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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20200128_DDAB MINUTES-JANUARY 28-20201 Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board (DDAB) MINUTES Tuesday, January 28, 2020 Board Attendees: Carl Hanson (Co-Chair), Kim Rafferty, Owen Rowe, Kelly Matlock, Laura Cook, Dale Wilson Absent: Guests: Claudia Coppola, Robin Burdick, Catie Morton, Janie Nelson-Achodor, Julia Danskin, Kim Bushnell, Helen Brown, Robin Burdick, Taylor Webster, Lara Radke, Chris Tibbs, Tari Landsberger, Cole Huber, George Skurtu, Kat Petit, Sandra Gessner, Linda Ferris, Lisa Doray and Robin Kosin Staff: Anna Mc Enery CALL TO ORDER Member Hanson called the meeting to order. INTRODUCTIONS APPROVAL OF AGENDA Member Hanson called for approval of the meeting agenda. One change was made to order of the agenda presentations because Chris Tibbs from the Arc will arrive later. The agenda was approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes from November 26, 2019 are not yet completed. Public Health is looking to hire another Public Health/Clerk hire position. That individual will also do the minutes. PUBLIC COMMENTS None were made. NEW BUSINESS AND PRESENTATIONS 1. Presentation on Early Intervention Services in Jefferson County/Janie Nelson- Achodor Concerned Citizens Office Manager-Lead FRC for Clallam & Jefferson Counties: Janie talked about the birth to 3 program and changes that have occurred. During the last year Concerned Citizens has picked up the early intervention services that schools throughout Clallam and Jefferson County use to do, (with the exception of Chimacum). Concerned Citizens provides speech therapy, teacher services and physical therapy. They are serving 11 kids in PT and have four referrals, Chimacum has eight kids and two referrals, Brinnon has one child and one referral. There are no kids being served in Quilcene or Queets. Staff Mc Enery asked what is the average amount or children served in a year for Jefferson County? Janie said it’s about 25 kids, but it goes up and down in waves. Janie said that they get most of their referrals from Public Health, Seattle Children’s, Mary Bridge hospital, and some from daycares, guardians and DCS. 2 They had an all provider training in beginning of January. Janie shared some stats about Concerned Citizens from the State: • Timely services 100% • All services at natural home 99.5% • Transition 100% Staff Mc Enery asked how many services does B-3 provide? Janie said we can provide up to 17 different services. Staff Mc Enery also asked how many kids are in Early Intervention in Washington State? Janie said it’s about 15,000 children, but is growing. Janie said they work in all School Districts except the Chimacum School District because they provide their own teachers. Concerned Citizens meets twice a month with Chimacum to stay connected and to collaborate. Staff Mc Enery asked Janie to clarify about how DDA and Early Intervention works together. Janie said if you qualify for Early Intervention you automatically qualify for DDA. A family just has to do the paperwork, then DDA will approve it and Concerned Citizens will be able to access B-3 funding from the County DD Program. A family is also put on a waitlist for a DDA IFS waiver which will begin in at the of age 3. Staff Mc Enery asked Janie to talk about what a Family Resource Coordinator does. Janie said a Family Resource Coordinator looks at how they can serve the family and the child, by helping navigate systems with Intervention and advocacy. 2. Chris Tibbs- Arc Executive Director When did Jefferson County become part of the Arc of the Peninsulas? What is the history of Arc services in Jefferson County? Chris began sharing that the Arc is a chapter organization and began in Kitsap County in 1973. Every county has had an Arc at some point. The Arc of Peninsula focuses on fund raising. Chris talked about how they use to have a camp in Quilcene, but had to sell it. They are putting the P2P program in Jefferson County on pause, to take a look at it and then restart it. What is the average yearly Arc budget from Jefferson County bins/solicitations? George shared that the bins have been more cost effective then having a truck go to houses to pick up donations. The Arc brings in about 9K a year from Jefferson County. They also have a truck that goes to local thrift stores to pick up excess clothing. What is the Arc of the Peninsulas vision for services in Jefferson County? The Parent to Parent Program in Jefferson County has been inconsistent. Counseling and Guardianships never got going. Chris says there seems to be a lot of start and go. Providing consistent services for Jefferson County is the Arc’s vision. The Arc wants to honor their promise to Jefferson going forward. What does the Arc need in order to provide consistent services in Jefferson County? What services is the Arc of the Peninsulas providing in Kitsap County, Clallam County & Mason County? 3 3. Anna Mc Enery- DD County Coordinator/Audience- Questions/Feedback Staff Mc Enery asked each audience member if they would like to answer any of the following questions: I. What programs and services would you like to see the Arc of the Peninsulas provide here in Jefferson County? Why? II. What kind of partnerships do you believe are needed to support those services? III. How can you/or your Agency partner with the Arc of the Peninsulas? IV. Any closing thoughts? Taylor Webster from Cascade Community Connections said she would like to see a local Parent Group, like a Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). (This is a group of parents and staff whose purpose is to share information and advise the district on behalf of students receiving special education.) Taylor would also like to see a Healthy Relationship course and an Arc staff person to support the Olympic Neighbors/ Friday night hangout that occurs once a month at the Rec Center in Port Townsend. Chris said he would definitely consider a partnership with Olympic Neighbors. Robin Burdick from Skookum said we need transportation, (especially with chair lifts) so clients can attend the Friday night Arc dance in Bremerton. Robin asked if the Arc could partner with someone for transportation. Chris said they would contact Kitsap Transit about this. The Arc contacted Jefferson Transit about an 18 months ago and its time to reach out again. Carl Hanson mentioned that awhile back, Jefferson Transit offered two free vans to the faith community since they were discontinuing Sunday bus service. Unfortunately, none of the Ministers were able to step up, so the vans went to the YMCA and Concerned Citizens. Linda Ferris from Gatheringplace said that transportation is a major issue because our County is so spread out and many of their participants live out in the County. Chris said they have a number of van pools in Kitsap County that people with developmental disabilities access. The Arc has access to a Kitsap Transit van and Transit pays the insurance, upkeep on the van. Linda Ferris would like to see the Arc dance come to Jefferson County, especially since we have a beautiful dance hall at the American Legion. Chris said because they have greatly improved safety at the dance (they have 250 people in attendance). The Arc is considering having another weekly dance. Staff Mc Enery suggested a community wide dance that would include people with disabilities and without. Sandra Gessner, the PTSD Special Ed Director says the school is working on more inclusionary practices with social activities and could use support with that. Chris Tibbs asked if PTSD could partner with the Arc around transportation. If the Arc provided the driver, could the school provide a van? Sandy said the PTSD does have vans and she will look into it. Janie Nelson said we definitely need transportation and a dance, but we also really need a P2P Advocate to help parents to navigate systems that are hard to circumnavigate. 4 Julia Danskin said that having a P2P program is important, but she has noticed that certain parental issues are so wide spread that it is hard to make the connection with each other. Claudia Edmondson said she would like to get people talking about housing during life after high school with the P2P group. Catie Morton said that many individuals don’t know about DDA services and by the time they do, it can be too late. She would like to have a Transition Coordinator in the Schools to assist those individuals to connect with DDA and adult services. Lara Radke from DVR said it’s also important for Schools to do IQ and behavior testing. She has talked to three local School Districts and they said they do not do IQ testing and she feels it is important because it can help connect students to adult services. Helen Brown shared that it would be very helpful to have a parent advocate in the Schools, to point parents in the right direction. Helen could have used a parent advocate when her son was in Special Education. Staff Mc Enery welcomed Member Rowe to the DDAB and asked if he wanted to share. He said he likes the idea of creating a Coalition (SEPAC), maybe across County lines. Member Rafferty would love to see a Unified Special Olympics in Schools, a Best Buddy Program in our community for friendships/mentorships and ongoing education after High School to keep building skills. Lisa Doray and Robin Kosin from Gatheringplace agreed with everyone’s input about lack of public transportation options for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. It makes it difficult for individuals to attend the Gatheringplace classes/programs. Linda Ferris said everyone is welcome to attend Gatheringplace. Member Hanson said one of our greatest needs is continuity for transition from High School to adult life and it’s essential to look at the whole person. Member Hanson thanked the Arc for attending today and said all the suggestions have been great. Tari Landsberger said she was excited about future possibilities and is excited about developing more Arc services and partnerships in Jefferson County. Chris Tibbs thanked Staff Mc Enery, members of the DDAB for inviting the Arc today and for everyone who attended the meeting. The input today can help to create a consistent, effective path forward for the Arc here in Jefferson County. 4) Old Business-Informational Items & Future Meetings Informational Items: • Update on Olympic Neighbors/Kim Rafferty-Entity Representative The Olympic Neighbors valentine cookie sale will be held on February 11th and 13th at the Co-op. The Sparkle dance at the Port Townsend Rec. Center had 35 people and was a great success. • Update/Division of Vocational Rehabilitation/(DVR)/Iris Wehrle/Voc. Rehabilitation Counselor Iris Wehrle is retiring before May 1st of this year, (no official date yet). 5 • Update/Developmental Disabilities Administration/(DDA) DDA Case Resource Managers have full caseloads right now, so DDA may hire additional CRM’s for the Olympic Peninsula. Future Meetings/Events: 1. 2020 DDAB Meetings-from 2:45pm to 4:30pm @ Public Health-Pacific Room: ➢ Tuesday, March 24, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, May 26, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, September 22, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, November 24, 2020 1. Accessibility Community Act Committee-(ACAC) Regular MTGs (Grant from Governor’s Committee on Disability & Employment Issues) to be held from 1pm to 3:00pm in 2020: ➢ Monday, March 23, 2020 ➢ Monday, May 18, 2020 ➢ Monday, July 27, 2020 ➢ Monday, September 21, 2020 ➢ Monday, November 23, 2020 2. 2020 Transition Network MTGs to be held from 3:45pm to 5pm @ Quilcene School District- Library Meeting Room ➢ Tuesday, February 11, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, April 14, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, June 9, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, October 13, 2020 ➢ Tuesday, December 8, 2020 I. Public Comments: Staff Mc Enery said it would be great if the Arc would come back to the DDAB and share Legislative updates. II. Future Agenda Items: • Jefferson County DD Program Budget Update • Jefferson County DD Program-Monitoring by DDA • Jefferson Co Quality Assurance Document/Provider Acuity Spreadsheet • Update- ACAC Grant Projects-2020 • Update- Father’s Group • Update- Employment Network MTG Jeff Co. DD, DDA-Reg. 3 & Providers • Update- Rural County Consortium • Update- Transition Services • Update- Subcommittee/Goal Setting/DD Community Forum/ C. Hanson- P. Adams- K. Matlock • Transition Services