CELA Scholarships available

Scholarships available from CELA 2010 to travel to Wash DC and tell your story regarding access to and reimbursement for complex rehab products now and in future.

via their site:
What is CELA?

Continuing Education and Legislative Advocacy Conference that brings together Consumers, Manufacturers, Rehab Professionals, and Suppliers for face-to-face visits in Washington, DC with Members of Congress to help address the current challenges of access to, and reimbursement for, Complex Rehab products now and yet to come.

What is required of you?

By accepting a scholarship to CELA 2010 you are agreeing to travel to the Washington, DC area, tell your story and participate in the following CELA 2010 sessions:

- Capitol Hill Visit Orientation - Wednesday April 28th 3:30 - 6:00 pm
- Capitol Hill Visits, Thursday April 29, 2010, 8:30 am-4:30 pm (transportation provided if necessar
- Capitol Hill Debriefing, Wine and Cheese Reception, Thursday April 29, 2010 5:30-7:30 pm


What you need to do.

- If participating in this conference interests you, please continue with the application process below.
- There are a limited number of scholarships available to cover your travel costs, lodging and meals.
- If you have questions or desire additional information please call (800) 976-7787.
- Applications will be processed and reviewed on a first-come first-served basis.
- Final application submission deadline is January 8, 2010. Those awarded scholarships will be notified on or before February 8, 2010.


To see the application form, go here.

[image description: In a box, the words CELA 2010 April 28-30, 2010 with an image of sponsor logos to the right and below spelled out Continuing Education and Legislative Advocacy Conference.]

National Council on Disability releases health care report

NEWS RELEASE

NCD #09–588

September 30, 2009

Contact: Mark S. Quigley

202-272-2004

National Council on Disability Calls for Health Care Reform for People with Disabilities

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released a report entitled The Current State of Health Care for People with Disabilities, calling for immediate health care reform for people with disabilities.

According to NCD Chairperson John R. Vaughn, “NCD undertook this study in 2007 to focus the nation’s attention on the health care disparities experienced by people with disabilities, and to provide information and recommendations that can help to eliminate health care inequities for people with disabilities.“

The report provides a road map for eliminating the pervasive barriers to health care for people with disabilities, which will improve the quality of life, productivity, and well-being of greater numbers of Americans as the population ages.

Some of the recommendations include:

● Congress should amend the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act to broaden the definition of “health disparity population” found in 42 U.S.C. § 287c-31(d) to encompass “populations for which there is a significant disparity in the quality, outcomes, cost, or use of health care services or access to or satisfaction with such services as compared to the general population,” as specified in 42 U.S.C. § 299a-1(d).

● Congress should establish a technical assistance system through which states, health plans, clinics, hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, individual medical practitioners, equipment manufacturers, people with disabilities, and others can easily obtain centralized information on universal standards of care and related practical resources for ensuring full access to culturally competent health care services for people with disabilities.

● The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) must step up monitoring and enforcement of the ADA and Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act for health care facilities and programs. DOJ must focus additional resources on compliance monitoring and investigation of Title III complaints concerning programmatic access violations of the ADA and Section 504 by health care providers.

● Congress should ensure that reform of the health care system in the United States responds to the basic needs of people with disabilities by making certain that health care coverage is available and affordable to all people with disabilities without pre-existing condition limitations.

According to NCD Health Care Committee Co-Chair Anne M. Rader, “People with disabilities bear a disproportionate burden of poor health compared with the general population and use preventive services at a lower rate than people who do not have disabilities.”

For many, health care in the United States is not always available or affordable, and gaps in coverage can present insurmountable obstacles to obtaining appropriate care and maintaining good health. Lack of health care provider education and disability cultural awareness and competency also creates significant barriers for people with disabilities when they try to access care.

The root causes of these longstanding health and health care inequities involve multiple, complex factors that are embedded in the historical evolution of the nation’s health care structure, and the parallel research and public health emphasis on disability prevention and cure. One especially serious outcome of this evolutionary process is a highly fragmented health care delivery system, which is unable to reconcile the competing interests of cost containment and patient-centered care, which is an important tool for achieving culturally competent care for people with disabilities.

According to NCD Health Care Committee Co-Chair Victoria Ray Carlson, “Immediate action must be taken where existing research reveals the clear need for such strategies as enhanced health care provider education, greater clinical research, enhanced payment systems, and the removal of policy and procedural barriers and other physical barriers to receiving quality health care services.”

There is no simple solution to the complex and entrenched problems people with disabilities experience when they seek health care. Key elements of any move toward reform must include action by Congress, Federal agencies that have a role in health care, professional medical associations, organizations of medical educators, accreditation organizations, the public health community, and the disability community.

For more information or to receive a copy of the report, please contact NCD’s Mark S. Quigley, at mquigley@ncd.gov or by telephone at 202-272-2004.

# # #

Mark S. Quigley

Director of External Affairs

National Council on Disability

1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850

Washington, DC 20004

202-272-2008

202-272-2022 fax

www.ncd.gov

You also may want to join more than 2,000 subscribers who receive the latest news from NCD via its listserv. Please sign up at http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/ and click on On-line mailing list archives, then select NCD-NEWS-L and complete the short subscription form.

This seems appropos this morning....

As the last screw pops out of the sling of my manual titanium wheelchair this morning, this video seemed appropriate. More duct tape is in order.

Since the manual wheelchair isn't my main wheelchair any more (I use it in the house when I can to maintain some muscles for transferring), I can't afford right now to buy myself another ultralightweight one since I'm paying off my power chair. As a retired wheelchair tennis player, I know enough about my body to realize that if I stop pushing totally, it'll affect my ability to transfer, a life changing issue regarding independence. So I've been looking for a year for an affordable and used replacement light enough to push, without any luck. Any but the heavier ones just cost too much, even though wheelchairs are made of bicycle parts in reality. The heavier it is, the more unrealistic I'll be able to push it as a quadriplegic.

But hey I'll keep looking.

And here's to our health care system from The Life of E Patient Dave- We're 37:

The health care debate in musicals

Scene 1: Claimant asks for coverage he/she paid for (scene from Oliver! Please Sir I want some more)



Scene 2: Deciphering the policy after coverage is denied (My Fair Lady: The Rain in Spain)



scene 3: Appealing the insurance denial (Les Mis: I dreamed a dream)



Scene 4: Second denial of coverage (On the Town: Lonely Town)




scene 5: Trying to change the system (Man of La Mancha: The Impossible Dream)

A lack of civility

During the speech of the President last night, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted out "You lie!"when President Obama said none of the health care programs he's proposing would "apply to illegal immigrants".

The President calmly replied "That's not true."
The health care debates have been heated and the lack of civility in the town hall meetings has been appalling. William Peace wrote about a woman in a wheelchair at a town hall meeting who was jeered by others.

As you can see in the video, the jeering was so bad that Marianne Hoynes could barely speak over it or be heard. As she talked about living with a disability, the cost of her medication and trying to survive in the system as it is, the shouting continued. As she spoke about basic human rights, and asked others to listen to the voice of the disabled, the level of disrespect shown by those at the meeting spoke more to not only their refusal to listen, but to their refusal to look for any solutions to those who are suffering. Her views were unwelcome.
There are times we all have to agree to disagree, but when we've reached a point where some citizens act to silence others who they perceive as having fewer rights, I see that as the beginning of the end of civil discourse and I fear that more than anything else. Without the ability to have heated debates in which all sides of the issue are heard, we cannot call ourselves a democracy.
Last night confirmed my belief that this is where the health care debate is going. It's become more about power and shouting down those who are vulnerable - or those who speak for them -than about its substance. One liners are bandied about to cut off any discussion or games of "gotcha" are played. Fear is rampant due to misinformation and exaggerations.
Those who read history know that this is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that our country faces a controversial issue. It is also not the first time that shouting has happened in Congress. But it is the nature of what is being said - the accusation of lying to the leader we elected- and the timing of it -during a nationally televised speech- that requires scrutiny.
This is about a lack of respect for our president and the office he holds, but it goes further than that. It's about pressing one's agenda, or one's party's agenda, at any cost.
We as Americans need to send a message to our own elected officials that it is not only counterproductive to engage in such behavior, but unacceptable. Those who represent us, no matter what their party affiliation, must begin to open their minds to solutions when so many of our citizens who are sick and face impossible financial burdens are crying out for help. Ignoring these voices, heckling them, jeering them or shouting them down or those who speak on behalf of them won't make the problem go away. Nor does it absolve us of our moral responsibilities to each other as fellow citizens.
It is time to engage in civil discourse.