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A pdf version of this newsletter can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/CenterforPASBulletinJun05.pdf Previous newsletters can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/index.php
Center for Personal Assistance Services Bulletin June 2005--Volume 2, Issue 3 IN THIS ISSUE: ========== The Center for Personal Assistance Services provides research, training, dissemination and technical assistance on issues of personal assistance services (PAS) in the United States. Personal assistance services (PAS) refer to help provided to people with disabilities to assist them with tasks essential for daily living. These tasks include bathing, dressing, getting around, toileting, eating, shopping, remembering things, and other activities. PAS, along with assistive technology such as wheelchairs, text readers, and hearing aides, help people with disabilities to participate in activities at home, at work, and in the community. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide the latest news on issues relating to formal and informal PAS, home & community-based services, the PAS workforce, and workplace PAS within and outside of the Center. Further detail about the Center staff and advisors can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/about/ ========== 1) Community Integration Litigation Update Two lawsuits included in the report ''Olmstead and Olmstead-related Lawsuits" on the PAS Center website (http://www.pascenter.org/olmstead/olmsteadcases.php) have recently settled. In the first lawsuit in Connecticut (Arc of Connecticut et al v. O'Meara and Wilson-Coker), a settlement was reached and the legislature agreed to underwrite the cost. The court was scheduled to hold a fairness hearing in May to confirm the settlement. The settlement covers all people in the class (people eligible for services from the Dept of Mental Retardation and who have applied and/or are eligible for waiver services). The state has agreed to expand its HCBS waiver program each year for 5 years (ending in 2009) by 150 persons per years and to implement a new Individual and Family Support HCBS waiver. The agreement is at: http://www.dmr.state.ct.us/WLSettlement.htm Information on the waiver is at: http://www.dmr.state.ct.us/HCBS/index.htm. The second lawsuit, in Mississippi (Billy A & Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities v. Lewis-Payton et al), concerns allegations that state policies have led to unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in nursing homes by not making HCBS unavailable. A settlement agreement was reached and a fairness hearing is scheduled. The settlement includes that the state will implement a screening process to identify nursing home residents who may be suitable for HCBS, the state will provide up to $800 to help people with costs of transition and payments to personal care attendants will be increased by $0.50 per hour. Information on the settlement is at: http://www.mscoalition.com/page6.html For more information on Olmstead cases, go to:http://www.pascenter.org/olmstead/ ========== 2) New state-by-state information available on Center for Personal Assistance Services website State-by-state resources can be found on the Center for Personal Assistance Services website at http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/index.php. In the past quarter, more resources are now available by state, including * The number of participants and expenditures for federal funding for home and community based services under Title III and the Older Americans Act. (http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/federal_funding_to_states.php?title=Federal+Funding+to+States) * The number of participants and expenditures for state funding for home and community based services. (http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/state_only_funded.php?title=State+Only+Funded+Programs) ========== 3) Center researchers present findings *Center for PAS researchers Brian R. Grossman, Joseph T. Mullan, Rani Eversley, Alice Wong, and Mauro Hernandez conducted a Plenary Session at the Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference on June 9, 2005, San Francisco, CA, entitled 'A Report on the Experiences of PAS Users of Color.'They presented four reports from focus groups composed of people of color who use formal (or paid) PAS. The groups were conducted in three distinct geographic locations (the Southwest, the SF Bay area, and Washington, DC). Three of the groups had solely African American participants, two Native American, and one each had Asian Americans and Latinos. Common themes across groups involved issues of unmet need, the resourcefulness of consumers, and the difficulties of dealing with bureaucracies. The importance of social-cultural networks and provider cultural competence were highlighted. * Center researchers Martin Kitchener and Terence Ng delivered a symposium on the latest trends in national waiver and personal care programs to the National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA), National HCBS Waiver conference in Orlando in May. The presentation was discussed by Mary Jean Duckett from CMS, Beth Kidder from Florida Medicaid, and Bridget Simone of NY Medicaid. For more information, see http://www.nasua.org/ * Center researcher Alice Wong chaired a session at the Society for Disability Studies (SDS) Annual Conferences on June 10, 2005 on sexuality and disability that included a paper on PAS entitled Using Personal Assistance Services for Sexual _Expression: Opportunities and Barriers by Linda Mona, Ph.D. Guidelines for consumers and clinicians working with people with disabilities were offered. The citation for the paper is Mona, L. R. (2003). Sexual Options for People with Disabilities: Using Personal Assistance Services for Sexual _Expression. In M. E. Banks and E. Kaschak's Women with Visible and Invisible Disabilities: Multiple intersections, multiple issues, multiple therapies. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc. (pp. 211-222). For more information, contact Linda R. Mona, Ph.D. at l.mona@mypleasure.com ========== 4) Scheduled presentations for Center researchers * Center for PAS Director Charlene Harrington and Center researcher Mitch LaPlante have been invited to "Disability & Aging: Seeking Solutions to Improve Health, Productivity, and Community Living", which is an officially designated mini-conference of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA). The WHCoA has been convening for nearly half a century to provide insight and recommendations on aging policy and program directions for the President, Congress, and policymakers at the state and local levels. The goal of the Mini-Conference on Disability and Aging is to explore and identify concrete public policy steps to address the economic, social, environmental, and personal challenges that disabilities can present for the aging and their families, employers, and communities. The mini-conference will produce a summary of deliberations as well as a a limited number of recommendations that can be considered for inclusion in the final WHCoA policy recommendations advanced to the President and Congress. The mini-conference convenes on July 21 and 22. *An entire session will be devoted to Personal Assistance Services(PAS) at this year's American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting in New Orleans in November 2005. Researchers from the Center for Personal Assistance Services will make three presentations in that session as well as three others. At the PAS session, Center staff will discuss findings of formal personal care programs and polices, experiences of PAS from people of color, and trends in supply and demand for PAS. Other presentations discuss the latest findings from studies of community integration litigation, PAS programs and policies, assistive technology, and disability statistics in local planning. For more information, see http://www.apha.org/meetings * On July 12, Center researchers Mike Oxford and Lewis Kraus along with Center advisor Steven Gold will conduct a workshop entitled "Living Independently and Personal Assistance Services" at the 2005 National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) Independent Living (IL) Conference in Washington, DC. For more information, go to http://www.ncil.org/events/conferences/index.html Workplace PAS project staff will participate in several important meetings in the summer and fall. For additional information on this conference, to http:/www.workplacererc.org/sos/ * The 2005 Job Accommodation Network Conference "Empowering Employers to Build an Inclusive Workforce", sponsored by Center partner JAN, will be held in San Francisco in September 26 and 27. The event offers two full days of training, including three concurrent training tracks: accommodation, innovative employment practices, and ADA/Legal. The annual conference is attended by human resource managers, EEO specialists, ADA coordinators, disability program managers, attorneys, rehabilitation professionals, and others. On September 27, Center researchers Susan Stoddard and Lewis Kraus will present "Workplace Personal Assistance Services: Where we are now and where we are going?" For more information, go to http://conference.jan.wvu.edu/ ========== 5) Vermont awarded 1115 HCBS Waiver CMS recently announced that Vermont has been awarded a 1115 research and demonstration waiver to provide elderly and disabled people with home and community-based services. The VT Long Term Care Plan will test a unique triage system to assess the appropriate level of care for up to 4,500 people at risk of institutionalization. For more information, see Vermont Department of Aging and Independent Living's website: http://www.dad.state.vt.us/1115waiver/1115default.htm ========== 6) New Real Choice Systems Change Grants Offered In April, CMS announced a new round of Real Choice Systems Change Grants to help states develop home and community-based services. $35 million in new grants is available to states for 2005. Three types of grants are offered; Family-to-Family Health Care Information and Education Center Grants, Systems Transformation grants (STG) and Aging and Disability Resource Center Grants (ADRCs). For more information, see: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/newfreedom ========== 7) Personal Assistance in the Workplace webcast presented Lou Orslene, of Center partner Job Accommodation Network, presented on Personal Assistance in the Workplaceon June 20, 2005 in a webcast hosted by the worksupport.com and Training and Technical Assistance For Providers (T-TAP) at Virginia Commonwealth University. In this webcast, Lou explained the differences between Personal Assistive Services (PAS) at home and in the workplace. He gave a summary of the legislative history of PAS, the work of the Center for PAS, and workplace issues relevant to the use of PAS from the perspective of an employer, employee with a disability, and rehabilitation professional to T-TAP's audience of over 100 rehabilitation providers and others. For more information on the webcasts, go to http://www.vcu.edu/rrtcweb/cyberu/index.html For more information about worksupport.com, go to http://www.worksupport.com For more information about T-TAP, go to http://www.t-tap.org ========== 8) National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce launches revamped website Center partner National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce, which publishes Quality Jobs/Quality Care, re-launched its website this week with a facelift, a whole new section for direct-care workers, and a new message board. The Clearinghouse Message Board is intended as a place for long-term care consumers, workers, providers, policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to share their thoughts and ideas about direct-care work. It should be used to pose questions, start conversations, or participate in ongoing dialogues. The Direct-Care Worker Information Center is a portal for people who are either doing direct-care work or thinking of joining the profession. Connecting users with resources in other parts of the Clearinghouse and on other parts of the Internet, it's divided into three sections: *About Direct-Care Jobs. This section describes wages, benefits, job duties, and training requirements for various types of direct-care work, linking to websites that offer information about state training and testing rules, federal career path advice, average wages by state, and more. It also offers users advice on how to look for a job and on how to think about what kind of direct-care work, if any, might suit them best. *Connect With Your Peers. This links to a number of websites and discussion groups for direct-care workers, nearly all of which were created and are moderated by direct-care workers. It also lists state and national professional associations for direct-care workers, providing contact information for each. *The Movement to Create Quality Jobs. This section links to employer practices and to national and state-based organizations and initiatives that are working to improve the quality of jobs for direct-care workers. The content of the rest of the Clearinghouse is the same as before but the look is new: cleaner, more colorful, and easier to navigate. Color-coded tabs lead to six main sections: *The Direct-Care Worker Information Center *The Best Practices database, which houses more than 50 profiles of innovative programs implemented by providers, educators, and worker and community organizations *News and Events, which includes items from this newsletter, a link to subscribe, and the message board *Voices from the Frontline, in which direct-care workers talk about their work and what it means to them in interviews, in writings, and on videotape *State Activities, which also links to nationwide data *A library of publications about the direct-care workforce, which can be searched by topic or by resource type, with categories for fact sheets and how-to training manuals. To visit the Direct-Care Workforce Information Center, the message board, and the rest of the redesigned Clearinghouse, go to http://www.directcareclearinghouse.org. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact news@directcareclearinghouse.org ========== 9) SELECTED CONFERENCES DURING July, August, and September 2005 For more detail about these conferences, go to: http://pascenter.org/conferences/index.php July http://www.rid.org/conv.html http://www.ncil.org/events/conferences/index.html July 21 - July 22, 2005 July 24 - July 27, 2005 http://www.al-apse.org/calendar.htm http://www.alz.org/careconference/05/overview.asp August http://www.nashp.org/_conferences.cfm?LID=CON September http://www.workrerc.org/sos http://conference.jan.wvu.edu http://www.aarp.org/aboutaarp/event ====================================================== This document was developed by the Center for Personal Assistance Services, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDDR) of the US Department of Education, grant #H133BO31102. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantee/contractor and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Department of Education. Please credit the source and support of federal funds. To unsubscribe to this Newsletter, please send listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu an email from the email address you wish to unsubscribe with: Center for Personal Assistance Services As part of the Center, InfoUse will email this newsletter periodically to listserve members.
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