1. Announcements:
Next Meeting is February 4th, 2016
How Will the Proposed NYS Budget Affect Your Family?
Details in English & Spanish: Join MCC Sp Wini Schiff 16 Join MCC Wini Schiff 16
DD Council
Thursday, January 14, 2016, 9:30 am- noon
UCP/NYC, 80 Maiden Lane, 2nd floor, training room 1
Information: Marco Damiani (212) 947-5770 x 456; manhattanddcouncilchair@gmail.com
Family Support Services Committee
Tuesday, January 12, 2016, 10:00 am – noon
Sinergia, 2082 Lexington Ave. at 125th Street, 4th floor
Information: Yesenia Estrella (212) 643-2840 x 349; yestrella@sinergiany.org
Transition Committee
Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 9:30 am – noon
AHRC, 83 Maiden Lane, 11th floor Board Room
Information: Kathy Kelly (212) 780-2724; Kathy.kelly@ahrcnyc.org
Legislative Committee
Next meeting to be announced.
Information: Jim Malley (212) 928-5810 x 101; Jmalley@esperanzacenter.net
Children’s Committee
Next meeting to be announced.
Information: Christina Muccioli (212) 780-2532; Christina.muccioli@ahrcnyc.org
Public Hearing on Developmental Disabilities Issues
Attend/testify before NYS Senator Bill Perkins and Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez
Thursday, January 14, 2016, 6-8pm, 163 West 125th Street, Conference Rooms 8A, B, C
Information: Phillipe Marius: pemarius@nysenate.gov
Sponsored by Willie Mae Goodman, NYC Fair, Manhattan DD Council jan 14th Revised Jan 11
NYC FAIR
Meeting with members of the Transformation Panel for update and budget briefing
Wednesday, January 20, 2016, 6-8 pm, IAC, 150 West 30th Street, 15th floor
Information: www.nycfair.org
UCP of NYC
Save the date for the 2016 Family Connect Summit: Thursday, March 10, 2016, 8:30am-3:30pm, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. Information: 718-436-7979 x 704; familyconnect@ucpnyc.org.
Catholic Guardian Services
The Community Resource and Transition Center will assist you in accessing supports and services that meet your family’s needs and desires. Information: 718-828-0300 x 267; CRTC@catholicguardian.org
2. Report on Manhattan Family & Professional Resource Fair
• Held Dec. 14, 2015
• New location: NY Academy of Medicine, 103rd Street and 5th Ave.
• 607 attendees, including 245 family members. In the two years where we offered Front Door info sessions, we had higher attendance; 607 is about par for pre-Front Door years
• Evals of Fair: 73 completed evals. Last year and this year we had 2 separate evals: one for the fair and one for workshops; we had larger response in the years when we used only one eval. The evals showed:
o Families were overwhelmingly positive
o Families want longer hours
o Some didn’t like location of new site and thought it was too small
o Problems with translation at workshops
3. Report on Statewide Family Support Services Committee Meeting
Home and Community Based Services Waiver (HCBS waiver). The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the HCBS waiver amendment concerning rate changes. OPWDD is now preparing its application for the 1915 (c) Comprehensive HCBS Waiver Renewal. The public comment period is December 23, 2015 – January 25, 2016. Based upon its review of public comment, New York State will submit the renewal application to CMS. Further information regarding the public comment process is available on the OPWDD website at http://www.opwdd.ny.gov/node/6345.
The Waiver Renewal is retroactive to October 1, 2014 and will span 5 years until September 30, 2019. This five-year agreement will fund HCBS services for over 80,000 people with DD. The Renewal continues the previous financial reforms implemented in prior agreements; includes updated information about the HCBS Settings Transition Plan; and identifies that, beginning in 2016, some people enrolled in the waiver who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare (dual eligible) may choose to enroll in a voluntary Managed Care program called the FIDA-IDD (Fully Integrated Duals Advantage for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities).
Transformation Panel. The panel is reviewing testimony from the statewide forums when people voiced their concerns. The panel will submit its recommendations to OPWDD in the next few weeks. The recommendations will be posted on the OWPDD website.
Residential Request List. To update the residential waiting list, as required by the NYS Legislature, OPWDD intended to survey about 11,000 people who were on the list. OPWDD made 24,000 calls to survey people about their residential needs. They made 3 attempts to reach each person and offered the opportunity for people to call in. About 4,000 surveys were completed. About 90% of the people surveyed wanted to remain on the residential waiting list. Many family members said they would keep their relatives home longer with the same or increased supports. When asked what type of home the person would choose, over half selected a house staffed by an agency. When asked whether they would like to hear more about new residential options, the vast majority said yes. OPWDD’s long-term goal is to keep updating the residential waiting list so that it accurately reflects people’s needs.
OPWDD Video on Community Transitions. We previewed a preliminary version of a new video that OPWDD is creating for people who are moving out of developmental centers (institutions) to the community, showing inspiring stories of the fulfilling lives of these individuals. We gave suggestions for improvement which are being incorporated into the video (show someone who has no effective communication system; show an urban setting).
Monitoring of Respite Services by the Division of Quality Improvement (DQI). The committee had requested that DQI present on how they audit respite services in order to better understand how DQI efforts complement the monitoring work of the FSS Advisory Councils. We learned that DQI looks for compliance with various requirements, adequate staff training, emergency procedures, the facility itself. DQI also does observations of the services and interviews staff to see if they are familiar with the needs of the specific people being served. They also do phone calls to families to assess satisfaction with the services. The councils’ focus more on the quality of the services: sufficiency of recreation equipment, variety and frequency of activities, interactions with staff, etc.
4. Speaker: Donald Lash, Chief Executive Officer, Sinergia, on Encounters with the Criminal Justice System
Donald explained that people with developmental disabilities might have different levels of encounters with the police: the basic approach where the police stop an individual and ask questions; request for explanation if police have a founded suspicion of criminal conduct; stop and frisk; arrest if police have probable cause to believe the person committed a crime. Donald advised us/our children to remain polite, and do not resist in all encounters with the police. The person should not attempt to leave without asking if s/he is free to go. Advocates should explain to the police in very simple terms about the nature of the person’s disability and how it may affect interaction with the police. We should prepare a “script” beforehand. If we have guardianship, tell the police; they cannot question the person without the guardian or a lawyer once they have been advised about the person’s guardianship. We should make sure the individual is accompanied through all the stages of the criminal justice process.
Donald emphasized that as a system we need to prepare people/families for dealing with the police. We also need more resources: mobile crisis units and other resources to avoid having to call the police.
Please see the attached powerpoint for additional information.