Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living

Connecting people to the power of independence

Updates

Please follow us on social media for news and updates.

Promoting Independence Advisory Committee

DADS Recruiting PIAC Members

Do you want to help people with disabilities live as independently as possible? If so, you may want to apply to be a member of the Promoting Independence Advisory Committee (PIAC). The deadline is May 1.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) are accepting applications for PIAC members from:

  • Advocates for individuals with disabilities, regardless of type of disability or their age
  • Advocates for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) or their family members.
  • Home health care providers
  • IDD service providers
  • Nursing home providers

DADS and HHSC are looking for representatives from across the state.The committee meets at 9 a.m. on the third Thursday of January, April, July and October in Austin. All terms expire on August 31, 2017.

How can I become a member?

To apply, you must submit  a detailed resume and cover letter that indicates which category you wish to represent and your reasons for submitting the request. The deadline is  close of business May 1, 2014. Resumes and cover letters should be sent to:

Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
Mail Code W650C
P.O. Box 149030
Austin, Texas 78714-9030
Attention: Bill Macdonald

If you prefer to email your application, it must be in PDF format. It should be sent to bill.macdonald@dads.state.tx.us.

What is PIAC?

The committee was established by Senate Bill 367, 77th Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, to assist the state in meeting its obligations under the United States Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision (June 1999) to ensure that all people have the right to live in the most integrated community setting of their choice.

The committee has nine members, including advocates, providers and recipients of long-term services and supports. They represent people of all ages who have physical, intellectual and behavior disabilities. Click here to learn more about the Promoting Independence Initiative and the PIAC.

The committee produces an annual status report on the state’s efforts to comply with the Olmstead decision and the state’s Promoting Independence Plan. In every even-numbered year, the committee offers recommendations to HHSC to consider for inclusion in the revised plan, which is submitted to the governor and the legislative leadership before the beginning of a new legislative session.

This information was retrieved from the DADS website at http://www.dads.state.tx.us/homepage/index.cfm?storyid=361 on 4/10/2014.

If you would like BVCIL assistance in completing your application materials – Give us a call at 979-776-5505 x107 or by email to advocacy@bvcil.org

 

House of Representatives HHSC SB 7 Hearing Summary

timetoact_theme1Yesterday, Amy Kantoff, TACIL Executive Director, attended a House of Representatives Human Services Committee hearing regarding Senate Bill 7.  Its implementation will have a direct impact on the well-being of nearly 100,000 Texans with disabilities, their families, and providers — so the hearing provided a great opportunity to hear about the intent of the legislation, the plan for how it will be carried out, and how stakeholder concerns are being addressed.

About SB 7.

SB 7 changes how medical and long-term services and supports will be provided through Medicaid and Medicaid waivers.  Medicaid managed care (STAR, STAR+PLUS) is being expanded.  The idea is to provide better services to more people, improve information and access and enhance person-centered planning and self-direction.  You can find a summary of all HHSC Medicaid Managed Care Initiatives here.

Agency Testimony.

First, HHSC and DADS (HHSC Deputy Commissioner Chris Traylor and DADS Commissioner Jon Weisenbaum) provided testimony regarding details about the bill and its implementation.

Gary Jessee (HHSC Deputy Director, Medicaid / CHIP) also spoke to questions regarding enrollment and ensuring consumer awareness of upcoming changes.

Committee members asked questions with regard to network adequacy and consumer access, particularly RE: consumers with intellectual / developmental disabilities.  They shared concerns the public expressed (below) about the aggressive timeline for implementation.

Public Testimony.

The hearing room was standing-room-only for most of the day – testimony was provided by a wide array of individuals and organizations that shared support for the initiative as well as concerns about its implementation.

Testimony included comments regarding:

  • Support for the initiative as it is intended to provide better services, information and access to more people while reducing costs and waiting lists
  • Support for functional assessments based on the needs of the consumer
  • The importance of the attendant!  We all know about issues with low attendant rates / wages – need to raise the minimum rates for attendants.  They are the providers who spot decubiti, nutrition issues, hygiene issues…they provide services that help keep the consumer from requiring services such as acute care, hospitalization
  • People don’t know these changes are coming, or if they have received information, they are confused. The messages need to be made more clear.  (Dennis Borel of CTD suggested HHSC consider doing something like the Between Two Ferns comedy episode featuring President Obama.  Personally, I think this is a great idea.)
  • Consider a less-aggressive timeline, and phasing, to ensure successful, not-rushed-into implementation and communication about changes.  (This was echoed by many.)  Develop an outreach and education strategy involving stakeholders
  • Transportation.  How will transportation issues be managed?  This was also echoed by many. (Judy Telge travelled from Corpus to Austin to speak to this concern; she shared information about CILs with the Committee and the audience, as well as concerns about secondary providers: those who provide transportation and housing services.)
  • Judy also spoke to nursing home relocation services: let’s dialog to ensure that those people who don’t want to be in nursing homes can get out.  There are tensions between managed-care-organization and relo staff (medical vs. consumer control model)
  • Mental health needs of the I/DD population.  Few people who work with I/DD consumers are familiar with mental health issues, and few people who work in mental health are familiar with I/DD needs.  Behavioral services are typically ordered for compliance.  Often, mental health conditions are not diagnosed but instead symptoms are attributed to the disability.  Trauma-informed care is needed
  • Availability of providers overall for the I/DD population

Next Steps:

  • Committee Chairman Rep. Raymond asked that HHSC organize a meeting in mid-May for stakeholders.
  • A hearing regarding I/DD redesign will be held in Austin April 15.  I plan to be there.
  • Information sessions are being held in Houston, Beaumont, Laredo, McAllen, and Brownsville in the coming weeks.  Presentations are also available online that DADS and HHSC created to provide information for consumers as well as providers.

I encourage you to share this information with your staff.  I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to become more acquainted and involved.  Feel free to provide your input or ask questions at any time.

Amy Kantoff

Executive Director

TACIL | Texas Association of Centers for Independent Living

7101 Easy Wind Drive # 3114 | Austin, TX 78752
512.374.0730

www.taciltexas.org

The Brain Injury Awareness Campaign

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month! 

The Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts (BIA-MA) is happy to unveil a new legislative campaign for brain injury awareness month. Please join us in raising awareness of brain injury.
BIA-MA’s goal this year is to raise visibility and awareness and increase access to state services for individuals with brain injury. There are currently more than 3,000 brain injury survivors on the waiting list for brain injury services through the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC). The time has come to meet their needs by increasing budget appropriations and reinforcing policies.
Are you the mother, daughter, son, father, caregiver, service provider, survivor or rehabilitation specialist? What role do you play in brain injury? What is your relationship to brain injury? How has brain injury affected your life?
BIA-MA is looking for people to put a “face” to brain injury by sharing how they’re affected by brain injury through anecdotes and personal stories.
BIA-MA has developed a kit for you to advocate for survivors and increase awareness through this campaign. Check out the link below!

Brain Injury Awareness Campaign

Check out OUR pictures on Facebook: www.facebook.com/bvcil

Brazos Valley Community Forum: What did we hear?

Disability Rights Texas LogoThank you to the team at Disability Rights Texas for making the trip to Bryan, TX on 3/19/2014 to listen to what our community has to say about disability-related issues.

If you were unable to attend and would still like your opinion to be heard, please complete the online survey by clicking HERE.

Here’s a brief overview from the 3/19/2014 community forum:

Who was there?

Disability Rights Texas Team Members:

  • Mary Faithfull, Executive Director;
  • Lydia focusing on education;
  • Susan focusing on community integration;
  • Steve representing policy issues;
  • Leah focusing on housing, employment and transportation.

Local community groups and organizations in attendance:

  • Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living
  • FACETS
  • Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)

In addition to the community groups and organizations, a few individual community members were in attendance.

What did we hear?

  • EDUCATION
    • Difference in the types and quality of services offered from one school to another — even in the same district;
    • Concerns about transition planning either being non-existent or not emphasized;
    • School Resource Officers and law enforcement in general need to receive training on working with youth with disabilities;
    • School district personnel misinterpret confidentiality laws when they deny parents the right to observe children in special education classes.  A specific example given was a parent not being allowed to observe his/her own child without the written consent of the other parents of children in the same classroom.
  • HOUSING
    • Difficult for certain individuals to obtain rental housing based on past history – many of these individuals have mental health disabilities;
    • Limited availability of accessible rental units and sometimes the accessible units are rented to people who do not require them making them unavailable for someone that does;
    • Waiting list for the Housing Choice Voucher program.
  • EMPLOYMENT
    • Some people lose jobs because of outbursts (or similar) in the workplace.  The outburst would have been preventable if appropriate supports (such as job coach and/or vocational rehabilitation counselor) had been in place for the employee and the employer.
    • Workplace supports need to be identified and made available before a critical problem in the workplace exists.
    • A few employers have the practice of not providing Sign Language interpreters during the interview process only during the hiring process.
  • TRANSPORTATION
    • Public transportation is not available on nights, weekends or holidays;
    • No accessible private transportation.
  • COMMUNITY INTEGRATION
    • Long waiting lists for waiver programs;
    • Individuals don’t learn about waiver waiting lists early enough in the process to deal with 10+ year waitlists;
    • ECI is helping parents sign their children up for waitlists;
    • Difficulties in understanding Medicaid Managed Care;
    • Providers have a lot of difficulty with medicaid reimbursements being denied because of fluctuations in client eligibility. This causes some providers to not accept medicaid and for those that do, it severely restricts the quality of services they can deliver.
  • POLICY
    • Department of Justice has funds available to local law enforcement agencies to make GPS tracking devices available to families who have children at risk of wandering.  These funds can be accessed through the Byrne Grant program – for more information click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Beep Baseball is COMING SOON!

Attention Brazos Valley be on the lookout for the BCS Outlaws!! Beep Baseball is coming to Aggieland! Join us on 3/28 from 4-6 pm at Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living for an informational and to sign up for a team! More info to come!!

Beep Baseball png

Voting Rights Video

In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act to make the voting process more inclusive and accessible. That means that if you are a person with a disability, you have specific legal rights regarding voting.