THE VISITORS ~ WINTER 2015

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THE VISITORS Newsletter of the Association of New York State Boards of Visitors

Winter 2015

Albany, NY — PRESIDENTIAL REPORT AND PERSPECTIVE: This year’s (2014) Annual meeting of the As-sociation is history and while the turnout was small com-pared to years past, the pro-gram had substance and the presenters were very informa-tive. I am appreciative of the administrative staff from OMH and OPWDD for their help and support with the program and their attendance at the meeting. Next year the Association will be celebrating its 50th anniversary and we are able to schedule the meeting in October, as in the past. This year was an election year and I want to express my thanks to the membership for confirm-ing the slate of officers and allowing me to serve another 2 year term. The new officers and I plan to follow up on some of the new ideas and sugges-

tions that came out at the Business and Reorgani-zational meetings. These include: designating au-ditors to review the annual Treasurers report, es-tablishing a Finance Committee and an annual budget ,refining our organization and planning for future annual meetings and, reviewing and updat-ing certain sections of the bylaws. The Executive Committee and I will also have to find effective ways to advocate for the appoint-ment of new board members, as well as develop-ing ways to encourage existing board members to join and participate in the Association .With our website and newsletter, we have the potential to do additional outreach. The upcoming year will be busy and full of challenges, as well as one of change and transition, but hopefully one which will strengthen our organ-ization. Ron Lehrer, President ANYSBOV

The President’s Perspective ~ Ronald S. Lehrer, President Association of New York State Boards of Visitors

all, for whom you are advocating. As Visitors, you make your facility’s director aware of any adverse situations you may find in your region’s institution or community settings which require change. You advocate and educate your New York State Legislators on behalf of the special needs individuals in your region about newly developed treatments or programs to posi-tively improve the lives of those persons in the community. This Association has greatly contrib-uted in bringing about positive changes in care, treatment and programs for people who are devel-opmentally disabled and/or mentally ill. It has also helped greatly towards improvement of com-munity attitudes for persons with special needs. Again, thank you all. I appreciate your recog-nition very much.

Carole Lehrer

A Thank You Letter Thank you all of for acknowledging my years of volunteering as editor for the Association’s Newsletter, The Visitor’s, with a plaque and gift presented during Friday night’s dinner at the An-nual Meeting in Albany. It has been an interesting ten years! I am glad that the Newsletter will con-tinue with Pat Rourk as the new Editor. Please help him out by submitting your articles as soon as possible after each Association meeting. The Association of New York State Boards of Visitors has evolved over the past several decades but its purpose remains the same: Communica-tion. Communication with your facility’s or re-gional director, communication between boards in different regions of the state, and communication with the Commissioners in Albany. As the Asso-ciation continues to evolve, always remember your role as a Board of Visitors Member, and most of

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President: Ronald Lehrer 35 Mary Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 ronaldlehrer@aol.com (845) 471-9674 Vice President OMH: Patrick R. Rourk And Editor: The Visitors 3 Morton St. Norwood NY 13668-1100 prourk@twcny.rr.com (315) 353-8892 Vice President OPW: Anco de Riemer-Gallay 9227 Sly Hill Road Ava, NY 13303 amgallay@gmail.com (315) 337-5972 Recording Secretary: Patricia Wright 16 Lawrence Street Waterford, NY 12188 Pwright1@nycap.rr.com (518) 265-0707 Corresponding Secretary: Fred Romero Gateway Counseling Center 4500 Furman Ave Bronx, NY 10470 chavico20@gmail.com (212) 518-8383 Treasurer: Katherine E. Less 9 Maybrook Drive Scotia NY 12302-5011 kat45@nycap.rr.com (518) 399-8137

Delegates at Large

Joyce Gioia Ann Scherff Joseph Harder Mary Fasano

NYS AGENCY CONTACTS

OMH: MaryHelen R. Lounello (518) 474-6840 Maryhelen.Lounello@omh.ny.gov

OPWDD: Neil A. Mitchell (518) 473-1997 Neil.A.Mitchell@opwdd.ny.gov

JUSTICE CENTER: Kim Wadsworth (518) 549-0345

Kimberly.wadsworth@justicecenter.ny.gov

Association of Boards of Visitors of New York State ~ Newsletter

Copyright © 2015

Telephone: (315) 353-8892 ( 6:00 – 9:00 P.M. ET/EDST-- ONLY ) email: prourk@twcny.rr.com

The Association of Boards of Visitors of New York State is a non-profit organization made up of men and women, whose mission is to provide oversight and advocacy for people with mental and develop-mental disabilities who receive services from the state of New York. The Association seeks to enhance the skills and abilities of board members in carrying out their statutory responsibilities through edu-cation, effective networking, collective advocacy and communication. All Boards Of Visitors members of NYS are entitled to receive the quarterly publication The Visitors Newsletter.

Subscription requests normally accompany an application to join the ABOVONYS, to Katherine T. Less at email: kat45@nycap.rr.com or 9 Maybrook Drive, Scotia NY 12302-5011; single copy or Member-ship renewal requests should also be made to Ms. Less. All annual memberships expire on the 1st of January, each year.

Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the Editor. However, the publisher of the ABOVONYS Newsletter encourages you to contact us if you wish to utilize materials contained herein for other non-profit organization publications. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily represent those of either the Pub-lisher or Editor.

Correspondence concerning editorial matter, including the submission of manuscripts or queries should be sent to Mr. Patrick R. Rourk, email: prourk@twcny.rr.com, or 3 Morton St., Norwood, NY 13668-1100.

The Visitor Newsletter is published quarterly by the Association of Boards of Visitors of New York State (POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: ABOVONYS Newsletter, Ms. Katherine T. Less, 9 Maybrook Drive, Scotia NY 12302-5011

ANYSBOV OFFICERS FOR 2015 ~ 2016

COMMITTEES

Committee Chairperson

Bylaws Ron Lehrer

Government Relations Mary Fasano

Program/Site Selection Sylvia Lask

Geriatric/Mentally Frail Pat Wright

Communications Fred Romero and Ron Lehrer

Forensics Joe Harder

Fiscal (Ad Hoc) Kathy Less

COD TBA

Awards TBA

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The 2014 Annual Meeting is history and I was elected the Vice President for the Office of Mental Health continent group of our Association. I would like to thank the membership for their trust in my stewardship.

Elsewhere in The Visitors, there is a box with all the meetings scheduled for the next two years. I would hope that every single OMH facility, all 19 of them, would make the investment of time to attend the quarterly meetings and share advocacy ideas with each other. There are also always meet-ings with the Commissioner’s or their representa-tives where we get the more up to date information available and we can ask questions and get an-swers. I’ve also heard from a number of Associa-tion members that they are looking for more infor-mation in regards to the recently formed Justice Center. Lack of representation at these meetings is simply tantamount to living like a mushroom – exist and survive in the dark.

For the annual meeting, we had some great shared workshops as well as a few that were solely

for the OMH BOV membership. Because of the low numbers in attendance and the lack of ability to travel during the year, we did not break out into individual regional meetings. There was a great presentation by Gary O’Brien on the “10 Signs to Look For Suicide Prevention”. He was assisted by __________________________ and “Recovery 101” was presented by Tony Trehan and Mary-helen Lounello, both from the OMH staff. Several joint sessions were presented: Gary Weiskopf, Acting Associate Commissioner, OMH for Managed Care and Kate Marley, Deputy Di-rector OPWDD Waiver Management provided a succinct presentation on Managed Care; Kim Wadsworth, BOV Liaison and Jennifer Hoerup, Director of Training for the Justice Center provid-ed an update on the Center’s progress since for-mation on July 1, 2014. They took questions but, had few answers at the moment.; Michael Feny of Rochester, provided the Friday lunchtime program as a very interesting motivational and drumming workshop; and our Saturday Luncheon speaker was The Honorable John McDonald, Assembly-man 108th District; Friday night was a very nice dinner where we recognized our two awardees – Carol Lehrer, for her efforts of 10 years as The Visitors editor and Elvio Almonte a volunteer who created our Association website; and finally, we have a very nice installation dinner on Saturday night with all the officers being installed. Lastly, we had a super update meeting with Senior Associate Commissioner Jayne Van Bramer assisted by Maryhelen Lounello from OMH. Jayne provided an extremely informative presentation on the status of the major changes occurring within all the OMH facilities and new models being implemented. Some time was also spent in discussing the new Mobile integration Team concept and how well it is rolling out. We finished Sunday morning with a breakfast , closing remarks and a reorganizational meeting. All-in-all, we had a very good session and I look forward to seeing all of you at our next meet-ing April 17 - .19, 2015.

Vice President For OMH ~ Patrick R. Rourk, VP - OMH (2015-2016) Association of New York State Boards of Visitors

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MEETING WITH THE OPWDD COMMISSIONER

Ronald Lehrer, Taconic DDSO

At the annual meeting in November, we met with Katherine Verano, Assistant Commissioner for State Operations . She was representing Acting OPWDD Commissioner Kerry Delaney. Mrs. Verano talked about the Front Door and how OPWDD has gotten input from parents to help them redefine the process. There are seven basic steps and the manual used is being redesigned. The preliminary Individual Service Plan will now be done by Central Office staff. With the coming of managed care, the role of the Front Door in that system has not been worked out. Requirements are coming out for community integration and OPWDD is exploring the best way to meet them. The Employment First initiative is proceeding and OPWDD is looking into ways to help individ-uals develop employment skills to prepare them for work in the community. Commissioner Verano discussed the closure of Brooklyn Developmental Center and some con-cerns were expressed by board members as to the placement of the more difficult residents. The need for a Medical Director at Long Island DDSO was raised and it isn't clear if the difficulty in find-ing a qualified individual is an issue of recruitment or a salary problem. Overall, the meeting with Commissioner Vera-no was informative and the informal format en-couraged member participation. We also had breakout sessions on the OPWDD side with Jill Pettinger, Assistant Deputy Commis-sioner, Statewide Services Behavioral Intervention and the Role of Human Rights Committee and with Leslie Fudd, Director, Incident Management Unit on the Role of the Board of Visitors on the Incident Review Committee

Vice President for OPWDD ~ Anca Galley, VP - OPWDD (2015-2016) Association of New York State Boards of Visitors

Alphonse M Agovino Sr April 14 1921 to January 29 2015

Excerpts from the NY State Legislative Record, April 16, 2002, of com-ments by Representative Eliot L. Engle, edited To today.

Al Agovino is a man who knows how to give of himself. He started, official-ly, in the Pacific Theater with Motor Torpedo Squadron 36 and was awarded five Battle Stars.

Back home in the Bronx he has also been generous with his time and ability. At St. Bene-dict's Church he has been President of the Holy Name Society and Coordinator of the Church Ush-ers and of the Blood Bank. He has been Grand Knight of St. Luke's Council of the Knights of Co-lumbus. He has served on the New York State Au-tism Advisory Council. He also served on the Bronx Consumer Council.

He also served on the Bronx Developmental Disabilities Service Office Parent Association, on the Human Resources Administration Advisory Council, and on the New York State Commission on Quality Care for the Mentally Disabled Adviso-ry Council.

If that wasn't enough he has been a vital ad-vocate for parents and for all people with develop-mental disabilities and their families. He has served on the Board of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children.

He retired from the Board of Visitors Associ-ation after 25 years of constant and devoted ser-vice. While on the Board, to which he was named by the Governor and confirmed by the State Sen-ate, he also served on many committees including the Government Relations and the Geriatric, and was also President of the New York State Associa-tion of Boards of Visitors in 1995 and 1996. Al and his wonderful wife Vera (who passed away in 2004) were married for 57 years. They had six children who in turn gave them six beauti-ful grandchildren.

IN MEMORIUM

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Our newly installed officers

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Government Relations Report~ Mary Fasano Committee Chair

As we look forward to a new legislative ses-sion, we welcome a new chair to the Senate Men-tal Hygiene Committee. Senator Robert G. Ortt is replacing Senator David Carlucci as chairperson. Senator Carlucci will remain a member of the Mental Hygiene Committee but will move on to the position of Chair of the Social Services Com-mittee. This new year brings with it a new budget from Governor Cuomo. According to early analy-sis, the budget has some very positive aspects for both the Department of Mental Health and the Of-fice for People with Developmental Disabilities. In a budget briefing, Acting OPWDD Commissioner Delaney called the budget “very positive” for hu-man services. For the first time in a long time, monies are being designated for residential development. This development is for both OMH and OPWDD ser-vice recipients. While we know that the demand for housing is overwhelming, we are encouraged that there is some movement in addressing this need. The Governor’s budget also implements the commitment that was agreed to last year with the Legislature regarding a COLA. The current 2% COLA for Direct Service Providers as of April 1, will be expanded to include additional clinical staff. This COLA is across the board in mental health, developmental disabilities and OASAS programs. In this year’s budget, the Governor has an-nounced the proposed closing of an additional 136 psychiatric facility beds which translates into $15 million dollars for community reinvestment. This is on top of the $44 annualized from bed closures from last year. Though all $15 million will not be realized this year, it is important to continue this funding. There is a proposed increase in the budget of $22 million for mental health services in correc-tional facilities. This funding would include in-creased clinical staff in correctional facilities, ACT

services, and housing as well as increased funding for discharge planning, treatment and capacity is-sues. The OPWDD and OMH budget allotments in-clude money to support the transition to managed care. The orderly, seamless transition is paramount for all the people we serve. The OPWDD budget calls for an increase in service opportunities such as Day Hab, develop-ment of certified and non-certified residential op-portunities, funding for people aging out of resi-dential school programs, funding for self directed services, and for respite. The budget also supports the transition of 250 people from state operated facilities to community settings, an increase in supported employment, bolstering the Pathways to Employment program, and funding At Home Res-pite Waiver slots. One worrisome aspect of the budget is the fear that the Prescriber Prevails language is to be taken out of the budget for the Medicaid population. Last year, the New York State Legislature passed four bills favorable to people served by OPWDD. These bills were strongly supported by advocates across the state. Unfortunately, Gover-nor Cuomo vetoed all four bills. We must continue to seek the support of both the legislature and the Governor to enhance the lives of the people we care for and serve.

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ANNUAL MEETING 2014 ~ OUR MEMBERS

OUR HONOREES!

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Editors Note: In efforts to assist BOV members in looking for and observing things during site visits, we are publishing a list of items that mem-bers have described in their various site reports. No facility will be identified nor the BOV mem-ber. Input from Association members is encour-aged to continue this listing. Hopefully some good items next report! Staff at residence need to check drapes and

curtains to ensure all are flame retardant or been rendered same.

Furniture and carpeting was worn and soiled to the point they can no longer be cleaned.

In her office, you could actually see through the window sill to the outside.

The parking lot is almost completely dark as one of the two door lights is burned out and the two large lights on either end of the front of the building are gone.

On the children’s side of the facility, there is no more room in the record cabinet to add ad-ditional files

The Doctor and the Dietician are using the same space in the group meeting room for of-

Site Visit Spotlight An Occasional list to share

The Good, the Bad and the Really Ugly

2014 ANNUAL MEETING ~ OUR VENDORS!

SCHEDULED MEETINGS

2015* (All Venues - Albany Marriott)

Quarterly - April 17th -19th Quarterly - June 5th - 7th Quarterly - July 31st – August 2nd

Annual Meeting* - October 22nd - 25th

* 2015 is the 50th Anniversary of the Association. We hope you will join us to celebrate. Please save the date and plan on joining us at the annual meeting

2015 (All Venues - Albany Marriott)

Quarterly - April 8th -10th Quarterly - June 3rd – 5th Quarterly - August 5th - 7th

Annual Meeting TO BE ANNOUNCED!