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DPHHS EXAMINES NEW LIFESPAN RESPITE CARE
MODEL
Human service programs providing respite care
services have long recognized the need for respite
services for families with "special needs" members. These programs
realize that providing occasional relief makes it less likely such
families will be overwhelmed by the demands of care giving and
request admission of family members to nursing homes, foster care or
other high cost residential care. Currently, each program operates
its own respite system, including recruitment, training and
referral.
To combine some functions of respite programs under one local
existing agency, DPHHS is examining an innovative project titled
Lifespan Respite. Lifespan Respite originated in Klammath Falls,
Oregon, and is a service delivery model which establishes local
systems of respite care, providing a single point of contact for
families and individuals seeking relief. According to Jan
Spiegle-Stinger, Disability Services Division's (DSD) Child and
Family Specialist, "Montana's disability services respite care
providers support this concept and have come together to work very
effectively to support the development of Lifespan respite models in
Montana and to develop the Montana Lifespan Respite Coalition." The
Lifespan projects could serve families with members having
developmental and physical disabilities, aging issues (i.e.,
Alzheimer's disease and related disorders), mental health issues or
illnesses, chronic or terminal illnesses, substance abuse issues,
high risk factors for abuse, neglect and domestic violence, and
families who have members with other special care needs.
In January, the Montana Lifespan Respite coalition presented the
new respite concept and garnered the support of DPHHS Director,
Laurie Ekanger, Division Administrators, and the Strategic Planning
Across Montana (SPAM) group. An Executive Planning Proposal to
support two pilot projects is underway, but the sites have not been
selected. According to Stinger, "This is a concept whose
implementation in Montana would meet DPHHS priorities for supporting
family preservation and building family independence, while
highlighting our legislative mandate to work harder and smarter with
the resources we have." Both Stinger (DSD) and Vicki Turner, of the
Vocational Rehabilitation Program state, "Keep an eye on this
one&endash;it's gonna fly!"
For further information, contact Vicki Turner at (406)
444-4175.•••
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MANDT Training
MANDT Instructor Certification/Recertification Training will be
offered in Butte on 11/2/98 through 11/6/98 at the Ramada Inn Copper
King. Please contact David Mandt and Associates directly at (972)
495-0755 or Perry Jones at (406) 444-2995 for more information.
Enrollment will be limited.•••
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QUALITY CORNER
DD Case Managers: If you have things to add to this section,
please send them to me. I will compile, edit, and send articles and
information on to Lee Ann. Contact: James Driggers at (406)
444-2995.
Tax Exemption for Foster Care Payments
At the Spring training event, Ken Brown and Lori Durrin talked
about the possibility of payments for foster care being "tax-exempt".
Lori Durrin sent information from Section 883 of the Federal Tax Code
stating, "Payments made by a state or tax-exempt placement agency as
"difficulty of care payments" or to reimburse a foster home provider
for the expenses of caring for individuals placed in the home by a
state agency or tax-exempt placement agency are excludable from gross
income (Code Sec. 131). Foster care payments are excludable only for
foster care individuals who live in the foster care provider's home.
In the case of regular foster care payments, payments are not
excludable to the extent made for more than five individuals over age
18. In the case of "difficulty of care payments" (i.e., payments for
additional care required by a physically, mentally, or emotionally
handicapped person), payments are not excludable to the extent made
for more than 10 individuals under age 19 and more than five
individuals over 18 years of age." Please contact Lori Durrin
(329-5415) or Ken Brown (721-2930) for more information.
Web Sites
Chesa Sullivan is keeping a DD Web Site directory. Please let her
know (496-4920) if you come across any good sites. The ones she has
found so far are:
Abuse Prevention
From the April 1998 issue of The Abuse Prevention Monitor, the
following eight elements of quality services seemed worthy of
sharing:
- Consumers shall feel secure in their settings and be at peace
with themselves, their peers and paid companions.
- Consumers will enjoy a zestful life with each day beginning
anew and not a repetition of stale routines from yesterday and the
months before.
- Consumers will have a cohesive lifestyle rather than living
fragmented lives created by disparate schedules.
- Consumers' lives will follow a natural rhythm of life in which
outcomes rather than "performance exercises" are predominant.
- Consumers will live unregulated lives.
- Consumers will learn by doing in supportive, nuturing
environments.
- Consumers will enjoy being individuals with all that this
implies for the manner in which they are treated.
- Consumers will be free of drudgery and
boredom.•••
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DD Conference
The 1998 MT Conference on Developmental Disabilities will be held
at the Ramada Inn Copper King in Butte from 10/14/98&endash;
10/16/98. This conference will be of interest to persons interested
in providing quality services to persons with developmental
disabilities. Conference features include nationally renowned keynote
address speakers, an art exhibit and trade show, a service award
ceremony with live entertainment, great food and beverages, and
anywhere from 80&endash;100 presentations on various aspects of
providing services to persons with DD of all ages. About 600 people
attend this annual event. There is plenty of space for more
presentations. For more information or if you want to present and
need an "Invitation to Present" form, or if you want to be placed on
the conference mailing list, call Perry Jones at (406)
444-2995.•••
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New Materials Are Now Available
- Training To Teach In A Day--The Teaching-Skills Training
Program Instructor's Manual--by Dennis Reid and Marsha
Parson. This manual will help train direct support staff in
effective methods of teaching meaningful adaptive skills to people
with severe disabilities.
- Motivating Human Services Staff--Supervisory Strategies For
Maximizing Work Effort and Work Enjoyment--by Dennis Reid
and Marsha Parson. This book presents practical procedures for
motivating staff on the day to day job. It is presented as a two
fold process for supervisors to ensure that staff work
proficiently and help them enjoy their work.
- Directory Of Grants--Organizations Serving People With
Disabilities--A Reference Directory Identifying Grants Available
To Nonprofit Organizations. This directory lists 800
foundations that award grants to nonprofit organizations both
large and small.
- Abuse Of Individuals With Mental Retardation--What Do
Supervisors, Managers and Executives Know?--by Eileen Furey
and Marijke Kehrhahn. These reports are an analysis of
responses to a questionnaire on abuse and neglect of people with
mental retardation. Also included are recommendations that may
make programs safer for people with mental retardation.
- Offering and Encouraging Choice Making--by Debby
Ford and Sheri Berg. This is a staff development video showing
staff why giving choices is important and how to give their
clients choice-making opportunities throughout the day.
- Death and Dying--by Clifford Fisk. This is a
staff development video that addresses vital issues that face a
worker who cares for someone who is dying. Some of the topics
covered are: identifying three of the five factors that influence
how death is perceived and identifying stages of grief.
- Welcoming ,Sharing and Celebrating--by Kathleen
McGwin. This video demonstrates the concept of providing a
warm, caring and supportive environment for people with are
mentally retarded. It shows staff how they can provide a sense of
community and welcome, share and celebrate with the people with
whom they work.
- Becoming Safety Smart At Home, On The Job and On The
Street--The Life Smart Curriculum Video Unit #3--by James
Stanfield. The curriculum organizes essential home, job and
community safety into a small group of the most important
behaviors such as how to be safe at home, as a pedestrian, using
transportation, shopping, dealing with strangers, & on the
job.
- Becoming People Smart: Friendship, Trust and
Gullibility--by James Stanfield. Teaches how to meet
people, how to turn an acquaintance into a friend, and how to
deepen a friendship. It also teaches how to not mistake
friendliness for friendship, how to avoid getting in trouble with
strangers, and how to be attractive to the opposite sex.
- Multiple Faces Of Aggression--Overview and
Assessment--by William Gardner. This video shares
techniques which are valuable in teaching clients to monitor their
own self-injurious behaviors.
- People With Disabilities--Aging and Disabilities--This
report is entirely devoted to aging and developmental disabilities
with a lead article by June Isaacson Kailes.
- Mental Retardation and Grief Following a Death
Loss--Information For Families and Other Caregivers--by
Charlene Luchterhand. This booklet will help prepare a person
with mental retardation for the day when they experience the death
of a friend or loved one.
These materials were purchase with funds from the Developmental
Disabilities Program. If you would like to check out any of these
materials, contact Janice Sand at the TRIC/PLUK Library,
1-800-222-7585 or (406) 657-2055.•••
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Materials On Aging from Philip
Wittekiend
The TRIC/PLUK Library received materials on aging and
developmental disabilities from The Rural Institute on Disabilities
which included the following videos: Inclusion of Older Adults Within
Everyday Community Living; Building Caring Communities in Montana;
Aging-A Shared Experience, When People With Developmental
Disabilities Age; Exercise While You Sit; MT Age Abilities
Conferences 1996; and Volunteerism: Contribution Of and Opportunities
For Persons With Disabilities.•••
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Response To Tribune
From time to time, there are Letters To The Editor written
statewide addressing the issue of problems associated with living
next door to a group home. In the May 1998 issue of Bridges, the
bi-monthly newsletter published by Quality Life Concepts, Inc. in
Great Falls, Rhonda Nelson wrote an editorial that should be shared
with the rest of the state.
by Rhonda Nelson, Tech II at Treasure
After reading the article regarding the complaints made by
neighbors to the Sun River group home, I immediately got on the
computer and started a letter to the editor. After much thought and
guidance, I realized that people who had read this front-page article
had already formed their own opinion of the developmentally disabled
and I was not going to change their minds by my article which would
be buried in the editorials, after being edited down to the
acceptable amount of words. I still felt compelled to let others know
of my experience with the people that we serve, so I decided to put
it in our own "Bridges".
The fact I manage one of these homes and have worked in group
homes for eight and a half years altered my opinion of the
developmentally disabled drastically. I became acquainted with this
field because I needed a Job. This had absolutely nothing to do with
my college education, but I figured I would work here until
"something better came along". Eight and a half years later, nothing
more fulfilling comes close to what we accomplish on a daily basis
with these individuals. There is nothing more rewarding than watching
someone succeed at a task that they have been striving for with your
help.
I am told on a regular basis from the community, friends, and
family that I must be someone really special because they couldn't do
what I do. I do not see myself as someone special at all. The special
ones are the ones who can bring a smile to your face even when you
are having a bad day. The article in the paper indirectly sent
messages that we do not personally care about the individuals in the
homes and they run amuck aimlessly. The parents of the home that I
manage couldn't be happier with the care that their loved ones
receive. After spending most of their lives in confinement in an
institution, who wouldn't want to do something as simple as take a
walk in their own neighborhood; something that most people take for
granted they can do at anytime without feeling they are violating
anyone's personal space. It is the overall ignorance of people not
familiar with the DD population who create these images of violent,
dangerous, useless underachievers that should be locked up and never
seen by what we have as a society labeled "socially acceptable."
The home that I manage is unlike the Sun River group home in that
it is an intensive home; meaning the individuals have more severe
needs. Sign language is minimal, but we manage to break the barriers
of communication and have a meaningful, caring relationship. I have
seen people who have not been with our agency for some time come back
and are recognized quickly and affectionately by consumers. I don't
see this sincere adoration in the community due to our conditioning
that it is not "proper", "masculine", or "orthodox". Actually, it is
quite refreshing!
As for it being unsafe to live next door to a group home, I would
disagree due to the fact that we have staff on duty around the clock
and night monitors that travel from house to house supervising and
assisting employees on shift. I, personally, would be quite relieved
if I knew that there was someone alert 24 hours a day in my
neighborhood to the criminal activity that could and does occur in
this city.
In conclusion, I would like to state that I am not sure just how
much of an impact I have made in our consumer's lives, but they have
enriched mine beyond measure.•••
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Kids, all rights reserved.
