thespecialparent.comSpecial People Parenting Special Kids

I was pleased to receive notice about a speech an amazing woman, Julie Beckett, gave recently to a group in Madison, WI (I am so going to have to get up there someday with the excuse of visiting my brother)

Julie is mother to Katie, who contracted viral encephalitis when she was 6 months old. The virus caused severe damage to her body, including her ability to breathe. She was placed on a ventilator and spent three years at a pediatric intensive care unit. Created in 1982, the home and community-based waiver program often called the Katie Beckett Waiver program, allows children who would otherwise be hospitalized or institutionalized to get treated at home and continue to maintain Medicaid eligibility. Katie was the first recipient of this waiver. Her mother, Julie Beckett, worked with Congress to obtain this waiver.

In her keynote, Julie shared the timeline for the national healthcare reform legislation:

May 20: bill will be introduced
Aug 22: they hope to pass it
Jan 2010: they hope to have it in place

Julie shared that they are moving very quickly to get this reform in place and that the current draft of the bill does NOT include provisions for individuals with disabilities; it basically treats everyone the same whether they have special needs or not.
She emphasized that her decades of advocacy work have taught her that even worse than being uninsured is being *under-insured*–and that we need to make sure that people with special health care needs are included in this bill.

Katie and Julie Beckett asked us to participate in the phone-calling efforts to change the bill to include provisions for individuals with special health care needs.  We can’t leave individuals with special health care needs behind as we “move forward.”
Tomorrow, May 13^th is the national call-in day for this issue
.   Please see the instructions below from the ARC & UCP on how to help tomorrow.

It’s easy to do and so important.  Please share this and thank you very much for your help!

The Arc and UCP Needed to Make Calls to Senators on May 13^th

Fixing the health care system is a top priority this year for Congress and the Obama Administration.   While there is commitment by some to include long-term supports and services in health care reform, there is no guarantee that this will happen without strong public support.

The Arc and UCP are working with several national disability and aging organizations in sponsoring national phone-in days to show public backing for including long-term supports and services in health care reform. We must establish this public support with Congress. We want this joint effort to generate at least 10,000 phone calls to the Senate on May 13^th.

Toll Free Number: 866-459-9232

What to say:

• Hello, my name is ____ and I live in ____.
• I believe that health care reform must include long term services and supports.
• I urge Senator ____ to support including long term services and support in health care reform.
• This issue is so important to me because ___________________
• Thank you.

The Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities is providing this toll-free number for constituents of member organizations to call their Senators.  We need to demonstrate a strong response from The Arc and UCP, your members, and your constituencies.

» Spread the word «

Dial the toll-free number between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM Eastern and ask to be connected with your Senators. If the line is busy, try back later. Once you have completed the call, be sure to give feedback.

Background:
Why Include Long-Term Supports and Services
in Health Care Reform
While 48 million people lack insurance/coverage for their health care, 250 million people lack insurance/coverage for long-term services and supports. Ten million Americans daily need long-term services and supports with 40 percent of them under the age of 65. Nearly half of all funding for long-term services is provided through Medicaid that requires individuals to impoverish themselves to receive supports.

Virtually every American will face the need of a family member needing long-term services and supports. And yet, the nation lacks a comprehensive national system for financing and delivering long-term services and supports to individuals with disabilities of all ages.

While there is commitment by some Senators to include long-term supports and services in health care reform, there is no guarantee this will happen.

The Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees are are scheduled to finalize their legislative proposals for health care reform within the next two to three weeks. The bills are expected to be merged on the Senate floor in June. The three House committees are also developing their own legislation, but are not as far along as the Senate.

We must call on the Senate to provide real health security by including long-term services and supports in health care reform legislation!

Thanks to Johanna Mattern Allen, the ARC and UCP for this information

© 2009 The Disability Policy Collaboration

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This article was submitted to me and unfortunately I have been sidetracked. That seems to happen alot these days. Life has a way of doing that to so many of us.  While this article talks specifically about Down Syndrome research, there is room to be concerned about funding for many issues regarding special needs children. Hopefully this will get all of us thinking about reaching out and speaking out about prioritizing spending in Washington so those who cannot speak for themselves.

I recently went to a talk by Dr. William Mobley, a Stanford Down syndrome researcher, and became aware of the recent breakthroughs in Down syndrome research that could lead to treatments to improve cognition, memory, speech and learning and reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. I was very excited about the research, but was saddened to learn about the reduction in funds that the federal government is putting towards this research. In 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded $23 million in Down syndrome research, whereas by 2008, NIH funding had decreased to $17 million, a decrease of more than 25%. The $17 million in NIH funding for Down syndrome research in 2008 translated to approximately $42 per person with Down syndrome. Other conditions receive significantly more. See www.dsrtf.org — The Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation (DSRTF) — for more information about Down syndrome research and to sign up (lower right-hand corner) to receive newsletters and keep up with new research developments and breakthroughs.

Having been amazed at how close Dr. Mobley is to turning his research into a potential treatment for our loved ones (he’s found 2 drugs that work in mouse models of Down syndrome – one that improves cognition and one that reduces the effects of Alzheimer’s), I wanted to do all I could to move his and others’ research forward. Dr. Mobley said we could do 2 things to help. One is to donate to DSRTF (www.dsrtf.org), which is where he gets much of his funding, with more than $3 million in DSRTF research funding given to Stanford since 2004. The other is to write to our Congress people to ask them to join the Down Syndrome Caucus and to fund Down syndrome research at a higher level. Since then, I’ve done both. Here’s a generic form of the letter I wrote to my Congress people that my friends sent to their Congress people. Please feel free to use any or all of this letter to write to your Congress people and add a personal touch by talking about your loved one with Down syndrome. Go to votesmart.org and type in your zip code to find them. If you click on their name, you can find a link to their web mail address, click on it, and then cut and paste your letter into the form. You can also write directly to President Obama by going to the following website: www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

If we all work together, we can be part of the breakthrough.

<date>

Your name

Your address line 1

Your address line 2

Senator Dianne Feinstein

331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Feinstein,

As the <parents/aunt/uncle/friend> of a child with Down syndrome, we respectfully ask that the government fund Down syndrome research at a higher level. Due to recent breakthroughs in genetics and Down syndrome research at facilities such as Stanford University, a treatment appears imminent. If individuals with Down syndrome can live more independent lives, the government could save much of the 6 billion dollars spent annually for people with Down syndrome, and these people could become tax-paying citizens. The long-term benefit to our society is huge. The initial, up-front cost of the research could, in the end, save taxpayer dollars.

My name is <name> and I am the <mother/father/aunt/uncle/friend> of < person’s name>, < info about the person – for ex., a sweet, playful, happy 2-year-old boy with Down syndrome.> <mention specifics about the person – for ex., His older brother and sister are so proud of him whenever he accomplishes something that comes naturally to others. They cheered him when he signed his first word, learned to crawl and took his first steps. We are all better people for having him in our lives.>

However, <my husband and I> worry about what his future will be like. Will he be able to live independently, or, will he need to live on government aid all of his life? We’re learning about new research developments in the field of Down syndrome and are very hopeful that a treatment will become available to our son within his lifetime. <My husband and I> thank you for the opportunity that early education programs and mainstreaming has given and will continue to give to our son. If the new research developments can be turned into drug treatments, and his cognition improves by a mere 10-20% beyond what it would have been, he could support himself financially when he grows up and he won’t need to live on government assistance as an adult.

People with Down syndrome are living longer lives, many into their 60s and 70s, but nearly all will develop Alzheimer like symptoms by the time they are in their 40s. A link has been made between a gene associated with Down syndrome cognitive issues and the cognitive issues associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The research being developed for Down syndrome has the potential to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s, not only in people with Down syndrome, but in the general population as well.

According to Stanford Down syndrome researcher, Dr. William Mobley, “brain function can be modified, in both children and adults, and we are learning how such changes occur. Therefore, today, we can boldly predict that Down syndrome is not too complex to understand, it is not too difficult to treat, and it is not too late to treat.” Dr. Mobley is testing a couple of new drugs on mice. These drugs sound very promising, but he needs funds so he can turn his research into treatments for people with Down syndrome and other cognitive disabilities as well as people with Alzheimer’s.

I think Dr. Mobley said it best when he said, “During times of tight budgets, it may be tempting to de-emphasize research. And yet, research – particularly medical research – is the best investment we can make in health care for our country. If we are concerned about cutting future health care costs, we must look for ways to prevent those costs from occurring.”

Please help by joining the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus and funding the research.

Sincerely,

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