Category: Olmstead

The Denver Gazette & a Broader Critique of Underlying Related Debates & Policy

10/31/2022

To me the admonition "Don't Judge" is not just a feel good spiritual directive.

It's PRACTICAL.

MORAL JUDGMENTS are what people have used to PROTECT THEMSELVES:

Physically, and
Also against WASTEFUL USE of RESOURCES

We do need to protect ourselves and the community:

physically, and
from wasteful use of resources.

It's pretty hard to ignore that we're not getting the RESULTS or OUTCOMES we want in Mental Health.

We've developed some EXPERTISE at managing CRISES
The LONG TERM PICTURE is more complicated
And there are MORE CRISES.

With respect to HOMELESSNESS, it does involve a lot of people with SUBSTANCE USE PROBLEMS but UNDERLYING that tends to be:

Brain Injury --- that people with Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders are more likely to experience
Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders
Psychiatric Disorders that are related to Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders, and
Trauma --- that unfortunately people with Neuro-Developmental Differences/Disorders are more likely to experience and to experience more keenly.

To me, it's MENTAL HEALTH (not the abortion debate) and COGNITIVE DISABILITY MORE BROADLY where PRO LIFE is most obviously challenged and is failing.

On the other hand, some of the states that have strict abortion laws and that outlawing abortion maybe more of a PRACTICAL REALITY ----

are starting to WAKE UP that they need to support people in much better ways than they have.

[I do consider myself PRO-LIFE but I'm not for banning abortion and the decision to have an abortion I think is often arising "ORGANICALLY" from:

rape,
incest
a society that is struggling with sexuality on many fronts.
a society that is sometimes struggling to provide a living wage to it's "ESSENTIAL WORKERS"]

To me "Don't Judge" is practical. "Judging" solves the immediate problem --- but as Ma Joad said in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"---

"We're the people --- and we keep on comin' ".

I remember hearing death penalty attorneys I greatly looked up to saying:

"Okay, the Death Penalty doesn't deter crime --- it'll deter this person."

BUT those people keep comin'.

To address DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES is SCARY for a WORLD that went through WORLD WAR II and beyond that has gone through many GENOCIDES.

Pope Francis

Last Scene of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) based on the 1939 pulitizer prize winning book by John Steinbeck

Image Credit: safetymattersinc.org

the Denver Gazette: More funding, more homeless — go figure

The Denver Gazette is not all wrong --- BUT the Gazette is NOT all right either

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

New JAMA study finds administrative complexity as the single-largest source of wasteful spending

Psychiatric Disorders are more and more seen as related to Neuro-Developmental Disorders.

Both Psychiatric Disorders and Neuro-Developmental Disorders are often related to SHARED GENES and MATERNAL IMMUNE ACTIVATION.

OLMSTEAD CONNECTION: Not having sufficient TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & MEDICINE is leading to the Unnecessary Institutionalization and Risk of Institutionalization inherent in Homelessness of people with Neuro-Developmental Disabilities.

Further, we do need more research.
BUT a lot of this is integrating what we've already got.

Alice Merton
No Roots

"A THOUSAND TIMES --- I've seen this road --- A THOUSAND TIMES."

C-STAT, CMS' 2015 GUIDANCE ON HOUSING RELATED ACTIVITIES & ------OLMSTEAD DATA COLLECTION

5/10/2021

Data Collection is a BIG PART of Successful Olmstead Planning
Perhaps most importantly DATA COLLECTION is CRITICAL to making the case for FUNDING to:
- State Legislatures
- Philanthropic Organizations and Efforts, and
- the FEDS

CMS' 2015 Housing Related Guidance
When CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) came out with this "Informational Bulletin" on "Housing Related Activities" ----- It was a disappointment to many advocates.

There had been a great hope that Medicaid would fund "HOUSING AS HEALTHCARE."
BUT there are IMPORTANT NUGGETS to drive REFORM in this document ---
- FUNDING OF OLMSTEAD ACTIVITIES

We need to confront the FINANCING OF DISABILITY HOUSING in this Country.

Additional Data beyond HUD's yearly POINT-IN-TIME COUNT could help us do that.

One IDEA is to FAVORABLY ADJUST the State's Medicaid Financial Percentage in return for commitments to provide SUPPORTIVE HOUSING (not just the services, but the HOUSING too).

State Waivers List

CMS' 2015 Housing Related Guidance

3. State-level Housing Related Collaborative Activities

Several strategic, collaborative activities to assist in identifying and securing housing resources are:

Developing formal and informal agreements and working relationships with state and local housing and community development agencies to facilitate access to existing and new housing resources.

Participating and contributing to the planning processes of state and local housing and community development agencies, for example, by providing demographic, housing need, and other relevant data for the populations served by the LTSS agencies, among other planning activities.

Working with housing partners to create and identify opportunities for additional housing options for people wishing to transition to community-based housing.

This may include coordinating available housing locator systems and developing and/or coordinating data tracking systems to include housing.

The Denver Gazette & a Broader Critique of Underlying Related Debates & Policy

C-STAT, CMS' 2015 GUIDANCE ON HOUSING RELATED ACTIVITIES & ------OLMSTEAD DATA COLLECTION

VAL'S BLOG 2

Val Corzine

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The Denver Gazette & a Broader Critique of Underlying Related Debates & Policy

C-STAT, CMS' 2015 GUIDANCE ON HOUSING RELATED ACTIVITIES & --​----OLMSTEAD DATA COLLECTION

VAL'S BLOG 2​Val Corzine

Archives

Categories

C-STAT, CMS' 2015 GUIDANCE ON HOUSING RELATED ACTIVITIES & ------OLMSTEAD DATA COLLECTION

VAL'S BLOG 2

Val Corzine