I. Introductions were completed.
II. Minutes from February were accepted.
III. Announcements (Attachments Available Here)
UCP
The vacancy list is attached. Please call 212.979.9700 ext.70 for more information.
YAI
The vacancy list is attached. The International Conference is coming up at the beginning of May. Please see attached for more information. Call YAI LINK at 212.273.6182 for referrals and any other information.
AHRC
The vacancy list is attached. Christine Minerly announced that the ADEPT program will be doing baseline evaluations. Please see attached.
CUNY School of Professional Studies
Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Disability Studies, see attached.
QSAC
Vacancies are available. For information, call Karim at 718.728.8476 ext. 1233.
Presentation
Angelfish Therapy – Ailene Tisser, Owner and Pediatric Physical Therapist. Angelfish is pediatric aquatic therapy for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Please see attached presentation.
IV. State News
Lois Gillman reported on behalf of Janet Zampella. There is a brand new OPWDD website, more user friendly, more transparent, more interactive. It includes a provider agency report card, to be rolled out over several months. Go to www.opwdd.ny.gov.
1115 Waiver update: Negotiations are continuing with CMS to finalize the plan. Following final CMS approval, OPWDD will launch the case studies phase in 2012-2013, the pilot project application in 2013-14, and staged roll-out of DISCOs in 2015. OPWDD is sponsoring waiver forum updates via videoconference on 4/19/12 at 10am in the Bronx, and 1pm in Brooklyn.
OPWDD Commissioner’s one-year report will be out soon. It will focus on reform initiatives and moving ahead with OPWDD Priorities. Priorities are:
• 1115 Waiver
• Institutional Rundown and Closure of 5 developmental centers by 2014: Taconic, Finger Lakes, Broome, Brooklyn, Bernard Fineson, and the Staten Island MDU.
• Employment First, coupled with meaningful activities
• CSS and ISS, enhanced and increased to create broader range of residential opportunities for people to live more independently.
OPWDD is restructuring the agency and service delivery to better anticipate and meet current and future needs, to focus more on service and quality improvement, and to help ensure oversight and accountability and more consistency statewide. For community operations there will be 5 regions—Long Island, Staten Island/Metro/Brooklyn/Queens, Finger Lakes/Western, Capital/Hudson Valley/Taconic, Sunmount/Broome/Central. For state operations, there will be 6 regions—Queens/Long Island, Metro/Staten Island/Brooklyn, Taconic/Hudson Valley, Sunmount/Capital, Finger Lakes/Western, Central/Broome. The process is scheduled to begin 7/1/12.
IRMA –Coming soon a new Review Page, which is a new addition to IRMA, showing the incident at a glance. You can add notes for future reference, and it has a tickler system. Next training 4/13.
Community Hab—Surveys to providers were sent out and are back. Surveys to Individuals and families went out last week to be back by end of the month. Looking to better the system, give people more of what they actually need.
Habilitation Plan requirements—new ADM effective 4/1/12 to clarify existing policy and expectations and billing requirements, give clearer timeframes, and provide a recommended format. Records will be retained for 6 years.
The “Aging In Community” video is now available. OPWDD partnered with NYS Office of Aging to develop a training video and curriculum, which was funded through a DDPC grant. Key topics—fall prevention, informed choice, menopause, oral health, inactivity, and maintaining independence.
V. City News
June is developmental disabilities awareness month. June 1st at Fordham University in the Pope Auditorium there is an event sponsored by the City at which the theme will be recreation and afterschool programs. Sandra Piggee has returned from medical leave. The local government plan is due April 20.
VI. IAC / Federation Report
IAC
IAC had a presentation on the NEILS report, a ten-year national survey of over 3,000 individuals who had received EI services. The over-all results: 46% did not need special education by the time they arrived to kindergarten, and 96% of families came to feel competent on how to educate their child.
In the upcoming 1115 waiver, OPWDD has pretty much decided to be responsible for the assessment; they are seriously considering InterRAI, a non-profit research group associated with the University of Michigan and active in producing assessment tools for the nursing home industry , to develop the tool to perform such assessments.
IAC is pressing for legislation which would require OPWDD to publish a residential waiting list every 6 months to assist in planning for needs.
Based on projected costs, IAC is asking OPWDD to reconsider the extent of Promote.
IAC is working toward simplifying the City contract process by allowing the submission of common items needed for all contracts to a central location, thus reducing duplication; there is no agreement on unifying auditing standards.
IAC is reviewing many regulations from board oversight, to executive director qualifications, to financial procedures to procurement standards, to ethics issues.
IAC is hold a conference on June 14 & 15 at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Federation
The boro chairs met on March 8. Discussions were held on the dwindling city budget and on this year’s local government plan.
The City-Wide Interdisciplinary Committee of the Federation met March 29. New members of the Consumer Advisory Board were introduced. A report on managed care pointed out that nearly all groups formerly exempt from managed care (EI, homeless, Seriously Mentally Ill, people with DD) will have managed care programs built around them in the near future; ours has the proposed management closest to the provider and recipient. A report on prescription painkillers and a report on area suicides, followed. A summary of this year’s two-tier (high priority and all other priorities) local government plan closed the meeting.
VII. Committee Reports
Family Support – At the last meeting there was a screening of the Sprout Film Festival and a budget update. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 8th at 10 AM at YAI, 460 West 34th Street, 11th Floor. There will be a presentation on the Children’s Museum for the Arts in Manhattan and possibly an update on the waiver by Marco Damiani. The City Bureau of MR is Xeroxing copies of the Manhattan FSS Directory for distribution to MSCs at IAC’s core trainings. Call Amy Bittinger at 718-859-5420 x 234 for more information.
Legislative – The Legislative Breakfast was a huge success. Everyone was thanked for the hard work and effort. There was a discussion about proactive advocacy, preparing months in advance, and about ongoing outreach for new families. The next meeting will be determined. Call Judy DeIasi at 212-780-2667 for more information.
Transition – No report today. The next meeting is on Wednesday, May 9th at 9:30 AM at Life Adjustment Center, 1430 Broadway (at 40th Street), Suite 509. Call Kathy Kelly at 212-780-2724 for more information.
Manhattan Family Support Services Advisory Council – At the last meeting, Judy DeIasi presented on the incident review process. In May Marco Damiani will be presenting at both morning and evening sessions on the 1115 Waiver. Next meetings: Tuesday, May 15th. Either 10AM – 12PM or 5 PM – 6:45 PM at Metro DDSO, 75 Morton Street. Call Margaret Puddington at 212-799-2042 for more information.
Service Coordination – At the last meeting Lois Gillman did a training on eligibility. The MSC Forum is scheduled for May 7th at 75 Morton Street. Please inform MSCs and MSC supervisors. Invitations will be sent out shortly. Register online at www.manhattanddcouncil.org. Call Irina Tuchina for more information. She can be reached at 212-273-6100 ext. 2418.
Children’s Committee – There was a presentation by Nancy George-Michalson, a volunteer with Pet Partners. The next meeting will be announced. For more information, contact Christina Muccioli at 212-780-2532.
Nominations Committee – There will be elections for DD Council officers at the June meeting. The current officers are: Marco Damiani, chair; Judy DeIasi, agency vice chair, Susan Williams, parent vice chair; Elly Rufer, secretary. A slate will be presented at the May Council meeting by the Nominations Committee—Margaret Puddington, Amy Bittinger, and Jennifer Shaoul. To nominate yourself or someone else, please contact Margaret Puddington at 212-799-2042.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 10th, at FEGS, 315 Hudson Street, 9th floor.