Hello everyone, we hope all of our loyal readers had a great summer.  Vacation time is over, for those of us who were lucky enough to have a vacation. it’s time to get back to work.   In this edition we will bring you up to date on issues that CDRC has been working on.

 

Jackie Speciner

 

CDRC lost a good friend and a GREAT advocate.  We are sorry to announce that Jacqueline Speciner, a long time member of CDRC and ADAPT has passed away.  Jacqueline was the author of Finally, Dreams Coming True, she was 49 years young.

Jacquie was part of the passing of ADA . Her work with each association had been lobbying for the successful passing of House Bills in Annapolis that gives further self-determination and freedom for people with disabilities.  We will miss Jacqie’s passion and enthusiasm in the advocacy world and in life.

 

Money Follows the Person

 

CDRC is happy to announce that MFPD hired Lorraine Nawara of Independence Now as their new Project Director for MFP.  Lorraine is well known in the advocacy community.  We are sure Lorraine will do a wonderful job in her new position.

 

At the August 7th MFPD committee meetingCatriona Johnson, from the Developmental Disabilities Administration, (DDA) spoke about House Bill 794, Written Plan of Habilitation for Individuals in State Residential Centers.  (This bill make sure that during the annual meeting of individuals in State residential Centers, an independent service coordinator who does not work for the institution, and a treating professional that does work for the institution make a list of barriers that could stop someone from living in the community.)   Catriona stated that within the time period of March 1, 2006 to February 28, 2007, a Written Plan of Habilitation was completed for 352 individuals statewide.  Resource Coordinators recommended community 92% of the time, and treating professionals from the institutions recommended community 36% of the time.   Catriona said that legal guardians and family members sometimes oppose community placement, she also said in a couple instances that the individual was opposed to the transition.  Only Secretary Colmers can approve new admissions to the 4 institutions in Maryland . 

 

Rosewood

 

CDRC Leader Kenny saw Dr. Day (the new Rosewood Director) at a meeting they both attended in early August.   After the meeting, Kenny spoke with Dr. Day about the movie day event / debacle that CDRC planned for the Rosewood residents. Dr. Day took full responsibility as to what happened.  He was very apologetic to CDRC about what took place.  Dr. Day said he did not know anything about the movie day until the day before the event was suppose to take place.  Dr. Day invited Kenny to take a tour of Rosewood on September 4th.  Kenny accepted his invitation and will be taking a tour with Dr. Day.  .  Then on September 17th Kenny, CDRC’s Board Of Leadership, and the leadership of People On the Go (POG) will be meeting with Dr. Day regarding the best way to do  outreach events for the residents at Rosewood.  We will be updating you in our next newsletter as to how the 2 events went with Dr. Day.

 

SunShine Folks

 

The SunShine Folks had its monthly meeting in August.  We updated each other on the great work that everybody has been doing.  We heard exciting stories from the SunShine Folks regarding their hard work in getting people out of nursing homes and living back in the community.  We had 2 guest speakers at the meeting.  Mary and Deborah, they are Ombudsman for Baltimore County .  Mary and Deborah spoke about some of the work that Ombudsman’s do.  Here are some of the topics that Mary and Deborah spoke upon: 1) Help nursing home residents investigate and resolve complaints through the use of advocacy, negotiation, and mediation skills.  2) Educate residents, family members, and the nursing home staff about residents’ rights.  3) Aid resident and family councils to identify and resolve group concerns.  4) Clarify and communicate concerns to appropriate staff members and help all parties involved find acceptable solutions to problems.  5) Improve the quality of life and care of long-term care residents.  The SunShine Folks would like to thank Mary and Deborah for taking the time out of their busy schedule to come talk with us.  In short, an Ombudsman’s job is to: 1) Protect your rights.  2) Preserve your privacy.  3) Ensure your dignity.  4) Investigate your complaints.   Ombudsman are friends of nursing home residents.

 

Continuation proposal

 

With the assistance from Barbara McCord of the Coordinating Center , CDRC submitted its continuation proposal to the DD Council in late August.  CDRC will be hearing from the Council in early September as to whether they have accepted out continuation proposal for a year 6.

 

Transportation Conference

 

On Thursday, September 20, 2007 Maryland Department of Transportation will be having a Secretary's Conference on Accessible Transportation.  Maryland Aviation Administration, (MAA)- will present information on "Improved Airport Accessibility" and a power point presentation of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport while Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) will give a presentation on experience of how the MTA provides accessible transportation on all of its modes and there will also be a demonstration that will provide participants to interact and experiment with different models of the accessibility elements.  Also, Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) will present "Getting People Going" and the State Highway Administration (SHA) will present on SHA's Self-Evaluation of the States "Public Rights-of-Way" (PROW).

 

 

Our next CDRC membership meeting will be:

 

September 23, 2007

3501 Russett Common

Laurel , MD

1:00 – 4:00