PA Link Lebanon County Partner Meeting 2-3-23 at 8:30 am
  Join our “Spotlight presenters” from The Arc of Lancaster Lebanon Maureen Westcott, Executive Director and Amy Fisher, Advocacy and Family Support Via zoom on Feb. 3, 2023 at 8:30. We will be inviting partners from Lebanon and Lancaster to participate. |
| They will provide an overview on The Arc of Lancaster Lebanon and a presentation for Life Course Tools.The Arc’s Facing Forward Program works with families of transition aged students (14-21) using the Charting the LifeCourse Framework to develop a vision for what a good life looks like and identify the path to get there by discussing goal setting, employment, independent living, waiver funding, natural and paid supports, social security, guardianship, financial planning, safety and security, and discussions among families about their successes and challenges. |
| Nicki Habecker is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: PA Link ADRC Lebanon County Monthly Partner Meeting Time: Feb 3, 2023 08:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Every month on the First Fri, until Feb 3, 2023, 1 occurrence(s) Feb 3, 2023 08:30 AMPlease download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZAlfumqqD4iG9Hu2CRz25lWrIfcOSVmmwn9/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGspjIqGNKQuBiCRpwIGor4c-rwpiVHjfp1iU3GMToBNw_BJMtEMZ1MJtXd Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/84890265815?pwd=TFNnVGw3alcwNlN3MU9Eb21CYXFkQT09 Meeting ID: 848 9026 5815 Passcode: LINK One tap mobile+13052241968,,84890265815#,,,,*338729# US+13092053325,,84890265815#,,,,*338729# US Dial by your location +1 305 224 1968 US +1 309 205 3325 US +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 646 931 3860 US +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) +1 689 278 1000 US +1 719 359 4580 US +1 253 205 0468 US +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 360 209 5623 US +1 386 347 5053 US +1 507 473 4847 US +1 564 217 2000 US +1 669 444 9171 USMeeting ID: 848 9026 5815 Passcode: 338729 |
Abilities in Motion Announces New Location
 Abilities in Motion Announces New Location in Northeast Reading Abilities in Motion (AIM) is thrilled to announce the purchase of a new headquarters located at 755 Hiesters Lane in Northeast Reading, Pennsylvania. On the company’s future home, AIM’s Executive Director, Stephanie Quigley said, “We are thrilled to be moving to an area of the city where we can expand operations and bring new, innovative resources to the community. Our focus will be on making cutting-edge technology available to people with disabilities.” The new building will allow us to expand our services in new and innovative ways. Our new, fully accessible building will feature substantially greater space for onsite programming, future expansion, and exciting community partnerships. Construction is planned to start next month with the goal of moving to the new facility in 2023. This new location will also include a 2400-square-foot technology space for persons with disabilities to engage and experiment with computers, smart home devices, adaptive technology, home gaming consoles, virtual reality systems, STEM opportunities and more. Our new building will also offer a café space to showcase state-of-the-art accessible technology options in the kitchen. Our aspirations for this next chapter at AIM are rooted in our continuous commitment and service to the disability community. We will continue to provide more information about our plans for expansion and relocation throughout the transition. For more information, please stay tuned to our social channels! |
Comment on the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers
Comment period closes November 30.
The public comment period for the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers will close at 11:59 PM on November 30, 2022. The Strategy, which was released on September 21, 2022, was developed jointly by the advisory councils established by the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act and the Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (SGRG) Act, with extensive input from family caregivers, the people they support, and other stakeholders.
The Strategy is intended to serve as a national roadmap to better recognize and support family and kinship caregivers of all ages, backgrounds, and caregiving situations. It includes nearly 350 actions the federal government will take to support family caregivers in the coming year and more than 150 actions that can be adopted at other levels of government and across the private sector to build a system to support family caregivers.
ACL leads implementation of the RAISE and SGRG Acts and facilitates the work of both advisory councils. ACL is requesting comments on:
- The most important topics/issues for the advisory councils to focus on moving forward; and
- Issues that were not covered by the initial strategy that should be addressed in future updates.
Comments can be submitted via an online form. Respondents have the option to comment on each individual component of the Strategy or provide comments about the Strategy as a whole.
For additional information on the Strategy, contact Greg Link.
Consumer Voice – quality long term care
| View this message on our website. In this Issue:Staffing in Nursing Homes and How It Affects Residents See the Agenda for the Virtual Consumer Voice Conference Save the Date: Virtual Office Hour on Visitation During the Holidays Inadequate Staffing in Nursing Homes and How It Affects Residents Chronic understaffing has been a serious problem in nursing homes for decades and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While there are numerous factors contributing to this problem, one major cause is the lack of adequate minimum staffing standards at both the state and federal levels. Consumer Voice has continued to focus on staffing in nursing homes as an advocacy priority.Report: High Staff Turnover: A Job Quality Crisis in Nursing Homes – Our report sheds light on how nursing homes with higher staff turnover perform poorly in a variety of measures. It examines how staff turnover harms residents, the causes of high turnover, and offers solutions to this endemic problem.Last Spring, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that included requests for information regarding the implementation of a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes. Minimum standards ensure that staffing will not fall to a level that would be harmful to residents. Consumer Voice submitted comments to CMS strongly supporting the proposal for a minimum staffing standard. CMS stated it planned to propose a minimum staffing standard within one year.Report: Staffing Matters – Our report looked at federal data regarding nursing home staffing levels and how it affects outcomes for residents. It found that nursing homes with higher staffing levels have higher overall, health inspection, and staffing ratings. Plus, the data also revealed that as staffing levels decrease in nursing homes, the instances of resident abuse rise. Learn more about our work around staffing in nursing homes on our website. See the Agenda for the Virtual Consumer Voice Conference Join us online December 8-9, 2022 for the virtual portion of the Consumer Voice Conference!Listen to key experts discuss the latest policy updates; Hear the voice of long-term care consumers; Connect with advocates nationwide and learn about best practices;Gain skills relevant to your work; and Get revitalized and equipped with new tools to put your systems and individual advocacy into action!  Plus, view select recorded sessions from the in-person conference. Register for the virtual conference to participate in the live event and to have access to session recordings and materials for 60 days.Save the Date: Virtual Office Hour on Visitation During the Holidays The National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) is hosting a virtual open office hour the last Wednesday of each month at 2:00 pm ET for long-term care Ombudsmen representatives. The next call is Wednesday, November 30th. This is an opportunity to ask questions, share information, and have open conversations with your peers and NORC staff. The focus of the November call will be visitation in nursing homes during the holidays. These Zoom calls do not include a structured presentation and are open to all State Ombudsmen and their program representatives. These calls will not be recorded and do not require registration. Use this link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85675114259 |
Four Things to Know as We Celebrate Kinship Care in Pennsylvania
 SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 Four Things to Know as We Celebrate Kinship Care in Pennsylvania Every child deserves a safe, supportive, and permanent family. At the same time, every family should have the support of a strong and caring community, especially in cases where caregivers have opened their homes to adoption, foster children, or kinship care. September is National Kinship Care Month. Kinship care refers to caregivers — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, adult siblings, and even family friends — who make the selfless choice to take on traditional parenting responsibilities when biological parents cannot. The Pennsylvania KinConnector program works in all 67 counties of the commonwealth to uplift these families by providing education, support, and resources to grandparents and other relatives who are raising children. The KinConnector helpline (1-866-KIN-2111) is staffed by knowledgeable, compassionate social service professionals with access to these much-needed resources. In the United States, there are more than 2.7 million children living with relatives. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 200,000 children are in kinship care. Often, when a child enters foster care, child welfare agencies will first turn to that child’s relatives for placement. This is done to help the child maintain important connections with within the family. In honor of National Kinship Care Month, this is the perfect time to celebrate and support all of Pennsylvania’s kinship families. LEARN MORE ABOUT PA KINSHIP CARE Call the PA KinConnector Support Line Today! 1-866-KIN-2111 The helpline is available from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. (Assistance is available in both English and Spanish.) 4 Things to Know about Kinship Care In Pennsylvania. 1. There are two types of kinship care. There’s informal kinship care, as well as formal kinship care. Some children might be placed with their relatives privately (informal), while others are formally placed in kinship care by a child welfare agency (public kinship care or kinship foster care). 2. There are many reasons why children end up in kinship care. In recent years, the opioid epidemic and parental substance use has caused an increase in the need for kinship care, but it is just one of many reasons that kinship families come together. Other reasons kinship families form might include parental military deployment, incarceration, mental or physical illness, and death. Whatever the cause, when parents are unable to care for their children, these caregivers often step in at a moment’s notice to keep families together. 3. A biological parent can still maintain a connection with their child during kinship care. Learn more: Parental Roles When biological parents are not able to take on the traditional responsibilities of parenting, there are a number of roles they can assume that match their abilities, and allow them to maintain a positive connection with their children. 4. There are resources available to kinship caregivers Find Kinship Services available in your County PA KinConnector helps to assist kinship caregivers by providing information on financial assistance, legal information and referrals, and other issues caregivers face when raising children to provide stability and permanency in the home. Resources available to Kinship Families Behavioral Health Services Child care Find Child Care & Other Early Learning Programs — PA KinConnector Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program — DHS PA 211 Family Resources Clothing PA 211 Clothing & Household Resources Food Assistance Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — DHS Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) — DHS National School Lunch Program — PA Dept. of Education PA 211 Food Assistance Resources Health Care Services Medical Assistance (Medicaid) — DHS Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — DHS Financial Services Unemployment Compensation — PA. Dept. of Labor and Industry Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) — DHS Housing Resources — DHS PA 211 Housing & Shelter Legal services DHS Legal Resources PA 211 Legal Services Senior Law Center School Support Early Childhood Education — DHS Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRC) — The Pennsylvania Key Online Resources for Families — PA Dept. of Education Support for Families Virtual Support Groups — PA KinConnector Trainings Kinship Family Trainings — PA KinConnector Training for Child Care Professionals — PA KinConnector  Save the Date! Free Family Strengths Training Webinars “The Inherent Strengths of Kinship Care” • Dates: September 15, 22, & 29, 2022 • Time: 10 a.m.-Noon • Presenter: Dr. Joseph Crumbley, internationally renowned kinship expert, consultant, and author. REGISTER NOW! SPACE IS LIMITED More from DHS |
Berks - Lancaster - Lebanon LINK Service Area 
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