those of us who are environmental scanners, began to
hear more and more about the value and critical importance of collaboration in a big “C” way as the new century began to unfold.
When we study the term “collaboration,” we learn that collaboration is a cooperative ar-rangement in which two or more parties work toward a com-mon goal. We hear that it is a knowledge management tool—an effective method of transferring knowl-edge among individu-als—and it becomes critical to creating and sustaining a competi-tive advantage. Many of us are learning that collaboration is a form of social organization that is rapidly growing in these times of crisis, conflict and chaos.
Collaboration enables systemic change and reduces the individual sense of personal/organi-zation powerlessness. Collaborative efforts are rising as an effective form of organization for social change to deal with pressing issues that affect many people.
A Meeting of Minds
It was with this in the back of our minds that five diverse Maine social service agencies began to venture into collaborative talks nearly six years ago. While we are competitors, we also have had a healthy respect for one another over the years. Together, we provide a huge array of services covering more than two-thirds of the geography of Maine—primarily in re-mote, rural places. We provide intellectual dis-
ability, mental health, substance abuse, crisis, homeless, hospice and physical health services to people across the age spectrum.
We recognized that although the government was experiencing chaos and uncertainty, it was also expecting more accurate and timely reporting. We knew that we needed to enter the electronic age quickly and fully for other reasons, including heightened competition, risk management, diminished funding bases,
workforce shortages, and ways to build in checks and balances to assure that we are in compliance with a very complicated Medicaid system that is fraught with audits of all kinds.
Some of us had purchased an off-
the-shelf electronic medical record (EMR) that was inadequate, and we discarded it. Others had not purchased an EMR at all because of the immense cost of purchasing a software product and having it customized to meet the unique needs of the diverse service populations and the ever-changing state requirements.
As we sat and talked, we came to the realiza-tion that not one of us had the money or ability to ascertain what we needed, to locate it and to negotiate with a software company to custom-ize it to meet our needs. Before long, we came to the conclusion that there is strength and power in numbers.
Making or Breaking
We realized right off the bat that we were not competent enough to identify all of the elements and functions we would collectively need in a robust EMR. We identified a project manager from Chicago to help us, and it turned out that
See The Big “C,” page 5.
They collude, they confide, they collaborate, and they celebrate that
they are on the same team even though they work for five
different nonprofits. The same is true throughout this collaboration.
this was the single best decision we made—the “make or break” of this successful project.
He helped us identify the detailed elements we needed, including the absolute non-negotiables. He developed a request for proposal that we sent out nationwide and narrowed respondents down to six. From there, our collaborative chose four companies to interview.
Finding the Best Fit
Our consultant developed an agenda for each candidate to deliver a two-hour introduction to their product. The respondents came from Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona to Maine. Each collaborator had 2–5 members present for the interviews. We scored, we vetted, we deliberated, we weighed and balanced, and in the end, we chose two software companies to visit: one in Phoenix and one in Philadelphia.
Each of our five agencies sent a team of 5–7 people to each of these sites. The teams from each collaborator included billing/finance,
LINKS May 20112
By Wendy SokolANCOR President
Welcome to ANCOR’s “How To” issue of LINKS. This is the issue where you will
learn about products, services, supports and resources that will make you want to cry out, “Thank you ANCOR!” I hope that this issue brings a smile to your face and provides you with at least one great solution to your “how to” problems.
In light of the theme, I thought I might share with you some helpful information regarding “how to” manage one of the most difficult hurdles facing agencies during this recession—rate cuts—and how to begin to embrace the new reality of Medicaid services.
News of funding cuts is often received by pro-viders in a very similar manner that we receive news of any extreme loss. Many of us will grieve the loss of the “good ole days.” We may feel shock, and we may even recognize that we and our staff are experiencing some of the five stages of grief and loss.
It is important that you recognize these stages in yourself, your Board of Directors, your man-agement and your direct support workforce, because with knowledge, you can become bet-ter equipped to help the people in your agency cope with the feelings of loss and move through
them so that you can take the necessary action to address the cuts, plan for serious changes to our service delivery system and ensure the long-term survival of your agency.
The five stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance—are a part of the framework that, with knowledge, creates tools to help us frame and identify what we and oth-ers may be feeling. But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order.
Stage One: Denial
If you receive formal notification of a rate cut and you decide to take a few days to process the information but you find the days turn-ing into weeks, you may be in denial. If you receive formal notification and feel numb but know that you have to do something so you begin planning an education campaign of your local elected officials, you may be in denial.
Denial could be likened to watching someone suffocate and slowly turn blue but being unable to take action. When someone is suffocating, you need to immediately move to action and begin CPR. An extended period of denial and a failure to move to action could have tragic ramifications that will result in the suffocation of your agency.
Wendy Sokol
President’s CornerHow to Cope with Changes Ahead
2 President’s Corner
Partnerships
1 How to Empower Your Agency7 How to Get the Most From Your ANCOR Membership9 How to Create Your Own “AdVanture”10 How to Master a Meeting With Congressional Offices11 How to Get the Most Out of the ACC16 How to Implement Performance Excellence17 How to Provide Better Health Insurance20 How to Advocate at the State Level
Wage and Hour Guidelines
14 Child Labor Rules Specifically Restrict Some Work Activities of 14 and 15 Year Olds
State Association View
22 When in Crisis—Innovate!
NAC Central
12 Get Ready for DSPs to DC
General
17 News and Notes18 The Riot! Joins CDS Curriculum
ContentsInside This Issue of LINKS
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (who introduced the now-famous Five Stages of Grief) will tell you that this first stage of grieving actually helps you to survive the loss. She would say it helps you to pace your feelings of grief and that there is a grace in denial. It is supposedly nature’s way of letting in only as much as we can handle.
I will tell you that you have a finite window to take action, so get over the denial—suck it up and move to action. If you are the CEO or President of your agency you do not have the
See Five Stages, page 3.
3 May 2011
The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) was founded in 1970 to provide national advocacy, resources, services and networking
opportunities to providers of private supports and services. LINKS provides a nexus for the exchange
of information, ideas and opinions among key stakeholders.
National Office StaffRenée L. PietrangeloChief Executive Officer703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Cindy Allen de RamosFinance Manager
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Alexandra BradleyCommunications and Marketing Specialist
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Jocelyn Breeland, APRDirector, Communications and Marketing
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Dana CalisiOffice/Data Entry Coordinator
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Suellen GalbraithSenior Public Policy Advisor
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Mary Pauline JonesGovernment Relations Assistant
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Jerri McCandlessDirector of Member Relations and
Board Development703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Marsha PatrickDirector of Resource and Revenue Development703.535.7850, ext. 110
Jessica SadowskyDirector, Government Relations
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
Tony YuDirector, Web and Information Technology
703.535.7850, ext. [email protected]
See Five Stages, page 5.
luxury of grieving. Recognize the signs, accept them and move on.
Stage Two: Anger
If you find yourself itching to yell profanities at your elected officials or at representatives of state government, you may be experiencing Stage Two, Anger. Kubler-Ross will tell you that anger is a necessary stage of the healing process. You have to be willing to feel your an-ger, even though it may seem endless. She would say that underneath your anger is pain—your pain.
It is natural to feel desert-ed and abandoned when you have been hit with the news of the cuts on the same week that the day program van blows an engine; the IT depart-ment announces that the new server will cost $80,000; you receive a subpoena to provide the last 10 years of emails regarding XYZ; and you can’t get your local DDD representative to even return a call. But like a good CEO you suck it up.
The problem is that you cannot put out an of-ficial edict to your staff that when they receive
notification of the cuts that they too are to move through their anger by experiencing the pain and immediately move to the next stage of grieving.Anger is a natural response to the news of cuts. The reality is that for most agencies, our wages and ERE account for 75% to 90% of our budgets, depending on how many cuts we have already experienced. For many providers, there is no fat left in the system and the only choice we have is to pass the cuts on to our workers.
How you communicate information on the cuts and other changes to the ser-vice delivery system will directly correlate with the type of response you will receive from your workers and from the people to whom you offer supports. If you notify your direct care workforce by mail, I could predict that your staff will rapidly move past denial and become absorbed in Stage Two.
Having successfully man-aged this unpleasant task in my own agency, I can tell you that it is critical that you notify in person. At Soreo, the owners notified 1,000 workers in three counties and in three different languages over a 10-day period. Your employees must feel and understand why they are being cut, who man-
dated the cuts to your funding and that you and your company are being fair with the implemen-tation of the cuts.
They will feel anger because it creates a neces-sary structure for their grief. You can effectively redirect that anger back into action by getting them involved in educating their legislative rep-resentatives regarding the critical nature of the services that your provide and the serious and negative impact that cuts have on the workforce and eventually the quality of care.
Our company’s slogan is “Don’t Let Budget Con-cerns Outweigh Human Concerns – No More Medicaid Cuts.” If you do not find a healthy avenue to redirect the anger, it will manifest itself and could be directed at you or your agency.
Stage Three: Bargaining
Bargaining is when you become lost in a maze of “If only…” or “What if…” statements. You want life returned to what is was. If you think you might be caught in “bargaining,” then go back to Stage One and review the information on denial.
We are in a recession. In our analogy of a per-son suffocating, all the bargaining in the world will not restore the flow of oxygen or create a fairy godmother who can implement CPR.
...With knowledge, you can become better equipped to
help the people in your agency cope with the feelings of loss...
so that you can take the necessary action to address
the cuts, plan for serious changes to our service
delivery system and ensure the long-term survival of
your agency.
Five Stages, from page 3.
Past and Present Applicant & Employee Information – When You Need It!
Solana is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunshine, a non-profit corporation creating community among people with developmental disabilities since 1950.
Make better employment decisions by moving the HR Department to a paperless system. Transform from a paper personnel file to an instantly accessible, electronic, decision-making trending and reference tool.
Enterprise Software & Support for AgenciesServing People With Developmental Disabilities
®
And FOUNDING GOLD SPONSOR
Get All The Information You Need, When You Need It.
Learn more.For a FREE, no-obligation,
best practices in-service, call Jeff Rutledge at 419-335-1280 - ext 11. Reference LINKS0511
www.SolanaPro.com
419-335-1280 ext. 11
Save time. Save money. Period.
Solana software products and support help deliver
FMLA and other leave tracking•
Electronic DOL, EEO, OSHA and other • government-mandated reports
Automated email alert system notifies • managers and employees of training requirements coming due
Unlimited history of past applicants to • use as pool for future openings and eliminate re-screening of problem applicants…
and much, much more!
LINKS May 20114
5 May 2011
Five Stages, from page 3.
quality assurance, clinical, CEOs, human resources, and professional development per-sonnel, accompanied by our consultant.
We visited each site for three days. The various disciplines went as teams and visited providers in the area using the product. The clinical peo-ple traveled out together, the CEOs visited the corporate headquarters to meet with investors and owners, and so on. We also “traveled” by teleconference to providers in other parts of the country using the proposed products. A group traveled from Phoenix to Rhode Island, before going home, to visit a provider in the east us-ing the software from the west. We wanted to make sure if we chose a company in the west, it could provide the top-notch customer service we needed.
In the end—and with the use of a very complex scoring mechanism—we unanimously chose ClaimTrak of Phoenix. Then the negotiations began. From August to February we talked…and talked…and talked!
Orchestrating Partnerships
Between the strategies used, the statistical analyses used, the steady work of our con-sultant, and the formulas we decided upon to decide which agency would pay is certainly a long dissertation in itself, suffice it to say that we entered into the contract—and now own a wondrous EMR—that we could never have af-forded as one agency. The savings to each of us can be counted in the hundreds of thousands.
A coup d’etat of sorts, our collaborative was able to negotiate with ClaimTrak that it would not sell its product to another provider in Maine unless the provider joined our collaborative.
As a result, we now have several interested providers who will be joining us. Each will pay a one-time fee to join the collaborative, based on certain factors. Once the provider joins us, it will then negotiate with ClaimTrak to determine what it will pay for the EMR. This will be dependent on such things as number of sites, concurrent users, number of services and so on. Although this project has been expensive, we fully expect to recoup all of our start-up costs and to actually begin to profit on our collaborative.
Fostering Implementation
The implementation is close to fruition more than a year later. The billing representatives meet once a week as do their respective col-leagues in the other target areas. The electronic communication tools we are using in the imple-mentation are innovative. Within a year, we have been able to get ClaimTrak to build out a
The Big “C,” from page 1.system that will accommodate the needs of all of these diverse populations.
We are told that our collaborative may be a one of a kind in the country. One of the five agen-cies contracted directly with ClaimTrak (so it would only have to deal with one entity), we are all equal partners.
In the process of implementation, each agency has formed a bond that is beyond what anyone could have imagined. When our billing person has a problem, he calls the billing people from four other agencies. They collude, they confide, they collaborate, and they celebrate that they are on the same team even though they work for five different nonprofits. The same is true throughout this collaboration. We have agreed to provide trainers for each other when someone is more skilled in a function than someone else.
Gaining Recognition
Our collaborative is being recognized by state health technology information systems and en-tities. Maine HealthInfoNet, a federally funded entity that successfully integrated the health information systems of the major hospitals of Maine is now interested in working with our collaborative to integrate the unique type of in-formation embodied in our services. Doing so will help assure that, by using the technology developed for our collaborative, all residents of Maine who go to a major hospital will have their information available at hospitals throughout Maine.
This unique collaboration has resulted in grants from foundations because of their belief that collaborations are essential for the future of nonprofits. We are—at the state level—a model for others to seriously consider. The bottom line for all of us is that we are all richer because we had the fortitude, patience and wisdom to spend time to develop a level of trust that we knew would result in greater and higher quality supports for the people we serve, individually and collectively.
This collaboration is something very unique, very awe-inspiring and the most rewarding partnership effort in which I have engaged in my lifetime of service. It is all that the gurus speak of—powerful in a solitary world, has led to systemic change and has been necessi-tated by this time of crisis, conflict and chaos. In the greater sense, it is about “us” and not “we and them.” Five competitors have be-come a team, despite this very difficult world of “dog eat dog.”
Bonnie-Jean Brooks is CEO of OHIMaine. She is a member of the ANCOR Foundation Board of Directors. OHI is a participant in the Performance Excellence Initiative. Bonnie may be reached at [email protected] or 207-848-5804.
If you are reading LINKS, you are probably the person who will be responsible for loosen-ing the constraining and unnecessary garments that are suffocating your agency and beginning to breathe life back into it to help reduce the constriction of oxygen into your agency. You are also the person who understands that after the recession, after the cuts, after this reality, there will be a new world order and Medicaid services will never return to the good ole days.
It is your job to get better educated and consider all the possibilities of the potential new world order. Is the new reality going to include block grants, managed care or some other paradigm?
Stage Four: Depression
After bargaining, our attention moves squarely into the present. Empty feelings present them-selves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level. The reality of the long-term cuts is obvious. We can see the impact on our staff and know that it will impact the quality of the ser-vices that we deliver; the “suck it up” mantra stops being effective.
Stage Five: Acceptance
This stage is about accepting that our old way of business is gone and recognizing that this new reality is the permanent reality. We can never replace what has been lost, but we can create new methods for service delivery and form new partnerships and new inter-dependencies.
Instead of denying our feelings and the feelings of our staff and the people to whom we offer supports, we listen to our needs and to their needs; we move, we change, we grow and our agencies and service delivery models evolve. We reach out and seek support through tried and tested relationships that we have learned can be trusted—relationships like those we have formed through our membership with ANCOR.
We reach out to become better educated so we can understand the new paradigm. I invite you to reach out to your fellow ANCOR members and to actively begin your education of the new paradigm by attending the ANCOR conference this June, as well as the Managed Care Summit that ANCOR is sponsoring this fall.
Part of the process of healing is to recognize you are not alone. Thousands of ANCOR members are facing the exact same challenges as you, and together we will survive, our service delivery models will evolve and we will continue to make a positive difference in the lives of the people to whom we offer supports.
Wendy Sokol is CEO and co-owner of SOREO In-Home Support Services. She can be reached at [email protected].
7 May 2011
How to Get the Most From Your ANCOR Membership
You’ve paid your dues and now you’re ready to start reaping the benefits of ANCOR
membership. Some of the benefits, like ANCOR’s tireless advocacy on behalf of community providers, come to you without any action on your part. Other benefits require some action on your part. We encourage you to act now to increase the value of your ANCOR membership.
Savings
ANCOR offers numerous savings programs, and some members find that these benefits alone pay for the cost of their ANCOR mem-bership. Take a moment to make sure you aren’t letting a golden opportunity pass you by.
Shared Resources Purchasing Network: The SRPN is ANCOR’s buying plan that offers sig-nificant savings on items you’re already buy-ing. Some, such as the U.S. Bank AccelaPay card, can improve your operating efficiency. These savings, where appropriate, are available to your employees and the people you serve. Find out more and activate your participa-tion by visiting the ANCOR website here. For questions and additional information, contact Marsha Patrick.
The College of Direct Support (CDS): CDS offers a wide range of high-quality online training programs for professional develop-ment and career advancement of your direct support workforce. CDS training can reduce your training costs and improve retention rates in your organization. ANCOR members enjoy savings of 25%. To find out about the ANCOR Foundation partnership with the College of Di-rect Support and the ANCOR Member Buying Pool, contact Bill Tapp at 1-877-353-2767 (toll free) or email him.
Essential Learning: Essential Learning offers continuing education and professional develop-ment courses, including clinical, compliance and management topics, to help professionals meet their organization, regulatory and profes-sional licensing requirements. ANCOR mem-ber organizations and their staff receive a 10% discount on all courses. To learn more about Essential Learning’s Online Staff Training Solutions, please visit www.EssentialLearning.com or email. For questions and additional information, contact Marsha Patrick.
The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL): ANCOR has partnered with CQL to offer the CQL Focus Forum to ANCOR members interested in exploring ways to increase person-
centered excellence. The CQL Focus Forum provides an organization-wide facilitated evaluation of person-centered supports and the impact of those supports on the personal qual-ity of life of the people receiving them. The result is a concrete and specific organizational action plan, broken out into individual and team responsibilities, time lines and measures for success in increasing person-centered services. ANCOR members receive a 20% discount. For more information contact Beth Mathis at 410-499-6044.
And coming soon: ANCOR is partnering with the Stephen R. Covey Center for Leadership to offer ANCOR members and online version of the extremely popular “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” training program. Look for details in the future about how you can get ac-cess to thousands of dollars worth of training at a fraction of the cost.
ANCOR Connected Community (ACC)
This is the future of association communica-tion. More ANCOR members are logging on to the ACC every day to seek and share important
Rest Assured®
877.338.9193Ext. 345
877.338.9193 www.RestAssuredSystem.com
2000 Greenbush StreetLafayette, IN 47904
Almost 20 percent of states have, or plan to, incorporate Telecare services into their HCBS Waivers in 2011. Here’s why:
Benefits Providers/States:
• Provides cost savings
• Addresses waiting lists
• Enhances productivity
• Stretches support budgets
• Assures quality
Benefits Individuals
• Independence
• Safety
• Family involvement
States Incorporating Telecare into Medicaid Waivers
See Getting the Most, page 8.
LINKS May 20118
information and collaborate. It’s a great way to find out how providers across the nation are addressing the same challenges you face or to share your ideas with others who might benefit from them. (See the ACC article in this issue of LINKS for details.) Visit the ACC today and see why we call this the future of association com-munications.
ANCOR Governance
Many of the ANCOR programs you read about are lead not by ANCOR staff, but by leaders such as yourself from ANCOR member orga-nizations. The Board of Directors, the Board of Representatives and a host of issue-specific committees and other groups all play a critical role in the direction of the association and the specific programs and activities we offer. It’s an opportunity for you to have even greater effect on your association, today and into the future. To find out how you can get involved, contact Jerri McCandless.
Conferences
ANCOR conferences are an important way to learn about leading practices and the latest developments in service delivery, leadership development and public policy.
This year, ANCOR will host two conferences. The 2011 Conference: Leading Cultures of Innovation and Advocacy takes place June 5–8 just outside of Washington, D.C. This event is packed with informative sessions delivering tangible takeaways of value to your entire or-ganization. Read about the conference sessions and register to attend by visiting here.
On October 14, ANCOR is hosting the third an-nual Technology Summit in conjunction with the Coleman Institute Conference on Cognitive Dis-ability and Technology in Challenging Economic Environments (October 12–13). This event—held in Westminster, Colorado—offers providers a chance to meet with the leaders in technology de-velopment, to learn the latest trends in technology and to shape the future of innovation.
This year, the Coleman Institute will have a one-day event bringing together academics, family members and community service provid-ers to discuss the unique role technology plays in fostering independence for individuals with cognitive disabilities. The Coleman Institute will offer a pre-conference hosted by the University of Colorado. Look for more information about the Coleman Institute and ANCOR Technology Summit in future LINKS articles.
For more information, contact Debra Langseth.
Performance Excellence Initiative (PEI)
PEI is ANCOR’s groundbreaking benchmark-ing program. We’re using data to identify leading practices in areas such as retention, medication administration and satisfaction of people served and their families. And now, the ANCOR Board has announced that ANCOR members who have not participated in the Per-formance Excellence Initiative in the past may do so at no cost for this year. (This represents a savings of $1,000 for members).
Find out how empirically sound, culturally sen-sitive data can help you evaluate and improve your organization’s performance, cut expenses, demonstrate your advantages over other pro-viders and inspire innovation. To schedule a one-on-one demonstration to learn more about this project, contact Debra Langseth.
Technical Assistance
ANCOR Welcomes Its Newest
Member:
Individual Expressions, Inc.
What Members Are Saying About the SRPN
“ANCOR’s SRPN program—Recycle for ANCOR by BSC
Recycling Specialists,which encourages recycling of
e-waste items—costs us nothing and is a great way to
help protect our environment. It has great potential for real
community involvement with those we support, as well as recognition of our ResCare
programs for doing something good for their
community. Also the money it generates is being used
for special programs for our employees and those we support.”
—Larry Weishaar, ResCare VP of
Customer Relations-Quality
ANCOR has the answers when you have questions about federal issues and regula-tions, what’s happening on the Hill and how to contact or influence your member of Congress. Contact Jessica Sadowsky for assistance.
Wage and Hour Guidance
Former ANCOR CEO Joni Fritz is a Labor Standards Specialist whose guidance is free
to ANCOR members. Any ANCOR member who wishes to make arrangements for consultation or workshops with Joni should contact Jessica Sadowsky, ANCOR Director of Government Relations, for a re-ferral at (703)535-785, ext. 104.
Get Your Staff Involved
ANCOR is working hard to provide value for your entire
organization. To do this, we need to reach employees throughout your organization. Yes, your CEO, CFO, CIO and all the C-level folks, but also your procurement, HR, and IT managers, the communications, marketing and community relations folks, and absolutely your DSPs. The way to make sure your entire staff learns of ANCOR programs and activities that benefit them is for you to make the connection. You can:
• Forward and share ANCOR emails, including LINKS.
• Encourage staff to get on the ACC and participate.
• Send ANCOR the list of contacts and emails for your organization.
If your CEO or executive director is the only one active in ANCOR, then you’re missing out on a lot of potential benefits. And now with the ACC, we have the potential to offer even more value to member staff. Get every-one involved today.
Getting the Most, from page 7.
The way to make sure your entire staff learns of ANCOR programs
and activities that benefit them is for you
to make the connection.
9 May 2011
How to Create Your Own “AdVanture”By Melissa Temkin
As a registered drama therapist, Kareen King dedicates her life to creating therapeutic,
theatrical experiences for people with disabilities and others who live in long term care settings. An example of these programs is AdVantures, an outing in which Kareen partners with commu-nity groups to transform a bus ride into a “travel-ing theater of discovery” for participants.
The following is a synopsis of Kareen’s “The Three Billy Goats Gruff Tour” AdVanture and a “how to guide” for you to create your own spe-cial experience. These outings are stimulating, fun and educational for participants and are easy for staff to plan with a little community outreach and a healthy dose of creativity.
Kareen thought of creating the Billy Goats AdVanture when she heard from colleagues that they owned and/or knew of community members who own goats. These goat owners agreed to be a stop on the Billy Goats tour. To prepare for the trip, Kareen researched stories that relate to goats and found a famous old tale called, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
One of the tour’s stops was at the country home of a certified nurse’s aide (CNA) who works with Kareen. This CNA gathered her goats in
the front yard so that participants could interact with and learn about them—and she even brought a billy goat onto the bus for additional “introductions.” In the meantime, Kareen handed out large print versions and did a dramatic reading of The Three Billy Goats Gruff story, inviting audi-ence participation throughout the reading. She also displayed an enlarged picture of the Ugly Old Troll, a character in the tale, as she read. At another time during the tour, Kareen sang verses from the Bill Grogan’s Goat book and invited participants to fill in rhymes.
During this and other AdVantures, Kareen has learned the importance of stimulating as many of the participants’ senses as possible; especially in light of the variety of physical and cognitive limitations that many face.
To create a similar AdVanture experience for the individuals with disabilities with whom you work, consider the following steps:
• Get a gauge of the resources and fun activities in your area. Are there nearby farms, theater groups, art programs, etc.?
• Contact individuals who are involved in these activities and ask if they would speak with the people with disabilities who you work with. Suggest an educa-
tional activity, visits with program lead-ers, tours of their properties, etc.
• If your facility does not own a large van/bus to transport participants to these ac-tivities, reach out to local bus companies to see if they will donate their services for a day. An article about the activity in the local paper—and the gratitude of participants—would probably suffice as payment for their services.
• Incorporate fun, applicable activities during the bus ride. For example, reading stories about animals on the farm, singing Broad-way songs on the way to a theater tour, etc.
In short, these AdVanture activities are easy to create by building some community partner-ships and thinking “outside the box.” Most importantly, they are enriching, stimulating activities for participants.
You can learn more about Kareen’s work at the American Health Care Association’s DD Day educational event on September 18, 2011, where she and other speakers will present on issues that affect disabilities services provid-ers. For more information about Kareen King, go to www.kareenking.com. For more information about DD Day and to register for the event, click here or contact Melissa Temkin at or 202-898-2822.
LINKS May 201110
How to Master a Meeting with Congressional Offices
By Mary Pauline Jones,ANCOR Grassroots Manager
Citizens naturally hope that their members of Congress will act in a manner similar to their personal beliefs. Unfortunately, citizens often
fail to do anything to influence their members of Congress, because they fail to realize how much influence they have over their elected officials.
An in-person visit is a simple way to effectively influence members of Congress. The Congressional Management Foundation reported that when a representative/senator has not already reached a firm decision on an issue, 97% of them will be influenced by an in-person visit from a constituent.
An in-person visit doesn’t have to be with the member himself. In fact, you don’t even need to travel to Washington, D.C. Members of Congress have district offices designed to allow them to more easily communicate with their constituents.
If you have any issue you want your members of Congress to act a certain way on, schedule a meeting with them or their staff. This meeting does not need to be intimidating. Executing a successful meeting uses the same principles you would use in any meeting.
Here are five points to remember when in a meeting, regardless of the topic:
Stay on message.One of the easiest and most common mistakes is to stray away from the message you want to deliver. Sometimes, the member or aide may even try to drag you “off message” with questions about topics that are unrelated to your issue. Be prepared for this. Rehearse the meeting beforehand and make sure everyone understands the importance of staying on message.
Identify your “ask.”When you meet with the member or staff, it is easy to spend a consider-able amount of time explaining who you are and giving background information about your issue—but remember, the most important part of your visit is the “ask.” Tell them what it is you want them to do. There are several “asks” you could use: voting for/against legislation, writing a letter on legislation, sponsoring legislation, etc.
Be cognizant of time.A meeting with staff will often only last for 20 minutes, and a meet-ing with the member himself will be even shorter. Be cordial, but move through introductions quickly and do not spend too much time with per-sonal anecdotes. It is important to make sure the staff or member under-stands what you are saying, but be careful to not repeat yourself.
Tell the truth.This is the simplest rule to remember—and it has the most consequences if you forget it. Simply exaggerating or making misleading statements is a bad idea that can damage your credibility and that of your organization. If you do not know an answer, do not try to fake it. Offer to follow up with the unknown information after the meeting.
Effectively wrap up the meeting. Many times, people will come away from a meeting with a member or staff still unsure what was agreed to or how the member will vote. To avoid this, recap anything that was by the member or staff at the end of the meeting to ensure you and the member/staff are on the same page. This usually involves going over your ask again. The member or staff may be evasive not answer your question directly. Be prepared for that and make them answer yes or no, or even “I’m not sure.” Ensure you fulfill any tasks agreed to on your end.
ANCOR MEMBERS — MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Alliance for Full ParticipationSummit 2011
November 17 – 19, 2011Gaylord National Harbor Resort
Washington, DC
Representatives from fifteen national disability organizations, including ANCOR, have united behind the common goal of doubling employment for people with disabilities by 2015.
* American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities (AAIDD) * American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) * APSE: The Network on Employment * The Arc of United States * Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) * Autism Society of America (ASA) * The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) * Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) * National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) * National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) * NISH * The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) * TASH * United Cerebral Palsy (UCP)
Summit Program. The Summit program will include an innovative blend of programming and networking opportunities centered around a common framework of:
• Establishing a Vision and Clear Goals• Learning from Employers and Employees about
What Works• Service Innovations• Creating Incentives and Removing Barriers• Collaboration• Building Community Partnerships
Sponsorship Opportunities: The Alliance actively seeks public and private partners to assist in achieving our goals. Many sponsorship and exhibiting options are available. Contact Carol Walsh, [email protected]
For more information, including how you can get involved, visit the Alliance website:
www.allianceforfullparticipation.org.
11 May 2011
The ANCOR Connected Community (ACC) is a powerful resource for ANCOR
members, making it easy for you to network (a major benefit of association membership) and collaborate with other providers across the country.
How can you get the most benefit from the ACC? By using it.
Visit http://ancor.connectedcommunity.org and log on. (If you don’t already have an ANCOR password, or you’ve forgotten yours, you’ll have to get one here.) From the ACC home-page, you’ll be able to see the latest news from the Washington Insiders Club (WICs), a list of upcoming events, and the latest discussions and blog posts.
Complete Your Profile
Once you’ve logged in, use the welcome link in the upper right-hand corner to see and up-date your profile. It only takes a few minutes to select the appropriate choices. Then, notice the matrix at the bottom of the page. The ACC has automatically created a network that includes other members with similar job title, duties and interests. For more information about creating your profile, read this document.
Join a DiscussionSelect “Discussions” from the top navigation
How to Get the Most Out of the ANCOR Connected Communitybar and choose “My Subscriptions” to view a list of the discussion groups you can join. Subscribe to a group by selecting a notifica-tion preference. Real-time sends you an email notification whenever there’s a new post in the group. Daily digest means you get only one email per day listing any posts for the last 24 hours.
For more details about establishing your mes-sage signature and joining a discussion, read this document.
Create Contacts
Select “Directory” from the top navigation bar and then “My Contacts.” From the resulting screen, you can search for people you know and add them as contacts. Your contact list is like a directory that makes it easy to communicate directly with people you know. For detailed instructions on adding contacts, read here.
Interact With Conferences/Webinars
For every conference and most webinars, ANCOR creates a community, complete with discussion group and library in the ACC for participants. Use the library to post and access related documents and handouts. Use the discus-sion group to continue the conversation after an event such as a webinar.
Make It Yours
Anyone on the ACC can create a new commu-nity and start sharing, networking and collabo-rating with others. If you don’t see a communi-ty for a subject of interest to you, you can start one yourself. Contact Jocelyn Breeland or Tony Yu for help in setting up a new community.
Involve Your Whole Agency
The ACC makes it easy for your entire orga-nization to benefit from ANCOR member-ship. For example, there’s the Communication Forum for staff responsible for public relations, marketing, development, media and com-munity relations. There’s a Human Resources group for HR managers. There’s a DSP group for Direct Support Professionals.
Each of these communities creates a forum for discussion and exchange. It’s an easy, no-cost way for your staff to get answers to questions, share ideas and get support from the ANCOR network. But it will only work if we get people from each of these groups to actively partici-pate in the discussions.
Share this message with your entire staff and encourage them to participate. And let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you get the most from the ACC. We’re here to help.
LINKS May 201112
NAC CentralGet Ready for DSPs to DC 2011 and The Rally for Community Living
As part of the ANCOR 2011 Conference: Leading
Cultures of Innovation and Advocacy, ANCOR will again be hosting its 4th annual DSPs to DC event!
DSPs to DC will take place June 6–8 and provide DSPs with professional development seminars, advocacy best practice sessions, and opportunities to network with peers. The event culminates in “The Rally for Com-munity Living” and Capitol Hill visits on June 8, where DSPs can make the case for a well-paid, professional workforce directly to lawmakers.
Sending members of your DSP staff to DC is one way you can show appreciation for your outstanding DSPs. Give your DSPs an experi-ence they’ll never forget—and they’ll return home energized and armed with the tools to increase their effectiveness on the job.
DSPs in D.C. will learn with fun, information-packed sessions, including topics like:
• Communicating with Congress: You Can Make a Difference
• How Technology Can Help You• The NADSP Code of Ethics: Live and In
High-Definition Full Color!
While in DC, DSPs will have the opportu-nity to collaborate and to connect with each other informally—and in a facilitated session called “DSP Forum: Taking Our Work to a Deeper Level.” The forum will encourage DSPs to share their stories of success, near success, and even failure, with a focus on how Direct Support Professionals can work with intention.
DSP voices strengthen ANCOR advocacy. We look forward to a large gathering of DSPs at “The Rally for Community Living” on Capitol Hill, where we’ll speak out on the importance of the providers and DSPs that are the essential bridge to community living for people with dis-abilities. The rally begins at 10 a.m. Be sure to schedule your visits with members of Congress after the rally!
Make plans now to accompany your DSPs on Hill visits June 8 to seek support for declar-ing the week of September 11, 2011 National Direct Support Professional Recognition Week and to ensure your representatives understand the problems associated with funding that relies on Medicaid state block grants.
Information—including conference sessions and registration—is available here.
Questions? Contact Mary Pauline Jones at 703-535-7850, ext. 108.
13 May 2011
www.ancor.org/2011RallyforCommunityLiving
2011 Rally for Community LivingWednesday, June 8
9:45 AMUpper Senate Park on Capitol Hill
______________________________________________________________________________
Last year President Barack Obama
launched "The Year of Community
Living" to recognize and assist
Americans with disabilities. Just
because that year is over, does not
mean our work is done.
Join ANCOR and our partners in the
National Advocacy Campaign June 8
at the Rally for Community Living to
ensure Congress recognizes the
importance of community living for
individuals with disabilities.
Hear from Members of Congress,
self-advocates, family members, and
providers.
Sign up online TODAY!
LINKS May 201114
Federal Wage And Hour Guidance
Child Labor Rules Specifically Restrict Some Work Activities of 14 and 15 Year Olds
Joni Fritz
By Joni Fritz, Labor Standards Specialist
In a previous issue of LINKS, we discussed new nonagricultural child labor restrictions
that may affect job duties of 14–17-year-old employees. In this—the third in a series of articles on child labor rules, we will discuss some of the rules that apply to just 14 and 15 year olds.
Hours of Work for 14 and 15 Year Olds
Federal child labor provisions require that when youth aged 14 and 15 work in nonagri-cultural jobs, they must be employed
• Outside school hours;• Not more than 18 hours per week when
school is in session;• Not more than 40 hours during non-school
weeks;• Not more than three hours in one day, in-
cluding Fridays, when school is in session;
• Not more than eight hours in any one day when school is not in session; and
• Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. except during the summer (June 1 through Labor Day) when the evening hours are extended to 9 p.m.
Examples of Duties That Violate Child Labor Rules
Duties that are specifically prohibited for 14- and 15-year-old employees are summa-rized from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division “Fact Sheet #52—The Employment of Youth in the Health Care Industry” and a side-by-side released by the Labor Department after final rules were pub-lished, supplemented by verbal discussions with DOL officials.
Fourteen and 15 year olds are prohibited from
• Working after 7 p.m. from Labor Day through May 31, even if working with a parent or guardian;
• Beginning work at 6 a.m. or working after 9 p.m. during the summer;
• Peddling and door-to-door sales;
• Cooking over an open flame, which means that roasting hotdogs or marshmal-lows over an open picnic fire or charcoal grill is illegal;
• Performing any baking activities (includ-ing simply taking a pie out of an oven) or operating broilers, pressurized fryers, high-speed ovens, rapid toasters, or rotis-series;
• Cleaning cooking equipment when the temperature of surfaces, oil or grease exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit;
• Working in freezers or meat coolers;• Tending or operating most power-driven
machinery, including power lawn mowers and electric clippers;
• Operating a power-driven snow blower on the job;
• Catching and cooping poultry; and• Working as a dispatcher on elevated
water slides or as a lifeguard at a natural environment swimming facility such as a lake, river, ocean beach, quarry or pier.
Remember that all of the employment tasks that are prohibited for 16 and 17 year olds are also forbidden job activities for younger teens. Labor officials say: “If a task is not specifically permitted for 14 and 15 year olds, it is prohibited!”
Tasks That 14 and 15 Year Olds May Perform
Fourteen and 15-year-olds
• Would be exempt from the hours’ stan-dards if employed in a business solely owned by his or her parents;
• May work as “sign wavers,” but only directly in front of the employer’s estab-lishment;
• May cook with gas or electric grills, where cooking does not involve an open flame;
• May cook with deep fat fryers that use au-tomatic devices to lower and raise baskets into and out of the oil or grease;
• May, on an occasional basis, momentarily enter a freezer (but not a meat cooler) to retrieve items;
• May use old-fashioned push mowers and hand-operated clippers;
• May load and unload hand tools and
personal items that he or she will use at the job site onto and from motor vehicles; and
• May be employed inside and outside places of business that use power-driven machinery to process wood products, under specific conditions.
New “permitted” occupations allow
• Work of an intellectual or artistically creative nature;
• Fifteen year olds to work as lifeguards and swimming instructors at swimming pools and water amusement parks, if properly trained and certified; and
• Creation of work-study programs for academically oriented youth, which would allow them to work during school hours, with sufficient safeguards to ensure that their employment does not interfere with their health, well-being or education.
Where to Obtain Additional Information
For additional information you may call the Wage-Hour toll-free information and helpline available from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your local time zone: 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243).
Author Link: Joni Fritz is a Labor Standards Specialist whose guidance is free to ANCOR members and to those who attend a Wage and Hour Workshop or participate in a teleconference that she has conducted. Any ANCOR member who wishes to make arrangements for consulta-tion or workshops with Joni must first contact Jessica Sadowsky, ANCOR Director, Government Relations, for a referral at (703)535-785, ext. 104, or at [email protected].
Labor officials say: “If a task is not specifically permitted for 14 and 15
year olds, it is prohibited!”
15 May 2011
“I love CareTracker because the medication administration tools alert employees to distribute, track, and make notes about medications that are disbursed to the
individuals in our care. Plus, I can manage and review everything right from my desk.”
To learn more about what CareTracker can do for you, or to request a demonstration, visit
www.discovercaretracker.com or call 800.338.3681
I CareTracker
LINKS May 201116
Do any of these situations apply to you?
• Have you had an individual you support pass away with little or no funds for their burial expenses?
• Would you like a systematic way to track the burial arrangements of the individuals you support?
• Do the individuals you support face “spend down” situations?
• Do the people you support need the ability to make payments for their burial expenses, based on their monthly budget?
If you have answered “YES” to any of these questions, let our team introduce you to Special Life; a life insurance program to fund the burial expenses for the individuals you support.
Burial Insurance for those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Contact: Ruth M Wolf, Senior Account ExecutiveThe Glatfelter Agency221 W. Philadelphia St. Suite 400 • York, PA 174051-800-632-1884 • www.glatfelteragency.com [email protected]
Coverage underwritten by Whole Life Insurance from Forethought Life Insurance Company, Batesville, IN. A representative of The Glatfelter Agency, who is a licensed
agent of Forethought Life, is available to answer any questions you may have.
By Antonia O’Brien
When determining the status of your own personal health and wellness, the first
step is to identify and “know your numbers.” Weight, body mass index, cholesterol are just of few of the markers that your health professional will establish before creating opportunities and programs that will lead you to a healthier life. Determining the health and wellness of your organization will follow the same guidelines.
Knowing how you are performing in the areas of customer services, program implementation and safety are just a few of the key mark-ers that will form a baseline of your current organizational health. Once you “know your numbers,” you are on your way to celebrating success and identifying areas for improvement.
Armed with this valuable information we are able to empower our self-advocates, enhance our organizational strategic planning, create meaningful systems change, and offer trans-parent communication to our employees and customers. This is how we use the ANCOR Performance Excellence Initiative at Dakota Communities:
Self Advocate Empowerment
Through performance excellence, self-advocates at Dakota Communities have a voice. With questions focusing on choice and independence, our self-advocates are telling us how we are supporting them in areas that go beyond basic needs. Having friends, choices in recreation and determining their course of health options; they have helped us to see that quality of life is their highest priority.
Through performance excellence and active participation, they are determining the focus of their lives. They are participants in their lives, not spectators. Their voices are heard in the Self Advocate Satisfaction Survey; we listen and respond.
Organizational Strategic Planning
Hearing from our customers, self-advocates, parents/guardians, case managers and em-ployees has become a primary focus in our organizational strategic planning process. The opportunity to identify our strengths and areas of improvement across all dimensions has given us the “pulse” of the organization. And in “knowing our numbers,” we are able to create
strategic goals that are objective and meaning-ful to those individuals whose satisfaction is at the heart of our mission and values.
This is the very information that our senior leadership team and Board of Directors use each year to determine our goals and objectives for the course of the organization. In addition, the opportunity to benchmark against similar agencies both on a state and national level has assisted us in comparing services, identifying system trends and working to create positive changes that would not only affect our own agency but the field of developmental disabili-ties nationwide.
Transparent Communication
Once we are able to identify our strengths and opportunities for improvement, the use of performance excellence in our communication has been essential. Focusing on “transparent communication” to all of our customers and relating that back to our use of their feedback in creating our strategic goals creates a seamless communication stream.
The opportunity to relate these goals di-rectly back to their comments and concerns
Know Your Numbers: How to Implement Performance Excellence
News and NotesUpdates from Around the ANCOR Community
ANCOR Members Receives Local Honor
Mayor Ted Andrzejewski presents New Av-enues Executive Director Tom Lewins with a key to the City of Eastlake in Ohio.
AHCA Announces Upcoming Events
The American Health Care Association will be holding the following events:
DD Congressional Fly-InMay 25, 20118 a.m.-11 a.m.AHCA offices in D.C. Click here for details.
“DD Day” at the Annual MeetingSeptember 188 a.m.-4:30 p.m.Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas Session info is available here.
17 May 2011
strengthens the efficacy of our plan and creates confidence that not only have their voices been heard, but we are using their feedback to steer the organization and the services we provide to our employees and self advocates.
The Benefits are Endless
The benefits of performance excellence are invaluable. The coordination and distribution of the surveys, reporting of final results and full time technical support has allowed us the flex-ibility to focus our energies on communication and improvement strategies. In an era of de-creased funding and a “tighten your belt” reality, the time savings and high quality results report-ing has allowed all of us at Dakota Communities to move forward in a confident manner.
When you “know our numbers” and have an awareness of the current health of your organization, you can make positive changes that will assist you in providing opportunities that are meaningful and motivated. Knowing, understanding, communicating and respond-ing—that is the formula we are using at Dakota Communities. And through ANCOR Perfor-mance Excellence, we are creating a healthier organizational culture.
Antonia O’Brien is director of Community Life at Dakota Communities. Dakota Communities is a participant in the Performance Excellence Initiative. Antonia may be reached at [email protected] or 651-688-8808.
How to Provide Health Insurance to Employees: NADSP Offers New Limited Health Insurance through ISA
By Joseph M. Macbeth
The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) knows that health
insurance coverage is a major concern for many Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) and for their employers. To assist DSPs and em-ployers in accessing health insurance, NADSP has developed a preferred provider relation-ship with Irwin Siegel Agency, Inc. (ISA) to offer a unique opportunity to NADSP member organizations seeking a Limited Benefit Health Insurance Program for their employees.
The plan is available to providers with a mini-mum of six employees and is also offered at Target, Choice Hotels and International Paper. Through NADSP’s partnership, ISA will work directly with NADSP Supporting Organiza-tion members to provide timely responses and personalized service.
This Limited Benefit Health Plan (LBHP) offers solutions that are designed to provide employees with access to quality healthcare—in the areas they need it most. With LBHP, provider agencies can offer broad, affordable accident and sickness coverage for employees who are not covered by traditional benefit pro-grams and employees who want to supplement other insurance coverage.
The program offers:
• Access to quality healthcare for employ-ees’ most common medical needs, such as doctor’s office visits, emergency room visits, hospital room and board, and pre-scription drugs;
• An affordable alternative for employees who cannot pay or are not eligible for their company’s major medical offerings;
• Expanded eligibility coverage options, in-cluding coverage for eligible dependents, 1099 contractors, and valid associations;
• No pre-existing condition limitations or deductible requirements;
• Access to thousands of facilities and phy-sicians located across the country through the Beech Street provider network; and
• A personal identification card to every in-sured, for customer care whenever needed.
To learn more about this exciting new program, please visit www.nadsp.org/insurance/index.asp. Remember, you must be a NADSP Supporting Organization to participate!
Joseph M. Macbeth is executive director of NADSP and assistant executive director of the New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies. Joe may be reached at [email protected].
in association with
Catherine V. Hayes, MA
Navigate regulations, guide employees, develop systems that work, andmost importantly, provide positive outcomes for people with disabilities.
To order this publication, contact
ANCOR1101 King Street, Suite 380Alexandria, VA 22314-2944
Phone: (703) 535-7850 Fax: (703) 535-7860www.ancor.org • [email protected]
15% discount for mulltiple copy sales of 10 or more.To receive this special discount, please mail or FAX order to ANCOR.
Consulting & TrainingDisability Supports and Services
www.hwisolutions.com
POSITIVE OUTCOMES:A Provider’s Guide to Active Outcomes
Presents
LINKS May 201118
The Riot! Joins CDS CurriculumHear From Self-Advocates
By Tom King
The Riot!, a new and exciting addition to the ever-evolving College of Direct Support’s
(CDS) curriculum, has been rolled out and this new genre of courses will help Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) incorporate information and perspectives from self-advocates into their daily support work.
The original Riot is a newsletter written by and for self-advocates with disabilities that began four years ago. The newsletter includes infor-mation on a variety of topics important to self-advocates. Staff at the Human Services Research Institute help the writers and editors with this newsletter.
The staff at the Uni-versity of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI), which develops and authors the CDS curriculum, is taking issues of The Riot! and basing each new course developed in this genre of courses on the full content of the newsletter.
The first CDS course to be released is “The Riot! Silly Rules Issue.”
Here are some of the “silly rules” that this new course addresses:
• Personal time and preferences• The service system• Dating and friendships• Work and day programs• Issues at home• The marriage penalty (where you lose dis-
ability income if you get married)• Barriers to voting
The Riot! is described as “irreverent and unconventional” in content and presentation. These are real voices from real people with real stories about real-life topics.
“The Riot! provides an opportunity for us to infuse the CDS curriculum with a learning tool that delivers train-ing to Direct Support Professionals strictly from the voice of individuals with intellectual and developmental
disabilities,” said Amy Hewitt, senior research associate at ICI.
Hewitt said that through The Riot!, DSPs learn what is important to self-advocates and how to shape the support they provide in ways that pro-mote respect and understanding of the perspective of self-advocates. “The Riot! content is edgy and is likely controversial for some in the service system. Adding this edge and such a loud voice from self-advocates we feel is a tremendous asset to the CDS curriculum,” she explained.
Here is how the University of Minne-sota describes this new genre of courses:
“The Riot! is not like a regular CDS course. It is a new way to learn. The navigation and layout are very different than traditional CDS courses. There are no test questions or OJTs. However, you will be encouraged to think about the topic and reflect on your actions as a DSP. This can help you to get a good start on a portfolio sample. Some of you may not
be interested in a creating a portfolio. This is fine. However, you will still be asked to pull together some evidence of your actions related to each issue of the CDS Riot. You will be asked to present this to your supervisor. This will be a way to show what you have learned from the course.”
Several courses will be released annually built around The Riot! newsletters, Hewitt said. The Riot! newsletter is published four times a year.
Here’s what Apostrophe magazine wrote about The Riot!:
“The Riot! is all about self-advocacy, or people speaking up about their lives. A group of self-advocate editors from around the country
writes each issue with founding staff at the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). Together, they take a tough and honest look at sensitive issues like closing institutions, silly rules that keep people down, disability pride, and intimate relationships. They tell it like it is—Riot style, with a purpose and a sense of humor. They want readers to think about issues that people with a wide range of disabilities experience, especially people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They also try to make you laugh and feel good about life.”
You can check out The Riot! at its new website. You’ll find a lot more there than just the news-letter. The new Riot! has greater accessibility features, showcases products, and highlights its North American art gallery called “Spotlight Studios.” The gallery celebrates artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities from the United States and Canada to display and sell their work. Often, these artists are not acknowledged for their ability to create art that we can all appreciate. They want you to see their art.
Author Link: Tom King is a communications consultant for the College of Direct Support. You can reach him at 865–659–3562 or via email at [email protected].
To find out about the ANCOR Foundation part-nership with the College of Direct Support and the ANCOR Member Buying Pool, contact Bill Tapp at 1-877-353-2767 (toll free) or email him at [email protected].
Tom King
19 May 2011
LINKS May 201120
How to Advocate on the State Level
By Fred Romkema
When asked to describe the best way to communicate with elected officials on
the state level, I thought, “How simple is that?” As an elected official, it should be easy to pro-vide a clear and succinct response. In doing so, it is important to note that the suggested basic principles reflect my experi-ences, and personal preferences, as well as my observations. In sum, it is vitally important that elected officials know you, like/appreciate you and your message, and respect you. The most important principle is respect. The idea or possible legislation being presented to the elected official should be very defendable. This includes the publicity or general conversation surround-ing a given issue.
It is very difficult to “sell” a program/issue/topic that has experienced negative headlines in the newspaper. In such cases, the elected official will have a difficult time supporting the issue and the individual.
Also, do not underestimate the power of informal communication that has taken (or is taking) place in regard to the issue—even communication that may not be totally ac-curate. In other words, it is wise to know what the discussion is or has been “on the street” in regard to this issue. In essence, the
credibility—as well as the public perception of the issue and the in-dividuals/agency/entity involved—is of great importance. Knowing you is the next principle. It is more diffi-cult for an elected official to not support you if they know you. Of course, this may have a nega-tive effect if they know
you or your program is delivering less than top quality services and/or if your reputation is not stellar.
Getting to know an elected official is similar to forming or nurturing a friendship—make an effort to communicate and update on a regular basis and schedule face-to-face visits. Get to
know the official. This principle is about estab-lishing a professional relationship so that the elected official believes that he knows you and that there will not be any surprises that blind-side him. In essence, knowing involves trust. If an elected official has a positive relationship with you and likes/appreciates you, it is logi-cal for him to support you and your program. This may be a result of such things as sharing common interests and communicating easily in public. The elected official should have a firm appreciation for the person as an individual and a sense that this individual is a solid, good person to represent. To get them to like both you and your message, it is best to communicate in short, concise mes-sages. Remember that you are competing with many just causes, and the elected official—like you—has just 24 hours in the day!
Your message should be succinct, yet memo-rable enough to separate itself from the volume of correspondence they (most likely) receive every day. Make face-to-face meetings posi-tive, factual and, if appropriate, enjoyable. As
If an elected official has a positive rela-
tionship with you and likes/appreciates you, it is logical for him to support you and your
program.
See State Level, page 22
21 May 2011
LINKS May 201122
Diane McComb
State Association ViewWhen in Crisis—Innovate!
Diane McCombANCOR Liaison to State Associations
Our country’s economy finally seems to be moving in the right direction. Although it seems like it’s doing so at a snail’s pace, state revenue reports are starting to inch upwards, unemploy-ment is receding from its former high of over 10%, and a few states are looking at increased funding for human services in FY 2012.
The last three years have been the worst on record for the economy and as predicted, the other side of this recession finds us staring at a future we can barely recognize. Those who have waited for things to get back to normal will have a very long wait—our future “nor-mal” is still being defined.
So where are we? What’s different from the pre-recession landscape for people with disabilities? Where will the trends take us and what op-portunities lay in the future?
As of April, 45 states and the District of Columbia are still projecting budget shortfalls in 2012. Only Alaska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Alabama, and Arkansas are predicting balanced budgets. Further, only North Dakota has an FY 2012 budget that exceeds its spending for FY 2008. Every other state’s FY 2012 budget is below pre-recession levels, and the states of Oregon, California, Nevada, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island are projecting budget deficits greater than 20% of their general fund next year. Things remain dire.
Our political climate is about as uncertain as it’s ever been. We have an unprecedented move to social extremes, having lost representation by the moderates of both political parties at state and national levels. Twenty-nine states have newly elected governors.
National debt is at its highest level, the housing market—though showing signs of a very slow recovery—remains down. Unemployment con-tinues at a stubbornly high level in many states. Furthermore, state agency leaders in intel-lectual developmental disabilities and behav-ioral health are falling victim to the political upheaval evident in our states. Predictability is very hard to come by.
In addition to the effects of the recession, there are other elements driving the turmoil such as
Department of Justice inquiries, the very real threat of managed care taking over long-term services and supports, and the political hostage-taking of Medicaid by an all too conservative Congress.
A number of states are undergoing investigations by DOJ, and their reactions and responses vary. Georgia has placed a moratorium on all new admissions to state institutions and has a plan to close all within a few years. Virginia created a $30 million trust fund and will close at least one state institution while reducing the census
at others. Maryland closed its largest state residential center and one smaller one this year. Texas, on the other hand, pumped millions of dollars into shoring up its institutional system.
The sluggish economy and unsustainable funding for disability programs have states reaching for long-term budget solutions such as managed care, waivers for maintenance of effort, and global waivers. Managed care is moving like a tsunami across the country this year, and those who think behavioral health and intellectual disabilities will somehow be carved out should take notice. Illinois, Maine, Florida, Virginia, Kansas all are looking at proposals to put LTSS under a managed care framework. We need to be figuring out how this type of system can work in a positive way for people with disabilities and advocate vociferously for performance outcomes that are important to people with disabilities. Many states are requesting waivers from Maintenance of Effort in their state Medicaid programs. We need to be on the lookout for a reduction in eligibility criteria that leaves some people with disabilities and behavioral health needs without medication and primary health care. We’ve witnessed the loss of state general funded programs in disabilities across the states in the past two years, resulting in thousands of people losing supports in community programs.
Some among us fret about all the turmoil, but others are
seizing the moment to implement innovations that
are redefining the way people with disabilities are
supported today.
you would expect for yourself, extend courtesy and respect the privacy of others—which includes calling at appropriate times of the day (versus meal times, late nights, early mornings) and not interrupting individuals when they are engaged in conversation with others.
Personalized emails (versus form letters) are acceptable and should be used. As this type of communicating may or may not be the ap-propriate way to contact specific officials, it is best to know your respective elected official’s preferred method of contact.
Thus, knowing you, appreciating/liking you, and respecting you are three basic principles that serve to strengthen your impeccable pro-gram, your good stature in the community, and your general approachability. These—along with an effective communication approach—will enable your work with your elected official to be a meaningful experience.
Fred Romkema is CEO of Northern Hills Training Center, located in Spearfish, South Dakota. Fred is a second-term Representative in the South Dakota State Legislature. He also currently serves on the ANCOR Foundation Board of Trustees and is a former two-term president of ANCOR.
The Big “C,” from page 20.
Over the last 40 years, we’ve created a system that cannot possibly be sustained financially into the future; yet, some among us continue to advocate maintaining the status quo. In a state experiencing a 16% funding cut, the association exec lamented, “In the past, we knew how to advocate for what we do; but, this year, every human service is cut just as deeply. There’s nowhere to turn to make up the cut. We are all in this together.” The time to innovate has never been more promising.
Some among us fret about all the turmoil, but others are seizing the moment to implement innovations that are redefining the way people with disabilities are supported today. There are real opportunities in the implementation of provisions in the Affordable Care Act; the credentialing of DSPs with the DOL DSP Apprenticeship Program, the College of Direct Support, the NADSP Credentialing Program; and technological advances morphing at the speed of light.
There are real innovation opportunities in this climate. New Jersey looks poised to submit a state plan amendment under the new 1915 (k) provision under the Affordable Care Act. Other states are moving forward with amendments under the expansion of the 1915 (i) provision
The U.S. Bank AccelaPay® Card An economical and convenient payment alternative
Attention ANCOR Members! Work with a trusted leader in payroll card solutions and reduce your payroll and cash disbursement expenses!
Benefits of the card:n Replaces and/or reduces costly
paper checksn Provides a direct deposit option to
employees who don’t have bank accountsn Easy funding process for
payroll administratorsn Cards are FDIC insuredn Customer Service Representatives are
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
Click here to find out how you can save money with the U.S. Bank AccelaPay Card!
The AccelaPay Card is issued by U.S. Bank N.A. Member FDIC. © 2011 U.S. Bancorp. All rights reserved. 23
May 2011
that will allow them to offer personal care and other supports without the requirement of people with disabilities meeting an institutional level of care.
Credentialing is finally inching forward with some states promoting the College of Direct Support system-wide (New Jersey); mentoring chapters of the National Alliance of Direct Sup-port Professionals; and piloting the DOL DSP credentialing program (of which ANCOR and NADSP are co-authors).
North Dakota is piloting the Apprenticeship program through partnerships with its state Departments of Labor and Commerce. The ef-fort is being spearheaded by Fraser, Ltd.—who is working with both Minot State and Fargo Universities—to implement a certificate in disabilities that leads to a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education and national apprenticeship status.
Building on North Dakota’s 41 modules in developmental disabilities, they have added 15 new courses to accommodate requirements of the apprenticeship program. There are more than 90 DSPs at Fraser, Ltd., and they are hop-ing all will become engaged in the apprentice-ship efforts over the next two years.
It is clear that this effort is the result of the leadership of one agency leading the way. A similar effort is underway in Maryland, led by the association’s HR Directors’ network.
While the economy will right itself eventually and the political climate will swing the other way at some point, people with disabilities continue to need some level of support to achieve meaningful lives in communities of their choosing.
Some speak of lowering expectations going forward; yet, we could instead choose to focus on changing expectations. We could instead create a culture of independence rather than de-pendency. The way in which we provide those services and supports is at the very crux of the political debate today as Congress weighs op-tions about what to do with Medicaid.
We must strengthen our coalitions. We must listen with renewed effort to people with dis-abilities and their families. We must seize the opportunity to innovate—to do things differ-ently—offering better quality, lower cost, and better access. We must.
Author Link: Diane McComb is ANCOR’s liai-son to the State Association Executives Forum. She can be reached at [email protected].
ANCOR Partners want YOU to click!A quick and easy way to contact ANCOR’s partners and advertisers when you see their ads in LINKS (and on the ACC) is to click on the website addresses, and you’ll be taken directly to their websites. The partners and ad-vertisers recognize the value in hyper-linking (hot linking). Most times, just by clicking on the logos in the ads you will be taken to the websites as well.
Many email addresses work the same way— click on the address and you’ll have an email ready for you to utilize for your message and then send. Gen-erally speaking, sponsors whose ads appear on the ACC can be accessed by clicking anywhere on their ads.
So, don’t hesitate! Just start clicking when you see something of interest and you want more information!
LINKS May 201124
P-CARD USERS POCKET HUGE “WINDFALL REBATES”Believe it … ANCOR’s P-CARD users are pocketing “free money”… and you can too!
With new and improved incentives, your agency could share in rebate opportunities established by the collective purchasing power of all ANCOR members participating in ANCOR's P-Card Program.
Simply charge everything from paperclips and medical supplies to gas and capital items like computers or appliances!
Once your annual P-CARD purchases reach $250,000, your agency will be eligible for a rebate made possible by the collective spending of ANCORmembers participating in the program! This allows your agency to reach rebate levels unobtainable on your own!
Take it from those who know --
US Bank is a proud member of ANCOR’s Shared Resources Purchasing Network. Please click here for more information.
Contact Lori Allen, U.S. Bank’s AVP-Sales. Be sure to identify yourself as an ANCOR member when calling or e-mailing for more information: Phone: (859) 384-4487 . Email: [email protected]
Inquiries can also be directed to Marsha Patrick, ANCOR’s Director of Resource and Revenue Development at [email protected].
“We now have access to real time purchasing information. We incur no fees. Instead, we receive an annual rebate of$10,000 for using the P-CARD.”
–Chuck Sweeder, Keystone Human Services