Fw: (NOEWAIT) UPDATE ON NOEWAIT'S WAITING LIST EFFORTS

[Guest guest]

FYI

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

(NOEWAIT) UPDATE ON NOEWAIT'S WAITING LIST EFFORTS

NOEWAIT (THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION TO END THE WAITLISTS) brings you the

following updates.

1. Denver Fox and Carol Calix of NOEWAIT, along with moderator Phil May, will

be heard on internet radio at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ifcd

Presenting the following. ACtual times will be 7:00 EDT, 6:00 CDT, 5:00 MDT and

4:00 PDT. ALso, this will be a PodCast, so that it will be available for

downloads at a later date

Services and Supports for People with Disabilities

IFCD

Date / Time: 4/5/2011 6:00 PM

Category: Health

Call-in Number: (805) 243-1368

Please join Denver Fox, Carol Calix, and Phil May for (hopefully) a lively

discussion on a major national problem regarding our most vulnerable citizens;

namely, those with developmental disabilities. The discussion will focus on

education about and raising the awareness of, and eventually ending the

years-long waitlists for Home and Community Based Medicaid Waiver Services for

individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Hardly any general

practitioners (GPs) are aware that almost all states have extensive waitlists -

some for 20 years or more - totaling in the neighborhood nationally of 370,000

adults and children at home with aging parents. A number of states have closed

all " institutions " and many others are constantly reducing their populations in

institutional settings, under pressures resulting from the Olmstead decision and

Justice Department enforcement of that decision, resulting in less alternative

options, since institutional settings are the only residential mandated service

under the Medicaid Act.. Additionally, it is little known by GP's and others

that individuals with disabilities can not move from one state to another

without going to the bottom of the waitlist in their new state. Some military

families never qualify for services, failing to get through the waitlist before

transferring to another state. Certainly the pressures caused on individuals and

families of caring for individuals with disabilities in a home setting for years

and years should be known about and be a concern of general practitioners. The

effects can be devastating and harmful to all concerned, and GP's should be

aware of the effects on parents and caregivers, and individuals with

disabilities, and should be informed of what advocacy, ameliorative action and

remedies they can provide. We would urge you to view the website of NOEWAIT (The

National Organization to End the Waitlisr) at http://www.noewait.net

2. NOEWAIT had a successful presentation at the recent TASH Conference in

Denver.

3. We are seeking an organization - preferably an Arc, to request a joint

NOEWAIT/State Arc waitlist presentation at the upcoming Arc conference in

Denver.

4. Denver Fox presented powerful testimony at the ADD hearings in Denver. To

read the testimony, please go to:

http://noewait.net/docs/ADDTestimonyHandout.pdf

5. We have made overtures to the National ADD regarding a variety of ways in

which they might be helpful, including providing communication between various

" End the Waitlist " efforts, and perhaps a national meeting.

6. There is a one-page waitlist position paper available at:

http://noewait.net/docs/NOEWAIT_position_paper.pdf

7. We have requested a presentation at the upcoming AAIDD conference.

8. NOEWAIT will be presenting at the Family Cafe Conference in Orlando in early

June.

If you have comments, ideas or thoughts, please send them to noewait@...

Thanks so much for all of your efforts.

Denver Fox

Moderator, NOEWAIT

No Wait - No Boundaries