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HomeMy WebLinkAbout201001_DDAB MinutesJEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH 615 Sheridan Street  Port Townsend  Washington  98368 www.jeffersoncountypublichealth.org Developmental Disabilities (DD) Advisory Board M I N U T E S January 26, 2010 Board Attendees: Carl Hanson (Co-chair), Lesly Sheinbaum (Co-chair), John Austin, Carla Meyer, Catharine Robinson Board Absentees: none Guests: Karen Obermeyer, Kim Rafferty, Alysa Russell, Lisa Falcone, Paula McNeese Beth Hendricks, Julie Judd, Janie Nelson-Clark Staff: Anna McEnery, Donna Marvin (Recorder) Call to Order Meeting called to order by Co-Chair Lesly Sheinbaum at 3:20 pm. All members were in attendance. Approval of Agenda Proposed changes to the agenda include addition of 2 items (Beth Hendricks and Skookum update); and postponement of 3 items (FLASH, Transition Network Update and Updated Waiver Fact Sheet). Member Hanson moved to approve the agenda as amended. Motion seconded by Member Austin. Motion carried unanimously. Approval of Minutes from November 24, 2009 Member Meyer indicated a needed correction on page 5, second paragraph - the position for Mobility Coordinator is only through July, 2011 (not 2012). Member Meyer moved to approve the minutes as changed. Motion seconded by Member Hanson. Motion carried unanimously. Introductions Those in attendance were introduced and a sign-in sheet was circulated. Public Comments No public comments. New Business and Presentations: Presentation: How Disability Laws can help tenants suffering from drifting tobacco smoke in multi unit housing/ Solicit input about tobacco issues that might be of interest to the DD Board Karen Obermeyer, Tobacco Program Coordinator with Jefferson County Public Health, has been working with multi-unit housing and she came across some information about the Disability Act that she and Anna felt would be valuable to share with the Board. There is emerging information about exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and its effect on neural behavior aspects in kids. There is growing recognition about behavioral disorders in young adults following second-hand smoke exposure (either pre-natal or as children). Karen talked about the ill effects of tobacco use in pregnant women including the potential Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 01/26/10 Page 2 of 5 to cause some auditory processing problems in children. Relationships have been shown between tobacco and disabilities. Tobacco use in disability populations show that people with developmental or intellectual disabilities are 3 times more likely to live in poverty and this makes them more susceptible to the financial strains of using tobacco. One study showed that among current smokers, adults with disabilities smoked more cigarettes per day than adults without disabilities, and smoked sooner after waking in the morning which is a sign of intense nicotine addiction. Tobacco use may decrease the effectiveness of some of the medications that are commonly used among the disability population. Karen discussed the Fair Housing Act that was part of the Civil Rights Acts from the sixties. It was amended in 1988 to include people with disabilities so that they weren’t discriminated against in housing. Disabilities can include severe breathing problems, heart conditions or chronic debilitating bronchitis, so the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in most kinds of housing, with protections for second-hand smoke. Owners and landlords of housing cannot discriminate against people with disabilities by refusing to let them make modifications in their building, or by refusing to make reasonable accommodations in their rules, policies and practices. Karen offered the assistance of the Tobacco Program to help anyone who may be running into issues with second-hand smoke because of their disability. They can help with rules and policies for housing units. Reasonable accommodations that can be made for someone with a disability would include: Prohibiting smoking in common areas Asking to move to a vacant unit that is away from a smoker Asking the landlord to prohibit smoking on apartment balconies and surrounding units Asking to break your lease without incurring other financial penalties She explained that any request made about their disability and second-hand smoke would have to be directly related to the problem. Depending on the situation, disability laws can provide the most effective way to get relief for someone who is suffering problems from second-hand smoke. Karen distributed a handout describing the process to make a request for modifications in the lease or the apartment building. There is also contact information to contact HUD if interested in filing a complaint. The Tobacco Quit Line is a major benefit from the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program in the State of WA. Anyone in the state can call for free if interested in quitting smoking. They also have accommodations for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (1-877-777- 6534). Karen answered questions and there was further discussion about special concerns or how this issue might impact the developmentally disabled population. Karen will be meeting with Carla Meyer, Jefferson Transit about issues of smoking at Transit bus stops. Beth Hendricks, LMHC, Counseling Services Anna introduced Beth Hendricks, local counselor specializing with people with developmental disabilities. Beth is under contract with the County to provide group services. Beth explained that she is currently doing a counseling support group for 7 individuals and they are working on skills including anger management, social skills, assertiveness, self- soothing skills – all skills that are useful in the workplace and life in general. The group also offers a good way to meet other people and gain a sense of community. They meet every- other Wednesday and are open to new members any time. Beth distributed a flier and talked about her practice. She is a disabilities specialist and also a generalist, and has been in practice for a number of years. Beth currently has 2 practices, one in Shelton (she is finishing Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 01/26/10 Page 3 of 5 up practicing there) and one in Port Hadlock - to be available in S. Jefferson. She is willing to see people from all parts of the county. Beth has a contract with DDD and can currently see people on the Waiver. She is also doing some work with behavior management in the Quilcene School. Over the last 2-3 months Beth has been working weekly with the clients working in the Jump Rope Factory at Skookum and also meeting with Skookum staff to help with the transition. John Austin thanked Anna for thinking about the clients at Jump Rope & their need for support with the closure of Jump Rope. Update on Mobility Coordinator Position with Jefferson County Patty Perry, Jefferson Transit Mobility Coordinator, was unable to attend the meeting, but Carla Meyer gave an update on what’s been happening since Patty has taken the position. Patty is very experienced in this field and they have already had several very successful trips to help people in need of transportation. She has attended the Senior Provider’s meeting and is making contact with the Olympic Area on Aging services that are available through disabled vets. They are doing some new route changes and she will be instrumental in dealing with the senior facilities. She is making a lot of good in-roads and getting everything coordinated. There have been very tangible issues that she has been able to address right away and get people through to where they wanted to be. Her challenge is to bring all the available options together into one form, and to do that she has to get to know all the different resources that are available in the community. Update on Skookum/Jumprope Lisa Falcone gave a brief update on Jumprope. They had their final day and closure party on December 18th. Individuals at Jumprope have been working in counseling with Beth Hendricks for the past couple of months to help them work through a lot of emotion and put together a memory scrapbook. Many had been there for over a decade, so there is a lot of personal history. She feels that the transition has gone as well as possible and they really tried to turn it into a positive experience by having the party - to provide a nice ending to this chapter in their lives. They had an award ceremony where each employee got a specific award that was particular to them and they received a little trophy as a memento to help them move forward, as much as possible. All of those individuals are now on the Person Centered Plan process, or at least they are in the planning process (assessing skills and doing job development to look for employment). So they are very happy to see this as it has taken some time for some of them to be willing to look at this as an option, but everyone is on board with that now. She noted that even in the last month, since the closure, they have seen some positive things that have come from it. She shared the story of one person who is a good example of how when you take people out of this one context and put them in a new situation and allow them to try out different things, you can really see some new skills that they might have - and it has been an exciting thing for staff to see this progress. Change is hard and it takes time to find employment, but they are working on it and will continue to work on that. The reality of the closure has hit and it is great to see families come around and be a little more supportive. Update on DD Program Budget Anna McEnery, DD Coordinator, gave an update on the budget since the last report. She explained that the DD Budget is looking good and she will continue to provide updates. At the beginning of this fiscal year, many Counties took a lot of cuts from DDD, but Jefferson County did not. There was a variance of about $3,000 less between 2008 and 2009 with our property tax, timber harvest and lease hold excise tax, but we are still feeling very grateful that we have that amount. The amount that we get from DDD did not really change, so we were blessed Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 01/26/10 Page 4 of 5 this time around. Next fiscal year Jefferson County may be looking at taking a financial hit (for many Counties it was 20% or more last fiscal year). The Jefferson County DD Program has always been very good about using all of our funding while never having a client waiting list for services. But now that clients have to be on the Waiver, it makes it more difficult for people that are State only. If you’re not on the Waiver, then chances are you may not get funding for Day Program services. This is really unfortunate because here in Jefferson County we have been able to work within our allotted budget and serve a new client that showed up and needed employment services. In the past, the DD Program was able to take funding away from training or Community Info/Education and put that funding into a direct service mode. Counties have less flexibility with State only dollars, because our fiscal amounts per category is set by DDD. That reason behind that is because many Counties need additional funding for the Waivered clients they are serving. So any DD County Program that isn’t using all of their funding might have it redistributed to another County. There is a varying percentage per county, in how much funding is spent in the Community Information & Education budget line. In Jefferson County if clients are receiving the maximum direct service dollars, then we’ve able to have other contracts, (like with the ARC, or Beth Hendricks for example). If DDD puts a cap on the amount of funding in the Community Information & Education budget line, it would hurt us because we’re a smaller County and we’ve been able to do a lot with our funding. The legislative body has requested a JLARC audit on all County programs in the State. Anna will give the Board updates. Discussion – Advisory Board Sub-Committee for Posters & Coaster Campaign Anna reported that the DD Advisory Board, the Substance Abuse Advisory Board, Young Children Priority One Group, the Tobacco Prevention Group and the Community Network are now joining together on the Posters & Coaster Campaign. This campaign is designed to help educate pregnant women and their spouses about the effects of drinking & tobacco use while pregnant. The plan is to have a point person from each of the Advisory groups attend one or two meetings. At the initial meeting Anna will pass out the posters/coasters and we will go over a map of the county set up in geographical areas. People will be designated to take key locations in those areas to ensure that the posters are getting out to where they need to. There are some talking points that Anna will go over with committee members who are going out to meet the public. April 1st is the target take for moving forward with this campaign (April is Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention Month and the Our Kids Our Business campaign). We may do an article for the newspaper. Self-Employment Project with WISE Anna explained that a self-employment track can be a viable option for some people with developmental disabilities. There are Counties in WA. State that have done a lot of work around self-employment. The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, (DVR) will pay between $4,000 – $6,000 for an agency such as Skookum or Concerned Citizens to find employment for an individual with a disability, through job development, placement and intensive job coaching. DVR looks seriously at the viability of a self-employment track. If it looks like a hobby, they are not going to fund it. Nine Counties are interested in working on a self-employment project with the WA Initiative for Supported Employment, (WISE) a technical assistance agency. Anna will provide periodic updates to the Board. Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 01/26/10 Page 5 of 5 Jefferson County DD Program’s Poster Session for National Public Health Conference Anna will be traveling the third week in February to Atlanta, GA to participate in the National Public Health Conference. She was selected for a poster session presentation on Emergency Preparedness Classes for people with disabilities & special needs & Neighborhood Groups in Jefferson County. Anna is excited to be invited and is preparing for her presentation. Anna pointed out that we have great Emergency Preparedness Classes, and she gave credit to an exceptional collaborative effort by the community. Funding came from the EOC through FEMA for the backpacks, and donations from churches and other community agencies paid for all the items inside the packs. There was additional discussion about the classes. Anna noted that they will be advertising the classes at the homeless shelter, and may do classes for students from the Special Ed department in Port Townsend. They will also work on scheduling classes with people who live at the Bishop Park Apartments, per their request. Anna plans an article or photo about the program in the near future. Old Business & Informational Items: Article from the CHDD (Handout): Anna distributed copies and talked about points of interest from an article that she discovered while researching Autism. The article is about genetic hot spots that are linked to Autism & Developmental Disabilities. This feels this is the best information she has come across about genetics and Autism, and it’s encouraging that science is getting closer to understanding the puzzle of Autism SEPAC Meetings: Rosie Taylor and Bob Wheeler (parents) are the organizers/ facilitators of Special Education Parents Advisory Council (SEPAC). This group is new to our community and is proving to be very helpful with relationships between schools and parents. SEPAC has had DDD, DVR, and the County speak to the group about their services. They meet on the third Tuesday of each month. Anna will pass out their SEPAC informational flier as soon as it is finished. Updated Board Manuals: Everyone who is an official Board member now has an updated Board manual. Kim Rafferty is interested in becoming a member and she has gone through the orientation, a few steps remain. Julie Judd is also interested, as well a Paula Mc Neese, and Patty Perry. Updated Resource Guide 2010 (Handout): Anna provided additional Resource Guides and will print more as needed. She reviewed details on some of the updated information included in the book. Public Comments There were no public comments. Agenda Planning A few items from today’s agenda will be carried over. Next meeting: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Meeting was adjourned at 4:42 p.m.