Dear Access Living friends and allies, Consider the story of Pierre Auguste Renoir, the legendary Impressionist painter. Many of you are likely familiar with his paintings of women and children, in which he found new ways to express light and shadow. But did you know that Renoir had severe rheumatoid arthritis during the last 30 years of his life? He relied on assistants to help position the brush in his hand, along with helping with---you guessed it---other Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). There is actually an online video of Renoir painting with the help of assistants here. Watch the video, and think about what it would have been like if Renoir had to worry whether his assistants’ hours would be cut due to the state of the government’s finances. Of course home services are vital to thousands upon thousands of people with disabilities and seniors. Of course a decent wage and benefits are critical to home service workers. No one can argue that as the population of Illinois ages, the need for home services will grow. Therefore, it is critical that Illinois’ Home Services Program (HSP) and Community Care Program (CCP) be well-run and meet the need of every individual who needs in-home support. In particular, it is critical that the actual assessment tool that is used to evaluate need be reliable and meaningful. The State of Illinois this year is taking the initiative to revamp what is called the Determination of Need (DON) assessment tool, which evaluates what people need for home services. The idea is to create one tool that can measure the need of anyone. Previously, the State had been using the same types of assessment for years and years. Recently, the State put out a Request for Information (RfI) to gather information about what is needed to create a better tool. The RfI period is closed, but we at Access Living wanted to share the original RfI and Access Living’s submission here. The State will continue to work on the new tool and it is vital that disability advocates work together to make sure that the voices of home service consumers are integrated into the new tool. The ONLY way to be sure to measure the need for home services is from direct consumer experience. We at Access Living welcome feedback from the community on this issue on an ongoing basis and will continue to alert the community to advocacy or input opportunities on this process. Consider: does the current DON really work for you? What does it not measure that it should? Do you actually know what your DON says? These are the things we want to hear from you. Some of the most important people in my journey as a disability advocate have been people with severe rheumatoid arthritis who required home services. Like Renoir, they live full lives with family and friends, with jobs they enjoy and where they earn professional respect. Unlike Renoir, they have to live with the fear of having their lives torn apart due to lack of home service support. If the new DON assessment tool is done well, it will recognize the actual individual needs of consumers and help protect people against budget cuts by demonstrating real need. We hope you will contact us with input! Input may be sent to me at [email protected]. Amber Smock Director of Advocacy, Access Living
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:45:09 +0000
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