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Authors Posts by Carol Ferenz

Carol Ferenz

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In 2016, the Office of Mental Health provided funding and partnered together with three providers to provide homeless veterans the opportunity to live, gain employment, and work on their recovery through this evidence-based model. The initial grant funded the start-up of four new lodges. This year, through “Money Follows the Person” grant funding, there is an opportunity to fund an additional 4 new Veterans Fairweather Lodges. As the contracted Administrative Agency, the Venango Training & Development Center, Inc. is coordinating the RFP process and working with the Office of Mental Health to expand this project, which includes the posting of an exciting new position for a Veteran Fairweather Lodge Statewide Transition Coordinator. For more information about the position, contact Colleen Stuart.

This memo serves as notice to Pennsylvania mental health non-profit providers that proposals are being accepted for start-up grant funding for a new Veterans Fairweather Lodge (VFWL).   A “Start Up Guide and Application Tool” is also available, which includes the following information that will assist in your application:

  • History and Background Information;
  • Provider Eligibility/Background Requirements;
  • Guidelines for Application;
  • State/County/Community Partnerships; and
  • Grant Resources.

The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs reported higher populations of homeless in the Philadelphia and Coatesville areas. Therefore, providers in these areas are encouraged to apply.

Please consider this wonderful opportunity to provide support to veterans in need.

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Message from RCPA Member Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF):

We are so excited to announce that Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF) has helped a record number of people with our low- and no-interest loan programs, our information and assistance services, and our financial education resources.

Of note, after we increased the lending cap on our Mini-Loan program from $2,000 to $7,000, this program grew by 151%! (see below: 2021 by the Numbers) 

And it doesn’t stop there! We published Smart Homes Made Simple: Your Guide to Smart Home Technology and launched SmartHomesMadeSimple to help the disability community learn about mainstream smart home devices and how they can be financed.

In March of this year, PATF hosted a smart home webinar with more than 500 attendees from around the world!

We are proud to share our organization’s growth over the last year, in which assistive technology (AT) was critical, to support people with disabilities and older adults stay safe, healthy, and connected to our community.

Read PATF’s Impact Report.

With your unwavering support – our donors, borrowers, partners, families and friends – we were able to expand and create new programs to help people with disabilities and older Pennsylvanians live more independently. Thank you!

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ODP Announcement 22-059 informs readers that the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) is pleased to announce that an amendment to the AAW was submitted to CMS on May 9, 2022. The submitted AAW includes modifications that were made as a result of public comment. The AAW amendment includes the following substantive changes:

  • Adding reserved waiver capacity for individuals who are discharged from a state center. Reserved waiver capacity is also being added for participants who have been incarcerated for more than six consecutive months;
  • Aligning provider qualifications in the AAW with the Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS) waivers, whenever possible;
  • Allowing relatives to deliver the Life Sharing component of the Residential Habilitation service;
  • Requiring that agencies that provide Residential Habilitation/Life Sharing must be qualified and enrolled to provide Residential Habilitation/Life Sharing in the Consolidated or Community Living waivers;
  • Increasing the annual fiscal limit in the transportation service to $5,000 per participant’s ISP year;
  • Allowing one of the four required monitoring conducted by the Supports Coordinator each year to be conducted remotely;
  • Adding a new service, Remote Supports; and
  • Delivering direct services using remote technology.

The requirements in the AAW will become effective when Appendix K flexibilities expire, six months after the expiration of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency.

Please note that aligning the Assistive Technology service, where possible, with the Consolidated, Community Living, and P/FDS waivers includes adding generators for the participant’s primary residence.

The full AAW application, as well as a record of substantive changes, is available here.

CMS has 90 days to review the amendment, and changes may occur to the content based upon discussion with CMS during the approval process. The proposed effective date of July 1, 2022, is also subject to change. ODP will inform all stakeholders when CMS has officially approved the AAW and will make the approved waiver available at that time.

Questions about this communication should be directed via email.

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The ODPANN 22-054 Update is to inform all interested parties that important infrastructural changes to the Medication Administration Training Program will now be rescheduled to take place from Friday, July 1 – Sunday, July 31, 2022, which will cause an outage. If you attempt to conduct a class or complete any training on the system during this outage, your work will be lost.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) are pleased to announce this latest edition of the Positive Approaches Journal titled “Innovation & Best Practices in Supporting Autistic Adults.”

The focus of autism supports has almost exclusively been on children. Articles in this issue of Positive Approaches seeks to shed some light on adults with autism, including:

  • An article on transgender identity and gender dysphoria highlighting ways that adults with autism can be supported and accepted while defining who they are;
  • An article on the Temple University Community Participation Measure and its success in showing areas where adults with autism are spending their time, thereby giving a clearer picture on where supports and services may best be provided;
  • An article on an adult with autism’s journey from work into retirement and how he perceived this milestone;
  • An article discussing Pennsylvania’s continuing development of forward-thinking autism supports and services;
  • An article on the ongoing development and expansion of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Neurodevelopmental Residential Treatment Unit; and
  • An article on the reasoning, development, and success of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Western Behavioral Health Psychiatric Rehabilitation (PR) program carve-out program to serve autistic adults.

This journal issue focuses on the need to look across the lifespan to better understand the issues adults with autism may face.

Positive Approaches Journal is available for viewing online or for downloading in digital form.

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