Bridges to Employment Webinar Series

A free monthly webinar series from the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition designed to assist people with disabilities to obtain and keep gainful employment

Hosted by The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition and Brenda Mosby, owner of Mosby Business Services.

This month, CCDC launches the first of a five-part series designed to help individuals with disabilities overcome the misperception that working and benefits don’t go hand in hand.

Each month we will explore a different, employment-related topic chosen to offer new skills and knowledge in the employment field. Webinars are about an hour-long, require separate registrations, and are completely FREE.

Coming Up Next:

• March 22nd, Part 3A: Work Incentives – Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability. Register Here
• April 26th, Part 3B: Work Incentives cont.– Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability. Register Here
• May 24th, Part 4: Personal Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence – Brenda Mosby shares her expertise in understanding and using emotions in positive ways to build relationships and succeed at work. Register Here
• June 21st, Part 5: Transportation and Employment – CCDC transportation advocate, Jaime Lewis, will share transit options for people with disabilities, ensuring you can get to and from your new job. Register Here

Previous Sessions Available by Recording

Click here to access the archived recordings and documents.

Part 1: Medicaid Buy-In for Working Adults with Disabilities (Buy-In) High-level overview with Brenda Mosby and CCDC Appeals & Eligibility Director, Donna Sablan. Click here to access the archived recordings and documents.

Part 2: Applying for Buy-In – A step-by-step application walkthrough with CCDC Appeals & Eligibility Director Donna Sablan

Contact Angela Nevin at anevin@ccdconline.org for questions or accommodation questions. (All accommodation requests must be received a minimum of three days before each event.)

Bridges To Employment Webinar Series: Videos and Supporting Documents

Information flyer for this Webinar Series:

Bridges to Employment Information Flyer (pdf)

Here is what is next in this series:

• April 26th, Part 3B: Work Incentives part 2
  • Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability.
  • Register Here
• May 24th, Part 4: Personal Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence
  • Brenda Mosby shares her expertise in understanding and using emotions in
    positive ways to build relationships and succeed at work.
  • Register Here
• June 21st, Part 5: Transportation and Employment
  • CCDC transportation advocate, Jaime Lewis, will share transit options for people with disabilities, ensuring you can get to and from your new job.
  • Register Here

Part 1: Medicaid Buy-In – Video and supporting documents

Part 1: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 1 Transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 1 Presentation (pdf)

Part 2: Applying for Medicaid Buy-In – Video and supporting documents

Part 2: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 2 Transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 2 Presentation (pdf)

Part 3: Bridges to Employment Webinar Series 3A: AWIC Area Work Incentives Coordinators – Video and supporting documents

Part 3A: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 3A Auto-generated transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 3A Presentation (pdf)

Healthcare and Prosperity in America

By Timothy Postlewaite

Healthcare is crucial to prosperity in America, as it assists in the facilitation, participation, and productivity in a multitude of aspects from the standpoint of those whom the rest of society would categorize as “underdogs,” individuals who require more assistance to find their version of “normalcy.”  Medicaid is a prime example of a program that attempts to assist with this, as it assists the impoverished and the disabled by allowing them to have the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. From an early age, I have experienced the pros and cons of Medicaid. The program allocated funds toward my first electric wheelchair, which allowed me to enter Kindergarten with the ability to participate with a diverse group of kids.  Moreover, not only did this experience begin the process of acclimating me to social expectations, but it also assisted me in terms of forming my identity, providing me with a steadfast foundation of freedom and independence, two characteristics that have remained with me to this day. Continue reading “Healthcare and Prosperity in America”

Colorado Behavioral Health Task Force

Overview

Colorado Behavioral Health Task Force – HCPF Website

The mission of the task force is to evaluate and set the roadmap to improve the current behavioral health system in the state. This includes developing Colorado’s “Behavioral Health Blueprint” by June 2020, with the anticipated implementation of recommendations starting in July 2020. Continue reading “Colorado Behavioral Health Task Force”

Issac’s New Chair by Jenna Crane

Five years ago, our son Isaac was diagnosed with SMA Type 1. He was four months old, and I remember talking to my family about the implications of the diagnosis. We went from coming to terms with the knowledge that Isaac would likely spend his life in a wheelchair to realizing that his prognosis was much worse than “he’ll never walk.” He would not sit. He would not eat. He would not swallow, speak, turn his head, move his hands. He would not breathe on his own. He would not likely live to see his first birthday. There was no cure. There was no treatment. All the while, he would be the sweetest, happiest, brightest little boy. We were devastated, and, even today, that word does not capture what we really felt. We prayed he would live long enough for his older sister to remember him. We prayed that when his time came, we would all be there with him.

But Isaac did live to his first birthday, and then to his second. He loved reading books and playing with switch activated toys, coloring with his sister and swimming with his daddy. He started vocalizing to communicate, and talking and playing with his eye gaze activated communication device. Fast forward to his third birthday, a few months after the FDA approval of the first treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). We knew it would not be a cure, but we hoped it would keep him from losing what strength he still had. Isaac received his first doses of the drug and promptly started turning and nodding his head. He gained strength in his extremities. He started working with his physical and occupational therapists to sit upright with support and to operate a joystick. As he outgrew his medical stroller, we started talking about a power chair. All of his physicians and therapists agreed that he could manage it, that it would benefit him, and his friends at school started getting excited to race him on the playground!

When he was three and a half years old, Isaac completed his first power chair trial at NuMotion. He was amazing! We knew the insurance process would be long. Since we had such good experiences with his Medicaid in the past, we were not overly concerned. We celebrated Isaac’s fourth birthday. NuMotion provided Medicaid with additional information. Medicaid was slow to respond. Finally, more than a year after his initial trial, Medicaid officially denied Isaac’s power chair. The only problem was that they never told us. We waited and waited for a reply from Medicaid, and finally we reached out to CCDC for help. CCDC Non-Attorney certified advocate and graduate student intern, Nicole Bishop, was assigned to our case, and from the very start, I knew we were in good hands. She was completing her internship and had additional support from what seemed like the entire CCDC staff. I remember that it was around Christmas time when we started the appeal process, and Nicole had some serious digging to do. She discovered that the chair had been denied, and then she filed for improper notice of denial. We celebrated Isaac’s fifth birthday, then we set a date for the court hearing. We began gathering evidence that Isaac could drive the chair, and that he would be able to drive it in all of the needed environments. NuMotion bent over backward to get Isaac a demo chair for us to take home for a weekend. We took so many videos of him driving!

When we had about a week left to gather documents and evidence and compile a witness list, Nicole called the court to verify the best format for submitting the videos. Late that Monday afternoon, she learned that, since we were sending videos, the court would really like all of the materials by Wednesday. Nicole and I allowed ourselves a moment of panic, but then we put our heads down and pushed on. I spent the night editing videos and sending pleading emails to Isaac’s medical team for them to rush their letters of support by the next day instead of the next week. Every single one of them responded with the letter, some of them arriving in my inbox after midnight. The next morning, as I sent Nicole yet another email (seriously, you should see the chains we had going), I noticed that her last email to me had been sent at 4:30 a.m. She had stayed up all night, literally, to prepare Isaac’s case. I was overcome with gratitude at the lengths people would go to in order to help Isaac. And we did it, we submitted everything in time! Then we waited.

Just as Nicole was starting to prepare all of the witnesses for the court hearing, we heard the best news. I opened my email, and there, in the subject line, “We won!” I opened the email, read it twice, and screamed! I ran to Isaac and told him that he was getting his power chair. He shrieked with joy, his sister shrieked with joy. My husband came in to ask what was going on, and he sighed with such relief. I cried when I heard that two other children had their chairs approved along with Isaac. We would not have to go to court because the evidence we had gathered was enough to convince Medicaid that Isaac could and should drive a power chair. Nicole, and her mentors at CCDC, were exactly who we needed to help Isaac get his chair, and for the first time in his life, a measure of independence.

This past week, we went to pick up Isaac’s power chair. It is his favorite color, bright orange. He is practicing every day so that he can safely drive it independently. We can’t wait to see where it takes him!

Don’t Punish Pain Rally

While the Opioid crisis is a serious problem, some of the policies have gone too far and have caused people with serious pain to lose access to needed medications and even to their physicians. There are legitimate uses for pain medication. A group of pain patients and their supporters will be holding a rally to implore legislators to be more thoughtful and to clarify the existing laws and regulations. Colorado Law actually was supposed to exempt chronic pain patients from rigid limits. There are ways to manage pain medication to mitigate abuse of such medications. Forcing everyone to taper off of these medications is not the answer.

Please plan to attend this rally on JANUARY 29TH 2019 at 10:30 am at the Capitol. A flyer is attached,