Minutes for January 14, 2015
Region 6 Planning Board Meeting
Present:
Irene Cheyne, Chair
Fayette
Sharon Herbert
Fayette
David Kitchens
Sumter
Jim Risher, Vice Chair
Henry
Katherine McHan
Lamar
Amy Kuhns
Henry
Glynda King, Secretary
Pike
Geraldine Jackson
Spalding
Beverly Garland
Muscogee
Angela Craig
Henry
Conference:
Cathy McGill
Crisp
Tommy Allen
Carroll
Lavonne Harn
Houston
Marlene Rozell
Meriwether
Absent:
Sheila Mallory
Butts
Julia Chibbaro
Carroll
Betty Cason
Carroll
Sandra Smith
Coweta
Neydi Belmonte
Coweta
Jackie Begg
Fayette
Keith Brown
Heard
Mary Jo Page
Marion
Sher?londa Walker
Talbot
Joni Jones
Taylor
Frank Dunford
Muscogee
Tiffani Stacy
Muscogee
Edward Barnwell
Muscogee
Janet Wyche
Troup
Bill Sawyer
Schley
James Robert Andrews
Randolph
Dave Miller
Troup
DBHDD Staff:
Valona Baldwin
Developmental Disabilities-Regional Services Administrator
Melinda R. Brooks
Regional Planning Board Support Services
Guests:
Keri Lara
Family and Individual Support specialist from Meriwether County
Lisa Jenkins
Muscogee County
AGENDA ITEMS PRESENTER(S) DISCUSSION
Call to Order
Irene Cheyne, Chair
Board members, DBHDD staff, and guests were welcomed. A moment of reflection
was shared by Lee Hubbard.
Everyone introduced himself or herself. Today?s guests are Keri Lara, consumer
advocate from Meriwether County and Lisa Jenkins from Muscogee County.
The minutes of the November 12, 2014 meeting were reviewed. Two corrections
were made?Angela Craig and Beverly Garland were both present at the meeting via
conference call. MSP to accept the minutes as corrected.
Guest Presentation:
Family Advocacy?Helping Families Apply for Waivers
Keri Lara
Beverly Garland
Ms. Lara is a long-time volunteer advocate working with individuals with
developmental disabilities and their families. During the past year alone, she
has assisted over 100 families apply for waiver services. Ms. Lara has two sons
with autism.
In assisting individuals and families, Keri?s goal is to help individuals with
developmental disabilities develop person-centered life plans and secure DBHDD
financial assistance to help realize these plans. Ultimately the goal is to
help individuals with DD increase self-determination and improve independence.
Keri commented that there is a lot of misinformation about waivers. An example
is the misconception that families in need must be poor in order to qualify for
a waiver.
Keri encourages primary caregivers to make a plan and get organized early. She
assists primary caregivers in creating a large notebook of important records
and documents that evidence the individual?s needs. The idea is to have a
portable, comprehensive, and up-to-date account of the individual?s life. The
life notebook becomes essential for accessing information needed for waiver
applications, emergencies, etc. Specific information that should be in the
notebook includes records of medical events, documentation of diagnosis,
records of professional visits?doctor, dentist, counselor, etc., record of
personal accidents, injuries, and illnesses, information about needs related to
feeling safe and secure, lists of medicines, and service provider
documentation. Creating a life notebook can be very stressful for caregivers so
helping with this task is an important advocacy role.
Keri discussed the differences between the NOW and COMP waivers. The New
Options Waiver (NOW) provides up to $25,000 in annual support for individuals
who do not need 24 hour care. Comprehensive Support Waiver (COMP) provides
support greater than $25,000 annually. The COMP waiver is also used for
individuals transitioning from institutions to the community. Individuals
interested in applying for a waiver need to contact the Region 6 office.
In the waiver application, it is helpful to include support letters from
teachers, friends, pastors, doctors, local officials, pharmacists, etc. This
helps strengthen the individual?s statement of need.
When seeking services for an individual, caregivers are often told that
services are not available. Keri encourages caregivers to respond by saying
?Thank you. Can you please put that in writing for me, so that I can further
research and understand where I need to go from here??
Keri shared that caregivers should reach out to their communities. The Georgia
Council on Developmental Disabilities, Parent2Parent of Georgia, support
groups, and community groups may be helpful.
Beverly Garland, board member, shared her son?s notebook with the board. Her
son?s notebook contains many photos, documentation of medical needs, care
provider information, (doctors, dentists, etc.), diagnoses documents, long term
goals, treatment plans, and family traditions that help her son feel secure.
Keri was enthusiastically thanked by the board for her excellent presentation.
Beverly was thanked for sharing her son?s life notebook.
Contact information for Keri is 706-977-9413 or 706-507-0083 and
keridlara@gmail.com.
Report on Leadership Council Meeting with DBHDD Commissioner Berry
Irene Cheyne
Three members of the statewide Leadership Council?Glynda King, Region 6, Jean
Logan, Region 3, and Irene Cheyne, Region 6?met with DBHDD Commissioner Berry
and executive staff on November 24, 2014, to discuss the reorganization of
DBHDD and the future of the six Regional Planning Boards and the statewide
Leadership Council.
A written summary of the meeting was distributed to board members. Glynda King
read the summary aloud. Highlights from the meeting include a discussion of
organizational changes, the importance of DBHDD maintain local presence, the
importance of the local and regional voice in DBHDD planning, DBHDD?s continued
commitment to advocacy input, and the need to expand and improve DBHDD
messaging, especially user-friendly, online information for individuals with
disabilities and caregiver.
Two other documents presented to Commissioner Berry were distributed to Region
6 board members?The Importance of Community Advocacy and Center for Advocacy: A
Vision Statement.
Sharon Herbert read The Importance of Community Advocacy aloud to the Board.
The key message of this document is that ?Community advocacy is about
empowering stakeholders?consumers, families, advocates, public and private
providers, public managers, and community leaders to bridge the gap between
philosophy and reality.?
David Kitchens read Center for Advocacy: A Vision Statement aloud to the Board.
The proposed Center for Advocacy is a metaphorical gathering place with DBHDD
in which stakeholders work together with DBHDD staff to harness the energy,
experience, and passion of the public. The work of the Center might include
needs assessment; volunteer recruitment, placement, and training; grass roots
innovation and natural supports development; consumer, family, and community
education; project-specific financial resource development; social marketing;
resource advocacy; and model program replication. The goal of the Center is to
build the power of the community to serve DBHDD in a low-cost, inclusive, and
effective way.
Commissioner Berry suggested that another meeting be held in late January or
early February.
Behavioral Health Planning and Advisory Council Report
Jim Risher
Amy Kuhns
The most recent meeting of the Behavioral Health Planning and Advisory Council
was held on January 13, 2015.
At that meeting, Commissioner Berry made a presentation titled ?Out of the
Institution?.
Commissioner Berry provided a historical perspective of institutionalization in
Georgia. In 1842, Central State Asylum opened its doors. At one time, this
asylum housed 13,000 patients. In 1921 Gracewood opened its doors, and by 1972
Georgia had seven mental health hospitals.
Over the past 25 years, there has been a shift away from institutionalization.
This Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 articulated the desire for people
with disabilities to live in the least restrictive environment possible.
Because Georgia has been slow to deinstitutionalize, there have been several
legal challenges to Georgia?s institutionalization. These challenges include
the Olmstead decision (1999) that found that individuals should not be
segregated from society when deemed ready to integrate into the community,
These legal challenges have underscored Georgia?s need to better serve people
with disabilities.
Commissioner Berry has heard from the legislature about the many complaints it
receives about DBHDD services. The Commissioner feels that these complaints
about DBHDD services are well founded and that improvement in DBHDD services is
absolutely necessary. Thus the reorganization of DBHDD is intended to focus on
the goal of ?easy access to high quality services.?
The CEO of Value Options (DBHDD?s new Administrative Service Organization),
Jason Beardan, commented to the BHPAC that they were focusing on data-driven
decision making with transparency and accountability.
Amy reported on children and adolescent services. Matt Yancy is the Child and
Adolescent Director for DBHDD. The 2015 Care Academy at Stone Mountain has the
theme of ?Embracing Transition? with a primary focus on children 16-25 years.
School-based mental health services are being discussed. Amy is a member of a
subcommittee that is preparing a survey of school councelors about school
mental health and substance abuse services. Georgia Shape, an initiative, is
studying the relationship between childhood mental health and obesity. Seven
day crisis respite services have been reinstated for children between 5 and 8
years old to give both caregivers and the child a break to deescalate a crisis
situation.
Mental Health Day at the Capitol will be held on January 20. Amy encouraged
board members to attend and wear green in support of mental health.
DBHDD Organizational Changes Update
Valona Baldwin
Valona announced the recent appointment of Dan Howell as the director of
DBHDD?s Developmental Disabilities division. Monica Parker has been appointed
at the director of DBHDD?s Behavioral Health division.
DBHDD has a target date of March 1, 2015, to start operating under the new
organizational structure. This means that by our Board?s March meeting we
should have an organizational chart that provides authority and accountability
relationships.
Developmental Disabilities Information Update
Valona Baldwin
Valona reported that some waiver amendments became effective December 11, 2014.
These include a 2 percent increase in provider reimbursement for most services,
and the identification of nursing as a stand-alone service, instead of a
service under Community Living Support (CLS) services.
Valona announced that planning for a COMP waiver rewrite is currently taking
place. Community forums to gather citizen input on how the COMP waiver can be
improved will be held throughout the state. The first community forum is at the
Columbus Trade and Convention Center on January 26, 2015. Board members are
welcomed and encouraged to attend.
2017 Annual Plan Process
Irene Cheyne
Deputy Commissioner Judy Fitzgerald told Irene in an email that it is important
to move forward with the 2017 annual planning process. Based on this
recommendation, Irene presented a proposed flow chart for Region 6?s 2017
annual planning process.
MSP to accept the 2017 Annual Planning Process flowchart as presented. (David
Kitchens/Geraldine Jackson)
Irene distributed several summary documents of results from our recently
completed citizen involvement efforts including community forums, community
survey, and provider input.
Board members divided into small groups to review the summary documents and
suggest priorities for the 2017 Annual Plan. Each group summarized their
results for the board and the group worksheets were collected.
Irene requested volunteers for the next step in the planning process?Joint
Review and Determination Committee. This step involves meeting with Region 6
staff to determine the priorities for 2017. David Kitchens, Beverly Garland,
and Jim Risher volunteered. Additional volunteers are welcome.
Adjournment
Irene Cheyne
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, from 1-4 p.m. at the
Upson County Senior Center.
MSP to adjourn the meeting at 4:02 p.m.
Minutes recorded and submitted by Melinda R. Brooks and reviewed and revised
by Irene Cheyne
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