CID NEWS

CID NEWSLETTER: JUNE 2003

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Table of Contents

• Belmont Community Fair
• Pharmacy Needs
• Volunteer Agency Temporarily Closed
• Assistive Technology: What is it?
• The Ups and Downs of Life
• Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999
• The 250% Working Disabled Medi-Cal Program
• Peer Counseling
• Changing Young Minds
• The Northern California Client Assistance Program Meeting
• California 211 Project
• CID Says Goodbye to Tony Festa

Belmont Community Fair

CID is working with the City of Belmont Chamber of Commerce in planning and recruiting entertainment for the Belmont Community Fair. The most exciting part of this event is that some of our own CID consumers will be singing and performing at the fair. The fair will be held at Twin Pines Park on Sunday, August 10th between 11:00am and 5:00pm. For more information, contact Marta at (650) 595-0793 ext. 118.

Pharmacy Needs

New online database helps seniors without drug coverage get free medicines. People who need help in obtaining medicines can log on to http://www.helpingpatients.org. Fill out an online form and receive a list of programs for which they might qualify.

Volunteer Agency Temporarily Closed

The Love Inc. Help Line is temporarily closed. They are recruiting a new church network to be responsive to unmet needs.

Assistive Technology: What is it?

Most people are unaware as to the exact nature of Assistive Technology. In fact, if you try to look it up in the dictionary you will find that the word "assistive" does not exist. Assistive Technology (or AT as we like to abbreviate the term) includes both devices and services. An assistive device is any item or piece of equipment used to maintain or improve the functional capabilities of a person with a disability.

Many high-tech and low-tech devices are now available to assist people with disabilities with daily living tasks such as communication, education, work, and recreation. Examples are: wheelchairs, Velcro, adapted clothing and toys, computers, seating systems, powered mobility, augmentative communication devices, special switches, assisted listening devices, visual aids, memory prosthetics, and thousands of other commercially available or adapted items.

AT services support people with disabilities or their caregivers to help them select, acquire, or use AT devices. Such services also include functional evaluations, training on or demonstration of devices, and purchasing or leasing devices.

The Ups and Downs of Life

by Lois Glover, Occupational Therapist/ILS

I have worked at CID for over 15 years, and have visited many, many people in their homes to assess home safety and home accessibility. There are a few common problems that I regularly see, and I'll share them with you to see if you have the same problems.

Things that are higher are easier and safer to get up and down from. It is very common for people who use bath chairs and commodes to have them adjusted at a height that is too short, making it difficult to easily get up and down. Shower chairs and commodes can be adjusted in height by pushing in the little buttons on the legs and sliding the leg until the button fits into the hole and the correct height. Do this on all legs so that they are even. Just be sure that your feet can easily touch the floor.

The reverse is true for walkers and canes. It is very common for people who use walkers or canes to have them adjusted at a height that is too high, making it difficult to efficiently and comfortably use. When holding onto the walker or the cane, your arm should just have a very slight bend at the elbow. If your elbow is bent too much, you may have pain in your shoulders or neck as you try to accommodate to the incorrect height. Walkers and canes can also be adjusted by pushing in the little button on the leg. Wooden canes can be sawed shorter to make them the correct height. A walker or cane that is adjusted at the correct height will allow you to push down through the support for improved stability and safety.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me, Lois Glover, Occupational Therapist at CID (595-0783).

Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999

Social Security's "Ticket to Work" is coming to California in November 2003. Four million Tickets have been sent out to eligible SSDI and SSI recipients in two thirds of the States, so far. In November, 10% (approximately 90,000) of California's nearly one million total tickets will be sent out by Social Security. Each month, from January on, an additional 10% of California's Tickets will be issued until all the Tickets are in the hands of the Consumers.

Each ticket will allow the consumer to "place" his/her ticket at an Employment Network like the State Department of Rehabilitation or other EN to receive services in helping the consumer to get back to work or go to work for the first time. Each ticket may be withdrawn and placed at another EN if services are not to the consumer's liking.

Call Jay Swee at (650) 595-0783 ext. 122 for more information, or check out the Employment Supports in the Red Book at Social Security.

The 250% Working Disabled Medi-Cal Program

Do you automatically lose your Medi-Cal if you return to work? Not necessarily.

Beginning April 1, 2000, disabled individuals with countable income below 250% of the Federal poverty level might be eligible to keep their Medi-Cal, even if they don't receive a cash benefit.

If you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), there are reductions to your gross income. What you earn is not what Social Security determines to be your countable income. With the exclusions, it is less.

To find out if you qualify, please contact this County number (650) 595-7570.

(Federal Poverty Level for one person for 2003 is $1,871 a month. 250% of $1,871 is $4,677.50. If your countable income is less than this, you could qualify.)

Peer Counseling

Peer Counseling is meant to foster more independence, self-reliance, and self-confidence. This can be tremendously helpful in today's social and economic environment.

Group meets every Monday at CID Belmont between 3:00pm and 5:00pm. For more information call Gayle at (650) 595-0783 ext. 124.

Changing Young Minds

Profile: Nicole Cortichiato, Advocacy Specialist

Nicole continues to be a regular speaker in Mr. Saldivar's Health Class at Ralston Middle School. She talks to kids in 7th and 8th grade about negative language. She uses real life examples and news items to illustrate the impact of "making choices". Using props such as the Braille alphabet card, Nicole has each student "spell" out their names, and then she uses imagery and team exercises for the students to sense for a brief moment what it might be like to live as a person with a visual impairment.

Nicole uses her own disability, Narcolepsy, as a launch pad to lead the students in discussing the impact of making life decisions. The students are always surprised that such a healthy looking young woman has any physical challenges. Pulling from the news and sports headlines she uses names the students recognize to illustrate that anyone can become disabled simply from an accident or from making bad choices in life. She always ends by challenging the students to think about what choices they will make in life.

A key part of the speech reveals itself through Mr. Saldivar's assignment that the students write Nicole saying what they learned. Here are some of the comments:

"I now have a better understanding of how to treat disabled people. Before, I didn't know you should ask if they needed help doing something instead of just helping them."

"Thank you for showing us how to talk to a wheelchair user."

"The activity that we did was also fun. We got to put on blind glasses and feel what it's like not to be able to see. I thought it was scary and it really took a lot of trust in your guide. You had to have a lot of patience too. Thank you for this experience of being blind."

"I learned the right way to help someone with a disability. I also learned the right terms to say. You inspired me to help many people and to enjoy life."

"There was one thing that you said that really stuck to me and that was having to make decisions. I know from my little teen experiences that having to make decisions is very hard and you always wonder which one is the best for me and what people are going to think or say about it."

For more information, please call Nicole at (650) 595-0783 ext. 113. Email her at nicolec@cidbelmont.org.

The Northern California Client Assistance Program Meeting

A regional CAP meeting was held on June 20, 2003, at the Center for Independence of the Disabled.

At this meeting the Northern California Client Assistance Program met to discuss important issues we have been having with the Department of Rehabilitation. In our discussions, we found that many of the issues are statewide and we discussed how best to resolve them. We also discussed new regulations and changes that may affect consumers who are working with the Department of Rehabilitation.

These meetings are held three times a year, one for Northern California, one for Southern California, and then an all-State meeting that is held at one of the Independent Living Centers. Last year the all CAP meeting was held in Los Angeles; this year the meeting will be in Sacramento.

California 211 Project

The California Alliance of Information and Referral Service (CAIRS) is working to develop a new statewide service delivery strategy designed to increase the public's access to essential health and social services. The goal of the 211 project is to create a hassle-free single telephone point of access overlay to the existing community health and social services information and referral programs. The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to adopt procedures to establishing a statewide 211 hotline similar to those already used in 10 other states. Residents will be able to access the system through all but wireless telephones when it is up and running. The process is expected to take one to three years and vary from county to county. Eventually, dialing 211 will connect callers to a regional clearinghouse that can provide information about local non-profits that suit their needs.

For further information you can visit 211 websites at http://www.cairs.org/cAL211oVRVW.htm

CID Says Goodbye to Tony Festa

We are saddened to announce the recent passing of fellow co-worker Tony Festa who passed away peacefully on April 26, 2003, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 64.

Tony was employed at CID as Assistive Technology Coordinator from May 2001 to December 2002. In the past year, Tony was instrumental in coordinating multiple renovation programs at CID including coordinating with Stanford University and the Rebuilding Together effort last spring, which gave our building its first major overhaul since 1979. Tony also masterminded a telephone system upgrade, new carpeting, lighting and new windows for CID. Tony gave special attention to his clients and was an especially powerful advocate for one well-known and loved consumer Sunny Lin, for whom Tony went to bat for well over a year, working his way through a daunting set of obstacles so that Sunny could have the elevator he so desperately needed to gain his independence so he could get in and out of his apartment.

Tony was a dear friend with a bubbly, crusty personality and a great sense of humor. He was an individual, an optimist and always looked for the best in everyone and every situation. He is survived by his wife Margarita (Margo), his mother Jean Kistler, his children Paul, Peter & Gretchen, his sisters Vicki & Connie, his nieces Valerie, Jamie, & Dawn, and six grandchildren.

Tony was born in New York City on August 21, 1938. He lived in the SF Bay Area for the past 37 years where he owned and operated a janitorial and consulting business and was employed at Marin Works in San Rafael before coming to CID.