All States/Territories

ServiceLink is a NH statewide network of 13 regional offices & 50 satellites offices locally-administered, community-based resources for seniors, adults with disabilities and their families. Attached are the ADRCs program materials: overview presentation, evaluation framework, marketing plan, evaluation presentation, and customer satisfaction survey

This guidebook/workbook is designed to help caregivers work with their families to share information, get organized and plan for the future. The packet includes lots of important information to help families become, and stay, organized and informed, keeping much-needed information available for quick, organized access. Much of the information is about healthcare and medical records as well as other important numbers for bank accounts, real estate holdings, property titles, and service providers.

This article was prepared for the TASH Connections newsletter and it highlights the ADRC initiative. Aging and Disability Resource Centers, or “Resource Centers”, are designed to reduce the confusion often experienced in the search for appropriate long-term community supports. The three-year Resource Center grants given to 24 states are part of the New Freedom Initiative aimed at overcoming barriers to community living for people with disabilities of all ages.

The Real Choice Systems Change grant was awarded in 2002 to the Connecticut Department of Social Services. The project has two primary goals: 1) To build the capacity within the state of Connecticut to support informed decision making, independent living, and a meaningful quality of life for persons with disabilities across the life span. 2) To assist three communities in Connecticut to become models of support for opportunities and choices for persons with disabilities across the lifespan.

The ARC of Tennessee developed this Personal Assistance Supports and Services Guide to provide people with disabilities the information & tools needed to hire and manage a Personal Assistant. Consumers first complete the self-assessment tool to determining needs. This entry also includes the user's guide and evaluation feedback form.

Expanding upon the \"lessons learned\" from the first Model Communities forum held in Connecticut in May 2004, this Community Inclusion forum held in Ridgefield CT brought together a variety of communities interested in \"enhancing awareness among community members of the barriers faced by people with disabilities in becoming fully included & integrated into communities.\" Participants identified barriers to inclusion and suggested numerous strategies communities can use to address these issues.

As represented in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision, our nation’s values and laws have moved to a point where states should be developing community supports and services with people, not for them. Yet many professionals were trained and agency protocols were set in motion in an earlier time period, when the current view was far from predominant. This research looks at how a sample of agencies within the State of Connecticut promotes self-determination.

On May 25, 2004 representatives from seven Connecticut towns gathered at the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in Farmington to share ideas and experiences related to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the life of their communities. In attendance were representatives from the Model Communities of Bridgeport, Groton and New Haven, as well as four other community representatives from municipalities not selected for funding.

In October 2003, the Connecticut Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the Real Choice Steering Committee, which includes Consumers, State agencies and the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service, received a three-year grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to implement CHOICE (Connecticut Has Opportunities for Independence, Choice and Empowerment).

The National Quality Forum (NQF), a not-for-profit organization funded by the three main trade associations for LTC providers, has created the National Commission on Quality Long-term Care. According to the founders –American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging, American Health Care Association, and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care – the new group is described as an independent body that will make recommendations concerning improving the quality of long-term care in America.