Here is a resource for Wa. State residents who are disabled. It is an excerpt from the Washington Access Fund Newsletter.
Access Fund News
January, 2011
Medicaid Program Cuts - How the Access Fund can Help
The WA State Medicaid program began notifying clients in December of a revised list of 2011 program cuts. Some immediate cuts (effective January 1st, 2011) include adult eyeglasses and contacts, adult hearing aids and adult dental services (except for emergency treatments) as well as school-based services such as occupational, speech and physical therapy for special education students.
The announcement states that 2,400 clients will be affected by the loss in coverage for adult hearing (at a savings of $300,000) and 67,000 clients will be impacted by the loss of coverage for adult vision (at a savings of $500,000). Governor Gregoire proposes to restore the cuts in the next biennial budget starting in July contingent upon legislative approval.
We've heard via the grapevine that some DSHS clients have already had their audiology appointments cancelled because they have no way to pay for the hearing aids or related services. In response, the Access Fund has modified its loan polices to allow "pre-approvals" for hearing aid loans. This means that customers can apply for a loan prior to making an appointment with their audiologist. If approved, the customer can let the audiologist know that they have funding to cover the cost of both the appointment and the hearing aids up to the approval amount. If arranged in advance, the appointment can be paid for prior to or at the time of service. If hearing aids are prescribed, the customer would submit the prescription and invoice to the Access Fund. Once all of the loan documents are signed, the Fund will pay the vendor. The approval amount will depend upon the customer's budget.
Pre-approvals are available for any potential customer - not just Medicaid clients. We realize that hearing aids can be expensive and many DSHS clients may not be able to afford to repay a large loan. In that situation, customers may want to contact Leann in our office to learn more about the Access Fund's Matched Savings Accounts. Other hearing aid funding sources are listed on our website at: Funding Resources for Hearing.
Access Fund loans cannot be used for eye glasses or regular dental care but we do cover dentures and, of course, many other types of assistive technology. The interest rate is 5% and loan terms of up to five years are available.
To read the announcement and for more updated information, please visit the WA State DSHS website. (The Access Fund website can be accessed by clicking on the title of this post.)
info@washingtonaccessfund.org
Showing posts with label "COMMUNITY" RESOURCES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "COMMUNITY" RESOURCES. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Where are the Parents?
This essay is an honest portrail of life of a parent with a special needs child - read this and try not to cry.
Where Are the Parents?
By Sue Stuyvesant, Parent
Hey everyone. For those of you who don't know me (I'm only an occasional poster) I am mom to Michelle, 9 years old, microcephalic, athetoid/spastic CP, cortical visual impairment, seizure disorder -- and CUTE! OK, now for the reason I'm posting.
To make a long story short, earlier this week a question was asked by some nitwit official as to why there weren't more parents (of special needs kids) involved in the local PTA and other issues that have come up that directly involve our kids. His question, which was passed on to me was, "Where are the parents?" I went home that night, started thinking - and boy was I pi**ed - and banged this "little" essay out the next day on my lunch break. By the way, I took copies of this to the school board meeting that night, gave it to a couple of influential people and it WILL get around.............
Where are the parents?
They are on the phone to doctors and hospitals and fighting with insurance companies, wading through the red tape in order that their child's medical needs can be properly addressed. They are buried under a mountain of paperwork and medical bills, trying to make sense of a system that seems designed to confuse and intimidate all but the very savvy.
Where are the parents?
They are at home, diapering their 15 year old son, or trying to lift their 100 lb. daughter onto the toilet. They are spending an hour at each meal to feed a child who cannot chew, or laboriously and carefully feeding their child through a g-tube. They are administering medications, changing catheters and switching oxygen tanks.
Where are the parents?
They are sitting, bleary eyed and exhausted, in hospital emergency rooms, waiting for tests results to come back and wondering, "Is this the time when my child doesn't pull through?" They are sitting patiently in hospital rooms as their child recovers from yet another surgery to lengthen hamstrings or straighten backs or repair a faulty internal organ. They are waiting in long lines in county clinics because no insurance company will touch their child.
Where are the parents?
They are sleeping in shifts because their child won't sleep more than 2 or 3 hours a night, and must constantly be watched, lest he do himself, or another member of the family, harm. They are sitting at home with their child because family and friends are either too intimidated or too unwilling to help with child care and the state agencies that are designed to help are suffering cut backs of their own.
Where are the parents?
They are trying to spend time with their non-disabled children, as they try to make up for the extra time and effort that is critical to keeping their disabled child alive. They are struggling to keep a marriage together, because adversity does not always bring you closer. They are working 2 and sometime 3 jobs in order to keep up with the extra expenses. And sometimes they are a single parent struggling to do it all by themselves.
Where are the parents?
They are trying to survive in a society that pays lip service to helping those in need, as long as it doesn't cost them anything. They are trying to patch their broken dreams together so that they might have some sort of normal life for their children and their families.
They are busy, trying to survive!
Sue Stuyvesant 10/15/96: Permission to duplicate or distribute this document is granted with the provision that the document remains intact.
Sue passed away in October 2003. Michelle passed away a week before she was to turn 18 in September 2005.
Where Are the Parents?
By Sue Stuyvesant, Parent
Hey everyone. For those of you who don't know me (I'm only an occasional poster) I am mom to Michelle, 9 years old, microcephalic, athetoid/spastic CP, cortical visual impairment, seizure disorder -- and CUTE! OK, now for the reason I'm posting.
To make a long story short, earlier this week a question was asked by some nitwit official as to why there weren't more parents (of special needs kids) involved in the local PTA and other issues that have come up that directly involve our kids. His question, which was passed on to me was, "Where are the parents?" I went home that night, started thinking - and boy was I pi**ed - and banged this "little" essay out the next day on my lunch break. By the way, I took copies of this to the school board meeting that night, gave it to a couple of influential people and it WILL get around.............
Where are the parents?
They are on the phone to doctors and hospitals and fighting with insurance companies, wading through the red tape in order that their child's medical needs can be properly addressed. They are buried under a mountain of paperwork and medical bills, trying to make sense of a system that seems designed to confuse and intimidate all but the very savvy.
Where are the parents?
They are at home, diapering their 15 year old son, or trying to lift their 100 lb. daughter onto the toilet. They are spending an hour at each meal to feed a child who cannot chew, or laboriously and carefully feeding their child through a g-tube. They are administering medications, changing catheters and switching oxygen tanks.
Where are the parents?
They are sitting, bleary eyed and exhausted, in hospital emergency rooms, waiting for tests results to come back and wondering, "Is this the time when my child doesn't pull through?" They are sitting patiently in hospital rooms as their child recovers from yet another surgery to lengthen hamstrings or straighten backs or repair a faulty internal organ. They are waiting in long lines in county clinics because no insurance company will touch their child.
Where are the parents?
They are sleeping in shifts because their child won't sleep more than 2 or 3 hours a night, and must constantly be watched, lest he do himself, or another member of the family, harm. They are sitting at home with their child because family and friends are either too intimidated or too unwilling to help with child care and the state agencies that are designed to help are suffering cut backs of their own.
Where are the parents?
They are trying to spend time with their non-disabled children, as they try to make up for the extra time and effort that is critical to keeping their disabled child alive. They are struggling to keep a marriage together, because adversity does not always bring you closer. They are working 2 and sometime 3 jobs in order to keep up with the extra expenses. And sometimes they are a single parent struggling to do it all by themselves.
Where are the parents?
They are trying to survive in a society that pays lip service to helping those in need, as long as it doesn't cost them anything. They are trying to patch their broken dreams together so that they might have some sort of normal life for their children and their families.
They are busy, trying to survive!
Sue Stuyvesant 10/15/96: Permission to duplicate or distribute this document is granted with the provision that the document remains intact.
Sue passed away in October 2003. Michelle passed away a week before she was to turn 18 in September 2005.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
What's A Mom & Her Boy To Do?
WHY NOT TO CUT THE SEATTLE PARKS BUDGET
A Personal StoryBy
Peanut Butter 'n Jelly
You have to understand that it would ordinarily take an Act of Congress and a College Football Team to wrestle my son into a suit and tie, but after twenty years of participation in Seattle Parks and Recreation's Specialized Programs, when someone handed him an invitation to a Public Hearing that involved possible budget cuts to his beloved Wednesday Night Starlight Socials, Monday cooking classes, Saturday Travels, and some pools might be closed (gasp! we've already lost the one at Fircrest), he was HOT on it. He brought me the flyer, waving it in the air, unable to speak, reverting to his sign language, and I had to remember back to the days before he learned to speak when these opportunities to be out and integrated were the few chances he had to be with his "Buds", his "Peeps". And the few hours I had to be either with other parents, or to have a few hours for myself.
But yesterday morning The Boy got up on his own, showered and shaved, like he would usually do only for church on Sunday, and suited up for this opportunity to tell the City of Seattle how important Parks Special Programs are to him. We had talked about it the night before, we had each written down our speeches on 3X5 index cards, we had made a sign with a big AX that said Don't Cut Parks Spec. Prog, so we could wave it from the audience.
Now, we have attended many Shoreline City Council Meetings, mind you, and signed up to speak, so we thought we were prepared. But this was Seattle, and we had been misinformed about the purpose of this meeting; it wasn't just about the Parks budget, it was about everything from Pea Patches to Seattle Center. There was a guy there with a sign that protested ticketing parked cars, saying, "My car is my home".
And the biggest problem was that this was the biggest crowd we had ever encountered! After driving around for twenty minutes following flourescent-yellow-vested parking attendants, we arrived at a cacophonous cafeteria filled with HUNDREDS of milling people, somewhat grouped by signs indicating their interest, but mostly making it abundantly clear that if you had a snowball's chance in hell of a spot at the podium it wouldn't happen before midnite in Hawaii...
My son was already shaking. It was almost 5:30 p.m. and he had dressed for this event at 5:50 a.m. He had written his speech the night before. He was pressed by a closely bumping crowd of people around him, all talking at once. Like having your radio station tuned just slightly off and nothing comes in clearly, everything was just a buzz, a cafeteria with venders cranking out lattes, and the smells, and there was no seating left and no-place-outside-and-it's-raining...and here comes the seizure, I just know it, I see it dancing in his eyes, I've lived with it since he was ten years old, so I take his arm, wipe the drool from his mouth with my sleeve, he can still walk, I know he can...
I take the speech notes from his hand and drop them in the "Written Comments" box as we pass by the sign up table...
This kind of seizure is called Partial/Complex, and he's only halfway here, but there is a lot of facial twitching and salivation and it looks way worse than it is. Anyway, what I believe is that he is somewhere else when that happens, so I'm in charge of his body, so I need to take it home, so that's what I did.
But the next day, my son got on his computer and looked up on King 5 News (because he saw them there at the hearing) to see what had happened. He said that mostly it was businesses saying don't raise our taxes, but that some of his friends said please don't close our pools.
So there it is then...
Peanut Butter & Jelly
PS: The Boy will be swimming laps at Movin' for Money, Sunday, May 16th - 1-4 p.m. at the Meadowbrook Pool (10515 35th Ave N.E.) to raise $$$ for Specialized Programs for Seattle Parks.
You may be swimming or walking a similar path, eh?
Note by Saskia: If not for this description, most of us, who do not have loved ones in the Parks programs, would have no idea how important they are as activity resources for people with DD! There may still be a small window of time to add your voice to those of this Mom and her boy. I encourage you not to hold back. For contact info to support continuance of the parks programs click on the title of this post or go to: www.seattle.gov/html/feedback.htm.
But yesterday morning The Boy got up on his own, showered and shaved, like he would usually do only for church on Sunday, and suited up for this opportunity to tell the City of Seattle how important Parks Special Programs are to him. We had talked about it the night before, we had each written down our speeches on 3X5 index cards, we had made a sign with a big AX that said Don't Cut Parks Spec. Prog, so we could wave it from the audience.
Now, we have attended many Shoreline City Council Meetings, mind you, and signed up to speak, so we thought we were prepared. But this was Seattle, and we had been misinformed about the purpose of this meeting; it wasn't just about the Parks budget, it was about everything from Pea Patches to Seattle Center. There was a guy there with a sign that protested ticketing parked cars, saying, "My car is my home".
And the biggest problem was that this was the biggest crowd we had ever encountered! After driving around for twenty minutes following flourescent-yellow-vested parking attendants, we arrived at a cacophonous cafeteria filled with HUNDREDS of milling people, somewhat grouped by signs indicating their interest, but mostly making it abundantly clear that if you had a snowball's chance in hell of a spot at the podium it wouldn't happen before midnite in Hawaii...
My son was already shaking. It was almost 5:30 p.m. and he had dressed for this event at 5:50 a.m. He had written his speech the night before. He was pressed by a closely bumping crowd of people around him, all talking at once. Like having your radio station tuned just slightly off and nothing comes in clearly, everything was just a buzz, a cafeteria with venders cranking out lattes, and the smells, and there was no seating left and no-place-outside-and-it's-raining...and here comes the seizure, I just know it, I see it dancing in his eyes, I've lived with it since he was ten years old, so I take his arm, wipe the drool from his mouth with my sleeve, he can still walk, I know he can...
I take the speech notes from his hand and drop them in the "Written Comments" box as we pass by the sign up table...
This kind of seizure is called Partial/Complex, and he's only halfway here, but there is a lot of facial twitching and salivation and it looks way worse than it is. Anyway, what I believe is that he is somewhere else when that happens, so I'm in charge of his body, so I need to take it home, so that's what I did.
But the next day, my son got on his computer and looked up on King 5 News (because he saw them there at the hearing) to see what had happened. He said that mostly it was businesses saying don't raise our taxes, but that some of his friends said please don't close our pools.
So there it is then...
Peanut Butter & Jelly
PS: The Boy will be swimming laps at Movin' for Money, Sunday, May 16th - 1-4 p.m. at the Meadowbrook Pool (10515 35th Ave N.E.) to raise $$$ for Specialized Programs for Seattle Parks.
You may be swimming or walking a similar path, eh?
Note by Saskia: If not for this description, most of us, who do not have loved ones in the Parks programs, would have no idea how important they are as activity resources for people with DD! There may still be a small window of time to add your voice to those of this Mom and her boy. I encourage you not to hold back. For contact info to support continuance of the parks programs click on the title of this post or go to: www.seattle.gov/html/feedback.htm.
Monday, April 26, 2010
*********************INTERACT************
Hybrid Day Care
&
Professional Arts Center
MINNEAPOLIS
&
Professional Arts Center
MINNEAPOLIS
Here are excerpts from an MPP Downtownjournal article by Gregory Scott about a program that, without even trying, seems to both stretch and challenge the concept of community inclusion!
"A hybrid day care and professional arts center, Interact admits people with disabilities on a selective basis. Those accepted train professionally in performance and visual art, studying with an Interact staff made up exclusively of artists, musicians, writers and actors, all of who currently work in Minneapolis. Right now, Interact serves more than 90 clients. It is the only day care facility in the nation to offer professional opportunities to the disabled in both the visual and performing arts."
"Since the early 1980s, Calvit has been putting artists with mental illnesses, brain injuries and physical and developmental disabilities on stage, producing aggressive theater pieces that ........"
I came away from the article with mixed feelings. See what you think. To read the full article, just click on the title of this post.
Saskia
"A hybrid day care and professional arts center, Interact admits people with disabilities on a selective basis. Those accepted train professionally in performance and visual art, studying with an Interact staff made up exclusively of artists, musicians, writers and actors, all of who currently work in Minneapolis. Right now, Interact serves more than 90 clients. It is the only day care facility in the nation to offer professional opportunities to the disabled in both the visual and performing arts."
"Since the early 1980s, Calvit has been putting artists with mental illnesses, brain injuries and physical and developmental disabilities on stage, producing aggressive theater pieces that ........"
I came away from the article with mixed feelings. See what you think. To read the full article, just click on the title of this post.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Pediatric & Special Needs Dental Clinic
NEW DENTAL SERVICES
Seattle
Seattle
Special needs children in the Seattle area will soon have a new option for dental care. Opening of the Washington Dental Service Early Childhood Oral Health (ECOH) clinic will soon result from collaboration between Seattle Children's Hospital and the UW School of Dentistry. September 2010 is when the service is planned to open in a former Navy Administration Building at Magnuson Park (the former Sand Point Navel Air Base).
Reported to be unique in the US, the clinic will provide educational opportunities for dental students and the possibility for development of improved models of pediatric (ages 1-21) and special needs oral health care. In addition to dental specialists, ECOH's multidisciplinary health care team includes pediatricians, psychologists, social workers and public health practitioners. Dental work under general anesthesia will be possible. Find more information at http://dental.washington.edu/departments/ped/ecoh.php . Just click on this post's title.
Saskia
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