Rosewood    

In last month’s newsletter, we told you that the Rosewood Center had been cited by the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ). OHCQ said that Rosewood had until the middle of October to fix the problem areas or they would recommend to the Federal Government (Medicaid funds the support of many of the Rosewood residents) that funding be decreased or eliminated. Some of the things Rosewood was cited on were: excessive use of restraints and not protecting residents from harming themselves or others. In the report OHCQ said “Conditions at your facility pose an immediate jeopardy (IJ) to the individuals at your facility. Since last month, the IJ has been lifted because some measures have been taken to address the problems at Rosewood. In late October, John and Kenny met with Wendy Kronmiller (Executive of OHCQ) and Margaret Heald (Facility Surveyor) to discuss the Rosewood situation and other CDRC issues. Margaret was once an employee at Rosewood and so is especially concerned about people living in the residential centers. Wendy explained that although the immediate jeopardy has been lifted, it doesn’t mean that Rosewood is out of danger yet. OHCQ will be going back to Rosewood to finish their survey very soon. The Executive Director or Rosewood, Jim Anzelone retired in early October. The interim director of Rosewood is Joann Knapp. We’ll keep you posted.

Money Follows the Person 

The state of Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene is applying for a grant from the federal government called the Money Follows the Person Demonstration Rebalancing grant. This money can assist the state to get people out of Nursing Facilities and State Residential Centers. The Federal Government is offering up to 75% of the cost for the first year of support for a person leaving a Nursing Facility or a State Residential Center and moving to the community. CDRC participated in two stakeholder (people who would be effected by, or part of the planning) meetings that were hosted by DHMH in the development of this grant application. DHMH asked stakeholders (people who would be effected) to submit letters of support that they would then include in their proposal to the Federal Government. These letters show the Federal Government that DHMH has support from the advocacy and professional community to do the work included in the proposal. CDRC along with The Coordinating Center, DD Council, The Arc of Maryland, People On the Go of Maryland, and Maryland ADAPT all submitted letters stating our desire to work with DHMH in writing and carrying out the work in the proposal. DHMH has proposed to get 250 people out of State Residential Centers and more than 2,700 out of Nursing Facilities as well as other things to increase consumer direction. Now we all have to wait to hear from CMS if the states proposal is approved. 31 other states are applying as well so, keep your fingers crossed for Maryland. When Maryland gets the grant, they have six months to write the details of how they will do what they promised. CDRC and our allies will be working with the state to help them FREE OUR PEOPLE!!!!!

 CDRC Board Of Leadership     

REMEMBER, CDRC will be electing a new Board Of Leadership in December. If you want to run for a spot on the BOL, please let John or myself know as soon as possible.  We have included an application in the newsletter mailing. You can also copy an application form from our web page (www.thecdrc.org). After you fill the application out, you can send it to: 49 Old Solomon’s Island Rd. Suite 205, Annapolis, Md. 21401.  Attn: John or Kenny.  Deadline for applying is December 10^th.

Elections     

The time has come, the election for many state and federal officials including the Governor, state Senators, Delegates, U.S. Senator and U.S. Congressman is upon us.  November 7th. is the day we ALL should be out casting our own vote. People with disabilities used to have the lowest turn-out at the polls. We must change that. Remember the people in other countries sit and stand in line for hours or days for the right to vote. U.S. laws have made it much better for people with disabilities and MDLC has helped the State Board of Elections to have better attitudes and accessibility for voters with disabilities. We have included a flyer about MDLC’s HOTLINE for Tuesday’s VOTE! Senator OBama said we can’t complain about the country, (or the state), if we don’t VOTE! Justin Dart, The Father of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said, “Vote as if your life depends on it, because it does!” VOTE November 7^th.

October CDRC Meeting

CDRC would like to thank Delegate Bob Costa for speaking about the General Assembly and taking some difficult questions from CDRC members at our October membership meeting.  Del. Costa spoke about how important it is to get out and VOTE and about  our work to get people out of institutions You can see a picture of the Delegate speaking to the CDRC membership on our web page: http://www.thecdrc.org/ , http://www.thecdrc.org/photos

Reminder, CDRC does NOT have a meeting in November.  Our next CDRC meeting will be:

December 17, 

1:00 – 4:00,

3501 Russett Common (Library)

Laurel, Maryland