Friday, November 21, 2008

Seeking Advocates for waiver funding at the Capitol

We're seeking advocates to come to the Capitol during the upcoming legislative session (January, February, March 2009) to talk with senators & representatives about funding DD waivers (the former MRWP & ICWP waivers). We will provide you with a how to do it lesson and our eternal thanks. With a very constricted state budget looming it's more important than ever to talk with as many legislators as possible to impress upon them the priority need for this funding. If you can spare half a day, a whole day or a "mom day," we could use your help!

Please contact Rita Haggerty at haggertyr@earthlink.net or 404-405-5855 to volunteer.

All Call For Proposals

Hello.

I am currently enrolled in the Gwinnett County Leadership Institute. My project team is putting on the first Gwinnett Family Conference on Saturday, March 7, 2009. My role in this is to make this an inclusive conference for parents with children with and without disabilities. It is my first step toward my life’s work to make the inclusion of persons with disabilities a reality in our communities.

I have come to know so many incredible people in Gwinnett County who are very willing to open the doors to inclusion. The Gwinnett Family Conference is one of those doors. However, inclusion will only work if you walk through those doors with me.

The focus of the Gwinnett Family workshop is to give parents the knowledge, skills and connections they will need to be involved in their children’s lives. While the conference is being held at Meadowcreek High School, parental involvement is not just with regard to children’s education. For many parents, however, being involved in their children’s education is a giant first step.

We will be needing workshop leaders on topics related to persons with disabilities and to persons without disabilities. We will also be having tables where organizations who support the focus of the Conference can provide information. There is no fee for these tables. We will also be needing assistance on the day of the conference, especially with activities to entertain the children and teens while their parents attend workshops. Workshops for children are also a possibility.

We would need to have a proposal for a workshop by December 12th. If that deadline is stopping you from making a proposal and a commitment, please express that so we may work with you.

Below is some preliminary information about the Gwinnett Family Conference. Please consider being involved. I would also appreciate it if you can forward this email to anyone you might know who might be a contributor.

Thank you for listening. I hope you will get involved and get others to get involved.
Paula H. Krone
phkrone@mindspring.com

Click here for more information.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Stimulus package would provide state budget relief to Georgia


(ATLANTA) - A briefing released today finds that the economic stimulus packages being considered by the U.S. House and Senate would provide more than $300 million in state budget relief to Georgia in the form of higher federal payments through the Medicaid and PeachCare programs.

As both the national and state economic situation continues to deteriorate, Georgia’s budget and its citizens are further squeezed. While a declining economy brings with it declining state revenues, it also brings growing demand for services as jobs are lost, healthcare costs increase, and wages fail to grow. Declining revenue combined with already low state expenditures threatens crucial services to Georgians in need.

In order to assist states across the country, an effort is underway in the U.S. House and Senate to pass additional economic stimulus legislation that includes direct financial assistance to states in need. One method, which was also used in federal fiscal relief efforts in 2003, is to increase payments to states through the Medicaid and SCHIP (PeachCare in Georgia) programs. This method is especially useful because it helps to immediately address state budget shortfalls and involves low administrative costs as it builds on existing programs.
Click here to read the briefing.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Special Announcement: "New" DD Waiver Informational Sessions for Families

PLEASE FORWARD THIS LINK TO FAMILIES AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN DD SERVICES.

Waiver participants, families, representatives, support networks, and advocacy groups are invited to attend an informational session about Georgia's "New" DD Waivers.

Two sessions will be held, one in the Metro Atlanta area on the evening of Monday, December 8, 2008 and the other in Macon on the evening of Monday, December 15, 2008.

Please help us to reach families throughout Georgia by distributing the two announcements posted on the Division of MHDDAD training website at where they can be printed or downloaded.

Registration online is quick and easy at www.cviog.uga.edu/training/dhr and the announcement includes details about how to do this. Because refreshments will be provided, please register so that we will know how many people to expect.

Information about how to request special accommodations is included in the announcement. Questions can be emailed to: RegistrationMHDDAD@dhr.state.ga.us

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Governor Perdue Announces October Revenue Figures

Governor Sonny Perdue announced that net revenue collections for the month of October 2008 (FY09) totaled $1,386,860,000 compared to $1,387,997,000 for October 2007 (FY08), a decrease of $1,137,000 or 0.1 percent.

The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY09 compared to FY08 is 2.0 percent.

Click here to access the link to the details of October Revenue Figures.

Monday, November 10, 2008

NY family opposes end to care for brain-dead boy

NEW YORK (AP) - A Washington hospital has asked a judge for permission to stop treating a brain-dead 12-year-old cancer patient, even though his ultra-religious New York parents want to keep him on life support.

Motl Brody of Brooklyn was pronounced dead this week after a half-year fight against a brain tumor, and doctors at Children's National Medical Center in Washington say the seventh-grader's brain has ceased functioning entirely.

But for the past few days, a machine has continued to inflate and deflate his lungs. As of late Friday afternoon, his heart was still beating with the help of a cocktail of intravenous drugs and adrenaline.

That heartbeat has prompted Motl's parents, who are Orthodox Jews, to refuse the hospital's request to remove all artificial life support.

Under some interpretations of Jewish religious law, including the one accepted by the family's Hasidic sect, death occurs only when the heart and lungs stop functioning.

That means Motl "is alive, and his family has a religious obligation to secure all necessary and appropriate medical treatment to keep him alive," the family's attorney wrote in a court filing this week.

The family has asked the hospital to leave the breathing machine on and keep administering drugs until the boy's heart and lungs no longer respond.

Disagreements between families and medical providers over when to end care for terminally ill patients are common, experts say, but this case wound up in court with unusual speed.

Unlike Terri Schiavo or Karen Ann Quinlan, who became the subjects of right-to-die battles when they suffered brain damage and became unconscious, Motl's condition has deteriorated beyond a persistent vegetative state, his physicians say. His brain has died entirely, according to an affidavit filed by one of his doctors.

His eyes are fixed and dilated. His body neither moves nor responds to stimulation. His brain stem shows no electrical function, and his brain tissue has begun to decompose.

"This is death at its simplest," the hospital's lawyers wrote in a court filing.

The hospital said it would help the family move what it called the boy's "earthly remains" to another medical facility, but has found none willing to accept a brain-dead child.

The dispute wound up in court Sunday, when the family asked a federal judge to block the hospital from doing any further tests for brain activity.
Click here to read the entire article.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Special Needs Gift and Toy Fair November 15th

How to Make Toys Work for Your Child this Holiday Season

Sponsored by:
Metro East Center of the Georgia Learning Resources System (GLRS)
Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities (AADD)
DeKalb Developmental Disabilities Council

Date:Saturday, November 15, 2008

Time:9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon

Place:Metro East GLRS
2415-C North Druid Hills Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30329

678-676-2417

Hands-on access to toys

Demonstrations for parents
Using toys to enhance your child’s social skills
Using toys to enhance your child’s language skills
Adapting toys to use switches

Door prizes
Appropriate for All Ages and Abilities

Drop by and try out a variety of adapted and “off the shelf” toys and gifts appropriate for individuals with special needs. Vendors will be displaying items for you to view and your child to enjoy. Ordering information will be available.

NOTE: In order to make this a memorable day for your child with special needs, we ask that parents bring only their special needs child to this fair.


*Metro East GLRS is housed in the Jim Cherry Teacher Center across the street from Target and Taco Bell. We share a building with Open Campus High School and DeKalb School of the Arts. Come in through the red doors.*

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Australia: No residency for boy with Down syndrome

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Thirteen-year-old Lukas Moeller has Down syndrome. His father is a doctor who came to Australia from Germany to help fill a shortage of physicians in rural communities.

But now Australia has rejected Dr. Bernhard Moeller's application for residency, saying Lukas does not meet the "health requirement" and would pose a burden on taxpayers for his medical care, education and other services.

The case has provoked an outcry in the rural region of southeastern Victoria state, where Moeller is the only internal medicine specialist for a community of 54,000 people. Residents rallied outside Moeller's practice this week demanding the decision be overturned, and hundreds of Internet and radio complaints from across the country bombarded media outlets Friday.

Moeller vowed to fight the immigration department ruling.

"We like to live here, we have settled in well, we are welcomed by the community here and we don't want to give up just because the federal government doesn't welcome my son," he told reporters Friday.

The doctor has powerful supporters. Victoria Premier John Brumby has pledged to support the family's appeal, and federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Friday she would speak to the immigration minister about the case.

Moeller moved to Australia two years ago with his wife Isabella, their daughter Sarah, 21, and sons Lukas and Felix, 17, to help fill a critical need for doctors in rural areas. They settled in Horsham, a town of 20,000 located about 100 miles northwest of Melbourne.

Moeller's temporary work visa is valid until 2010, but his application for permanent residence was rejected this week.

In its decision, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship cited Lukas' "existing medical condition," saying it was "likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community," according to a statement Thursday.

"This is not discrimination. A disability in itself is not grounds for failing the health requirement - it is a question of the cost implications to the community," the statement said.

Moeller said immigration authorities did not take into account the family's ability to provide Lukas with the care he needs.

"They think he is a burden for the Australian community," Moeller told the Melbourne radio station 3AW. "But we are absolutely able to support him and I don't want him to rely on any government pension anyway. He's well looked after. And actually he can contribute to the community here. He already is contributing to it."

Immigration officials "weren't even interested in what we have done and are able to do for him," the doctor added.

Moeller said Lukas attends a mainstream elementary school, where he has an aide, and receives speech therapy. The boy also plays soccer, cricket, golf and table tennis.

Cora Halder, head of the Down Syndrome InfoCenter in Germany, called the decision outlandish.

"The case with the Australian authorities is disappointing and unacceptable - especially because Australia has very advanced programs for people with Down syndrome, far more than in Germany," she told The Associated Press.

David Tolleson, executive director of the Atlanta-based National Down Syndrome Congress, agreed.

"What is the cost implication to the community of a doctor shortage?" Tolleson asked. "I assume the son had the same costs for the last two years and they were happy to have the family and use the dad as a doctor."
Click here to read the complete article.