From the desk of John Winske Can you believe that 2014 is almost over? I cant. When I was young, time creep by slowly. As I age, the years fly by at the speed of light. It seems that yesterday was my first day as the Executive Director of DPC. For the record, it was April 9th. We also had a new Administrative Assistant, Amy Kalogeropoulos, starting that day. Amy was recently promoted to Director of Operations. The operative word this year has been foundation. My task was to build a foundation, the base upon which to build the DPC. We had to build the infrastructure of the organization so that we could grow into to the future. This meant a large effort went into the more mundane tasks such as developing a personnel policy manual, managing contracts, hiring staff, etc. Our presence has increased and the size of the DPC staff has increased. Today, we number fourteen, including part-timers. That is dramatic growth. Before I arrived, the DPC had just moved into new offices. We finally had space to spread out and people actually did not have to share desks, or almost sit on top of one another. We had just gotten a brand new set of phones that operated over the Internet. There was just one tiny problem. We didnt have access to high speed internet service. For the first four months, we operated with cell phones and wireless Internet service. I will be forever indebted to our staff for their perseverance during those early months. In June, we had the gubernatorial forum with Perkins and several co-partners. All seven major candidates for Governor attended the event. The event was well attended and was the only forum during the campaign to focus exclusively on issues of importance to our community. Over the summer we had our first summer intern program. Bill Allan and Mary Lou Maloney shared their years of advocacy and legislative experience with a eight lucky future leaders, of which, two became DPC part-timers The DPC continued our strong advocacy around health care with support from The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and Community Catalyst. Led by our guru, Dennis Heaphy and the leadership of BCIL Executive Director Bill Henning, DAAHR continued efforts to ensure that One Care lives up to its promise. Maggie Sheets and Colln Killick joined our staff this year as Health Care Advocates and are doing impressive work to ensure that our community is not forgotten by leaders when they talk about health care policy. Our One Care Ombudsman Office, led by Dr. Burt Pusch, staffed by William Griffin, Joe Bettencourt and Ramses Rafael, continues to support consumers in this exciting program. As far as we know, the DPC is the only consumer led organization serving as an Ombudsman for a Dual Eligible Program in the United States. In conjunction with the Disability Law Center and the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH), we held nine hearings across the state to learn more about the issues confronting consumers. The stories of discrimination we heard were deeply disturbing. A big thank you to Colleen Graham who attended all nine hearings and will be leading our efforts in working with our partners to issue our report on the sessions soon. In October, we held our Second Annual Awards Ceremony which raised more than $25,000. A big thank you to Commonwealth Care Alliance and Bob Master who was our lead sponsor for the second year in a row. A big shout out to Elizabeth Hardy-Jackson for coordinating our event and for being my editor on these weekly updates. This year we also stepped into the big leagues of research. We teamed up with the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital on a Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI) grant. This three year project will work to identify ways of measuring health outcomes for people with disabilities. Next year will be interesting. Governor Baker will take office. Marylou Sudders will be the new Secretary of EOHHS. The state will be facing a potential deficit of more than $500 million. The Governor-elect has stated that we do not have a revenue problem but a spending problem. He has also signaled that he is not inclined to cut local aid. If we dont raise revenue and we dont cut local aid, that is very bad news for Masshealth and human services. Lets hope that Governor Baker considers a more balanced approach. Lastly, I would like to thank the DPC Board of Directors for giving me this opportunity of a life time. Thank you. I look forward to working with all of you in 2015. Onward and upward. John Winske Executive Director Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:56:21 +0000
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