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"Wings" Newsletter

In Home Support Services

The County of Riverside is now developing a plan to improve In Home Support Services (IHSS). The County will work to improve personal care attendent’s (providers) wages, benefits, and training. The plan will also work to improve people with disabilities’ (recipients) quality of services received, choice of who to employ, and hours available.

Riverside County has created an In Home Support Services Advisory Committee to put this new plan together. The County Board of Supervisors has appointed 11 Riverside County citizens to be committee members. The committee members are made up of seven IHSS recipients, three IHSS providers, and one County employee. The IHSS Advisory Committee meets on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in different locations throughout Riverside County. The committee meetings are open to the public, so you should attend and voice your comments and opinions. For information about meeting times and places you should call Riverside County at (909) 358-4012 or Julie at Community Access Center (909) 922-0153.

The Riverside County IHSS committee has been investigating what options have worked in other California Counties. Some of the options brought before the IHSS committees are; A public authority, home maker model, and Non-profit consortium.

Notes From the Executive Director:

My life is changing rapidly. My husband and I are in the process of adopting a son. He is nine years old and has a great deal of energy. If you see the three of us, I will be the exhausted one. Please stop and say hello. We are both excited and nervous about being parents. I know Kenneth will make a great addition to our family.

The Center has really grown in the past six years. We started out with only six services and now we are providing more than 16 services. The following is a quick review of our programs: The basic eight core services include: 1) Systems Advocacy, 2) Individual Advocacy, 3) Housing Services, 4) Personal Care Assistance Registry, 5) Independent Living Skills Training, 6) Peer Support, 7) Information and Referral Services, and 8) Assistive Technology Education.

In addition to these services CAC provides eight additional programs. These additional services are Client Assistance Program (CAP), Employment and Benefits Counseling, COPS (Crime, Outreach, and Prosecution Strategies), PARADIGMS (program for parents of children with a disability), Computer Center with Assistive Technology assessment, “Self-Advocacy” training, ADA compliance reviews, and mental health counseling in American Sign Language.

Curtis A. Margain - Human Resource Specialist I began my employment with Community Access Center on August 20, 2001 as an Adminis-trative Assistant. Currently, I am the Human Resource Specialist. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Pre – Law with a minor in Computer Information Systems and Technical Communications. As a Human Resource Coordinator, I am re-sponsible for interviewing ap-plicants for current job openings, developing personnel procedures, conducting new employees’ orientations, informing employees of benefit packages available, etc. I am excited to be part of the CAC team and look forward to hearing from you soon! For general infor-mation or questions please contact me at financialdepartment@communityaccesscenter.org.

Hi! My name is Laurie Hoirup and I am the new Program Manager for the Indio branch office. I moved to the desert 7 years ago with my husband and two children, a son who is 20 years old now, and a daughter who is16. My education includes a Masters degree in Rehabilitative Counseling, a Teaching Credential and a Bachelors degree in Communication Disorders. I also have a physical disability and am a wheelchair user since the age of 5. I am convinced that I have been blessed in finding this job. My education, in conjunction with my life’s experience as a person with a disability, along with the fact that I am a member of the community, makes this position ideal for me. I have always been my own best advocate and I believe that I can share that ability to empower others to all become self-advocates.

TEC Center Classes

The computer training classroom at Community Access Center’s new (TEC) Center is currently open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 p.m. You can just walk in for individual instruction or to surf the Internet, brush up on keyboarding skills, or try out the various applications of computer software and hardware. However, appointments are given priority and unscheduled use with self-paced instruction is allowed generally in the mornings before noon. Our individualized instructor-led courses are all by appointment.

Beginning in March we will be conducting classes in basic computer use and internet search and navigation. Classes are scheduled on Wednesdays, March 27th from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.; April 24th from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.; May 29th from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.; and June 26 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Those wishing to attend must sign up at least 24 hours ahead of the scheduled beginning of the class. It is important that you sign up early since the Center has only six computers, all with large monitors and a choice of three different operating systems. The newest is Windows 2000 and we also have Windows Millennium and Windows (98).

Our services are open to all people with disabilities: employed or unemployed, young or old, all races and backgrounds, English-speaking or Spanish speaking or American Sign Language. We accept students with varying levels of computer skills and have many types of assistive technology available. Some of our more popular applications are: Jaws 4.0 for individuals who are blind, Zoom Text and Magic for people with low vision disabilities, and Dragon Naturally Speaking which allows you to manage word documents just by speaking into a microphone. We have Boost Technologies Gyro mice which allow a person with mobility limitations to navigate the Internet and computer desktop by placing the cursor with simple head movements. We also have software programs for individuals with learning disabilities. We have typing tutorials in Spanish and English you can study at your own pace that will help the student learn or improve existing keyboarding skills.

Come in and complete a short assessment form which enables us to outline your personal goals and the type of software and/or assistive technology you will be using, calculate a time slot and begin. All at no cost to the consumer. We have DSL Tec Center hookups for faster Internet navigation with access to all of the educational and research opportunities available also. To get started on your program, please call James at (909) 274-0358 or stop by 6848 Magnolia Ave., Suite150 in Riverside. We look forward to assisting you.

Healthy Families Program

The Healthy Families Program is low-cost insurance that provides health, dental and vision coverage to children and pregnant women who do not have insurance today and do not qualify —because the family income is too high—for no-cost Medi-Cal.

To qualify for the Healthy Families Program a child must be under age 19; a member of a family with income at or below 250% of the Federal Income Guidelines; a U.S. citizen, national, or eligible qualified immigrant; and a resident of California. Only the parent’s income will be considered. Family property (such as a home, savings accounts or cars) do not count when calculating eligibility.

Your family size, your family income and the health plan in your area that you choose determine the low monthly premium. You pay a monthly premium of $4 to $9 for each child up to a maximum of $27. This means you will not pay more than $27 per month even if your family has more then three children. There is often a $5 co-payment at time of service – preventive care services are free. The maximum co-payment charges you will pay in a benefit year are $250.

Your Community Access Center (CAC) employs a Certified Application Assistant (CAA), who can provide information, an application for the Healthy Families Program and assistance in filling out the application. Information is also available toll-free from this number: 1-800-880-5305.

Community Access Center (CAC) of Riverside has open doors to people with disabilities. We work with people who are with visually impaired and blind. There was a gentleman who was afraid to admit that he was losing his eyesight. He was avoiding reading even though being a retired English professor. Losing his eyesight made him give-up reading. After encouragement, he went to see the optometrist. He became more confident about his disability. There were two wonderful people who are both low vision and a hearing impaired. They were assisted by getting telecommunications devices with keyboard and visual display (TTY) and large visual display (LVD). Now they are happy.

Community Access Center’s Low Vision Staff is committed to assisting people who are legally blind and vision impaired to control their own lives in a world designed for sighted people. Enabling seniors who are blind or have low vision to regain their confidence through training will also assist them in acquiring independent living skills.

The Senior Wheels USA Program May Be For You

A power wheelchair may be just what you need as a senior or permanently disabled person to remain independent in your own home. The nationwide Senior Wheels USA Program provides power (electric) wheelchairs to senior citizens, 65 and up, and the permanently disabled for use in their homes – at no cost to the recipient.

To qualify for the Senior Wheels USA Program a person must no longer be able to walk nor self-propel a manual wheelchair. There are additional guidelines. Even if a person does not qualify for this program, the program may be able to assist through their donation program which accepts donations of power wheelchairs that are no longer needed.

To access the Senior Wheels USA Program, call Leon Johnson, Program Director, at 1-800-246-6010, or fax him at 1-800-875-5005.

Speaking Out

“We look around us today and see the marvelous things that people with disabilities are able to achieve when they are empowered, things that we would not have dreamed about 10 or 15 years ago,” says Riverside County Fourth District Supervisor Roy Wilson. “But there is so much more work to be done, and I am pleased to see that there are people and organizations stepping forward to ensure that the work does, indeed, get done.”

Outsmart Crime For Safer Living

People with disabilities can take an active role in protecting themselves and others from crime, including practicing crime prevention to survive today’s crime problem. The key to crime prevention is to remove the criminal’s opportunities for crime from our everyday activities. Here are a number of ideas for the self-protection of people with disabilities and the general public:

1. Never allow a stranger into your home, especially if you’re not expecting anyone. Use a peephole to screen callers.
2. Never give your name or telephone number to a caller until you have positively identified him or her.
3. Don’t walk alone in unfamiliar or dangerous areas.
4. If you feel someone is following you, or if a car pulls alongside you, and there are no open stores, look for a lighted house.
5. Never carry large amounts of cash with you. Open a direct-deposit account at your bank for social security and pension checks.
6. If you use a wheelchair, it is advisable to keep your pocketbook tucked snugly between you and the inside of your wheelchair and out of sight.
7. If you are attacked by someone who is armed, it is generally best to give them what they want. The choice whether to resist physically can only be made by you.

Outsmart Crime For Safer Living

People with disabilities can take an active role in protecting themselves and others from crime, including practicing crime prevention to survive today’s crime problem. The key to crime prevention is to remove the criminal’s opportunities for crime from our everyday activities. Here are a number of ideas for the self-protection of people with disabilities and the general public:

1. Never allow a stranger into your home, especially if you’re not expecting anyone. Use a peephole to screen callers.
2. Never give your name or telephone number to a caller until you have positively identified him or her.
3. Don’t walk alone in unfamiliar or dangerous areas.
4. If you feel someone is following you, or if a car pulls alongside you, and there are no open stores, look for a lighted house.
5. Never carry large amounts of cash with you. Open a direct-deposit account at your bank for social security and pension checks.
6. If you use a wheelchair, it is advisable to keep your pocketbook tucked snugly between you and the inside of your wheelchair and out of sight.
7. If you are attacked by someone who is armed, it is generally best to give them what they want. The choice whether to resist physically can only be made by you.

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