Remote Meeting 6/5/20 20 10:00-12:00pm via Zoom
Announcements/Opportunities
*Attendees for which we have not noted spoken announcements may be listed in the chat record
Elly Rufer, NYC Fair: Second Virtual Town Hall 6-11-20 regarding amendments to the 1915(c) Waiver that particularly affect residential and community habilitation programs.
Bonnie Holtzman, Coordinator of YAI Long Island Day and Employment Services: YAI is getting people to jobs and offering virtual services and intakes. Satera Febus, Program Supervisor of YAI Manhattan and Queens Employment Services: YAI Manhattan Employment Services is also providing services remotely.
Stuart Flaum: Offers financial planning for people with disabilities and is the parent of a 26 year old with self-directed services.
Emily Gerner Gable, Supervisor of YAI Link: YAI is offering virtual Lifeskills, Yoga and Mindfulness, and Parent Training classes.
Kimberly Macadou, Parent Coordinator for the Hawthorne Day School:Hawthorne is a NYSED approved day school for ages 5-21years largely on the autism spectrum. Working on building their transition program and work based learning program.
Lynn Decker, Advocate with the Independent Consumer Advocacy Network/Co-Chair of the Manhattan DD Council (MDDC) Legislative Subcommittee: Works with people over 21 in accessing FIDA/IDD programs requiring both Medicaid and Medicare. Also works with people with Medicaid only both over and under age 21 with accessing long term care services, particularly getting homecare. Thank you to the Hawthorne School for speaking at the Council Legislative Breakfast this year. If you are receiving emails and seek other notification from the council or any of the committees please like and follow us on Facebook!
Jajaida Gonzalez, Vice President of Day Services, SUS:SUS is providing day services to people that live in their residences as well as those living in family homes with a modified schedule since about May. Accepting referral packages for day services on a case by case basis.
Merle Dean, District Office Transition Coach: Gathering information about virtual programs and services and seeking ongoing updates to agency offerings to share. Please send to her via her email in the chat.
Tery Hwang, Director of the Home Modification Program Adapt Community Network: Currently taking applications. Contact her on the website and call.
Nick La Bruna, Outreach Associate and Data Specialist for Partners Health Plan (PHP): Currently enrolling and working with new Telehealth innovations that have expanded through a partnership with Station MD. Pilot programs include providing tablets to PHP members for virtual health provider communication. Partnership with Go Mo Health to expand technology innovations aspects of Telehealth/other health related activities.
Nicole Pagano, Director of Family Support for Adapt Community Network: Providing remote services/programming in Family Reimbursement, Community Habilitation, Housing Assistance Services, and Individualized Supports and Services (ISS). Taking referrals for all programs. Contact Project Connect-877-827-2666/projectconnect@adaptcommunitynetwork.org.
Gloria Enriquez, Coordinator of Adult Programs Admissions for Adapt Community Network: Accepting adult program referrals and conducting remote screenings and intakes.
Joe Tan, X GHO:GHO has a contract with Care Design for Chinese speaking families, providing assistance with the OPWDD eligibility process and Care Design CCO enrollment.
Daisy Choi, X GHO: GHO has openings for Com Hab, Employment Services, and Day Hab Without Walls and is conducting virtual intakes for services.
JKaufman, District 75 Travel Trainer: D75 schools are presently continuing travel training in-person and remotely for current and future students to maintain skills acquisition and prepare students for when the shut down is released. Currently taking new referrals. Parents can reach-out to the Travel Training Liaison at their Department of Education school for travel training referrals.
KDe Rosario, Regional Coordinator of Parent to Parent of NYS: Providing virtual workshops, specifically two parent groups on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and a Spanish parent group. Also a parent of a 30 year old.
The Status of The Class of 2020
A city-wide Department of Education survey is in process to capture the number of graduating students in 2020, and to what degree they are tied to OPWDD Front Door and service provision. A substantial number of graduates city-wide are not tied to OPWDD services, and some have not yet completed the OPWDD eligibility process.
Key Points of Challenge for Transition This Year Related to the Covid 19 Pandemic
Obtaining OPWDD eligibility requires in-person IQ testing as an essential component of the required psychological evaluation. While this is being conducted in-person by a very small number of evaluation providers, scheduling options are greatly modified and the amount of testing available is lower than current demand. Evaluation providers are largely conducting as much of the interview portions of the psychological evaluations as possible remotely. Psychosocial evaluations, also required for OPWDD eligibility, are being conducted remotely. Evaluation providers are working diligently and cohesively with the community and with stakeholders across the service delivery system. Provider associations have brought a request for presumptive eligibility to the table, which would allow additional/alternate documentation that substantiates some of the criteria to weigh-in on the granting of eligibility
*See attached list of evaluations providers.
A pause in ACCESS VR application/screenings and OPWDD Front Door processes has been resumed, however there is some backlog. These state agencies are working purposefully and have resumed full operations. Service Authorization is being prioritized for transitioning students at this time.
*Summer schedule of remote OPWDD Front Door Information Sessions will be posted on the web site and disseminated by the council as available.
Adult day service programs have been closed since March, and access to tours and screenings had paused. Providers are beginning to give virtual tours and conduct virtual applicant screening interviews. In order to appropriately determine the right program setting for many applicants, an acclimation period within the program setting is highly recommended and sometimes required based upon the supportive needs of the individual. This places the providers in a position to do their best to gage a proper fit via teleconference, but may not ultimately secure appropriate programming There is still a waiting period for program doors to safely reopen, and students will soon be graduating.
Adult day program service models will be highly impacted by social distancing mandates and attendance may be impacted by family comfort levels with safety related to reopening. Therefore, there is still uncertainty about how programming will look. Programming may require staggered attendance provided in multiple locations, while activities will need to continue to be differentiated based on the interests and supportive needs of participants. Stringent PPE/other protective health protocols may be implemented as determined by CDC guidelines. A great deal of planning and advocacy is being conducted by various provider organizations, families, and other stakeholders to best shape this new paradigm. The Inter Agency Council has compiled Reimagining Adult Day Services workgroups across many key areas of day service delivery that are actively shaping the framework that will be brought to the table with OPWDD.
Community Questions/Concerns
Extending the current school year until post-secondary programming is reinstated. A request was made to the Board of Regents by Chris Treiber, IAC Associate Executive Director for Children’s Services, and a letter of request was also sent by the DD Council Chairs as part of a partner initiative with IAC. bing made that states have some leeway on this. The legalities of the students being denied their Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is being considered amongst other legalities. The case is also being made that many students have not been able to access the eligibility evaluations required to access OPWDD post-secondary programming.
Update: NYSED has generated a memo strongly encouraging schools to allow 21-year-old students aging out this week to return to high school over the summer and into the 2020-21 school year.
Parents of children living in OPWDD group homes have not been allowed to see their children for months and are seeking support and advocacy. Advocacy and provider associations are very active in bringing a resolution on this to the table. OPWDD is developing a Return to Home Protocol that will allow parents to return children currently at home back to their residences as well as visit their children in the residences or close by with stringent social distancing and PPE protocols. Only residences without infections and without high risk individuals will be included. This has not yet been approved.
Update: Governor Cuomo has announced visits to OPWDD group homes beginning Friday, 6/19/2020.
Front Door again for transition? If a person has already gone through the Front Door they do not have to attend another information session, however they must have an interview to reassess their need for adult waiver program authorization. This applies even if they are already receiving other waiver services. Ancillary services related to the absence of or accessing of day program services should also be requested at time of Front Door interview.
Transition related communication particularly in non-D75 special needs high schools is less established, and overall there is a huge gap in educating parents and school personnel about the transition process and post-secondary options. The MDDC Transition Committee has reached-out to transition personnel from NPS, alternate assessment, and private schools and is intent on broadening outreach.
Should a student leave the school setting prior to graduation year to attend OPWDD programming? While this may be approved by OPWDD, the student should maximize the supports they are able to access by entitlement in the DOE system. While adult programming varies by provider and can be quite innovative, the OPWDD funding model very largely does not provide supports such as a 1:1 staff person, certain nursing, and other supports.
Are CCOs currently stable and will they further consolidate? CCOs are stable and consolidations are not not identified. Managed Care mandates could impact this in the future. The CCOs are working collaboratively with Partners Health Plan, a Fully Integrated Dual Advantage managed care company providing OPWDD services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, amongst a range of other services.
Accessing transportation to appropriate programming when it is in another borough when not offered by the day provider. In these cases, it may be recommended to have Without Walls programming whereby the person has a more flexible schedule and can access programming in varied locations. Part-time day programming with Community Habilitation can be another means of programming in order to supplement day programming.
MMaldonado/AHarris 6/2020
manhattan-transition-committee-6-5-20-minutes-handouts