Building Bridges With Focus Film Festival
"Building Bridges," the Chico State newsletter celebrating campus diversity, published an excellent article about Far Northern Regional Center's Focus Film Festival on page 9 of the Spring edition. The article states: "The Festival serves as a great way to inspire people with disabilities while providing education to the community." You can read the whole article in Building Bridges - Spring 2012.
In N.Y. and Calif., Different Approaches to Patient Abuse Reform
Wherever the developmentally disabled live, abuse is their neighbor.
It comes as deliberate assault by caregivers and sometimes relatives. It comes as acts of frustration, when people exhausted from the relentless difficulties of caring for patients with intellectual disabilities shove and hit the vulnerable.
Government agencies are often judged as much on their response to abuse as on their success at preventing attacks. By this measure, California and New York have repeatedly failed, as news reports over the past year have detailed numerous cases in which state officials overlooked evidence of attacks and suspicious deaths.
Respite Care At Risk
Family caregivers provide 80 percent of long-term care needs in the U.S., but many need time away from that job so they can continue to care for their loved ones. Respite can provide short-term relief through several options, including a paid home care worker or providing temporary stays for patients at a residential care facility or adult day care center. Some families pick up the cost of such care out-of-pocket, but many must rely on state and community programs.
However, as states face tough budget decisions, such programs are increasingly on the chopping block.
“These services have just come under pretty serious attack at the state level,” said Jill Kagan, program director of the Access to Respite Care and Help (ARCH) National Respite Network and Resource Center. “The current economic climate that we’re in and that every state is facing has made it really difficult to expand any services at all. This comes on top of the fact that there was not enough respite for family caregivers to begin with.”
