: News Advisory -- Mom one step closer to proposing change to President-elect Obama

[Guest guest]

What a great news article re the funding of medicaid waivers - and the ARC

which is now endorsing this idea - chapter by chapter, no less.

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 7:25 PM, Funky Planet wrote:

> I sent it to all of my local news outlets. If you start getting random

> calls from NH you'll know why.

>

> * [NOEWAITORGANIZE] Fw: News Advisory -- Mom one step closer to

> proposing change to President-elect Obama

>

> The Arc of Aurora did this for me.

>

>

> * NEWS ADVISORY

> January 9, 2009

>

> For Immediate Release

> *

> Contact:

> Darla Stuart

> The Arc of Aurora

> Office

> Cell

>

> *Interviews available*

> Beauregard

>

> *Mom one step closer to proposing change to President-elect Obama*

>

> Aurora, CO -

> Beauregard, mother of an adult child with special needs, is one step

> closer to proposing change to President-elect Obama. Through

> www.change.org she has asked that his administration prioritize fully

> funding Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) supporting children and

> adults with developmental disabilities.

>

> From November 24 through December 31, 2008, Change.org accepted more than

> 7,783 submissions for ideas and more than 288,694 votes from people across

> America. Beauregard's idea was one of the three most popular health ideas

> presented, and thus, qualified for the second and final round of voting

> which runs from January 5 through closing at 5:00 PM EST on January 15.

>

> " Fully funding HCBS programs, " Beauregard says, " would not only end

> decades-long waiting lists for people with developmental disabilities, but

> it would also stimulate the economy by creating small businesses and jobs

> because more service providers would be needed. " Further, Beauregard

> proposes HCBS programs be available at the time of need, be portable across

> and within states, and promote self-determination for individuals with

> disabilities, their families, and/or legal guardians.

>

> " HCBS programs help children and adults with developmental disabilities

> live with their family and/or in their community as opposed to being

> institutionalized, " says Darla Stuart, Executive Director of The Arc of

> Aurora. " In Colorado there are now more than 13,000 children and adults

> waiting and nationally it is estimated that more than 300,000 wait.

> Institutional care costs range from $88,000 to $225,000 annually per person

> as opposed to HCBS which costs range from $20,000 to $75,000. Rates for

> programs vary by state and are dependant upon the level of care. "

>

> Amendment 51, which failed at the 2008 Colorado ballot, would have provided

> additional funding through a two cents on ten dollars sales tax increase for

> the more than 13,000 Coloradoans waiting upwards of ten years for HCBS.

>

> " We are currently number 20 out of the final 90 ideas. Some of the other

> ideas have many more votes than ours, " says Beauregard, " so every person and

> every organization in America that is interested in ending waiting lists and

> creating portability of HCBS for children and adults with developmental

> disabilities needs to vote by going to

>

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/fully_fund_medicaid_waivers_for_the_development\

ally_disabled! "

> Beauregard is already joined by national organizations like National

> Organization to End the Waiting List (NOEWAIT.net) and The Arc in promoting

> this idea.

>

> If selected as one the final ten ideas prioritized on January 15,

> Change.org will launch a national campaign behind Beauregard's idea to

> mobilize the collective energy of the millions of members of Change.org,

> MySpace, and partner organizations to ensure that it gets the full

> consideration of the Obama Administration and Members of Congress.

>

> " There are more than 400 comments from around the country in regard to my

> idea, " adds Beauregard. " Some of those comments represent fear, frustration

> and anger in respect to the long term care crisis. However, hope is the

> prevalent theme that outshines everything ... hope that our children will

> have a future where they live in their community with the appropriate and

> necessary supports to be successful and happy. "

>

> *Background Information:

> *

> Ideas for Change in America is a project of Change.org, an online community

> and media network for social issues, in partnership with more than three

> dozen leading organizations, including MySpace, techPresident, the Sunlight

> Foundation, Netroots Nation, Declare Yourself, Student PIRGs, Voto Latino,

> HeadCount, and Change Congress.

>

> " Developmental disability " means a disability that is manifested before the

> person reaches twenty-two years of age, which constitutes a substantial

> disability to the affected individual, and is attributable to mental

> retardation or related conditions which include cerebral palsy, epilepsy,

> autism, or other neurological conditions when such conditions result in

> impairment of general intellectual functioning or adaptive behavior similar

> to that of a person with mental retardation.

>

>

> ###

>

>

> Darla Stuart, Executive Director

> The Arc of Aurora

> 1342 South Chambers Road

> Aurora, CO 80017

>

>

>

--

Sara - Life is a journey- we choose the path.