NW Independent Living Matters Newsletter of Independent Living Resources Summer 2010 * Volume 18, Number 2 ILR Celebrates A Vision for the Next Generation! By Barry Fox-Quamme, ILR Executive Director Over the past 50 years, ILR and its predecessors have been anchors for persons with disabilities in Oregon. For over 60 years the Portland Engineering Firm Moffatt, Nichol and Bonney operated from a modest building on NE Couch St. Engineers Robert M. Bonney, Robert A. Bonney, and Erik and Rob Wahrgren, along with Gege Rayburn and Jackie MacMillan, on the business and marketing side formed a family business that spanned three generations and helped shape modern Portland. The Bonney’s were involved in the design of many Portland landmarks such as the Morrison Bridge and the Memorial Coliseum. In 2010, after more than 50 years of independent operations, ILR and the Bonneys have joined together to transform a building that housed innovative minds who shaped Portland’s skyline into an updated building to serve people with disabilities in Oregon for the 21st Century. ILR launched a grand vision for its future this Summer with the dedication of new office space at 1839 NE Couch Street here in Portland! Funded in part by generous donations from the Bonney families, ILR honored the partnership and hard work of all associated with the project. A building dedication was held July 22nd and ILR's Consumer Picnic rocked the neighborhood on August 11th! Thanks to all who have made our new home a reality! In This Issue Cathy’s Corner…………………….2-3 Program Updates........................8 Thoughts from the Associate Director.4 Farewell & Salute to SMS.……9 Lift Tips..………...…….…………….5 Our Fantastic Move……………10 Rent Well Class………………………6 Spring Recreation Events..…….11 Tech Corner………………………….7 With summer finally in full swing, the heat has come with it! People with certain medical conditions and the elderly are more susceptible to extreme heat. In addition, some medications make you more sensitive to heat and sun, so be sure you use plenty of sunscreen when you go out and limit your time in the sun. Finally, here are some suggestions to help you stay safe and cool this season. Limit activity to morning and evening hours, rest often in a shady, cool area and drink plenty of fluids unless your doctor has you on a fluid restricted diet, then consult your doctor about what and when you should drink. Don't drink liquids that contain alcohol or large amounts of sugar, as these cause you to lose more fluid. Wear light weight loose fitting clothing, sunscreen and place cool towels on your head if necessary. Two large risks during the summer can be heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The Center on Disease Control Extreme defines heat exhaustion as “…a milder form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement of fluids...Those most prone to heat exhaustion are elderly people, people with high blood pressure, and people working or exercising in a hot environment.” Recognizing Heat Exhaustion Warning signs of heat exhaustion include the following: * Heavy sweating * Paleness * Muscle cramps * Tiredness * Weakness * Dizziness * Headache * Nausea or vomiting * Fainting The skin may be cool and moist. The victim's pulse rate will be fast and weak, and breathing will be fast and shallow. If heat exhaustion is untreated, it may progress to heat stroke. Seek medical attention immediately if any of the following occurs: * Symptoms are severe * The victim has heart problems or high blood pressure Seek medical attention if symptoms worsen or last longer than 1 hour. Otherwise, help the person cool down. Cooling measures that may be effective include the following: * Cool, nonalcoholic beverages * Rest * Cool shower, bath, or sponge bath * An air-conditioned environment * Lightweight clothing Heat Stroke Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body's temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails and the body is unable to cool down. Body temperature may rise to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided. Recognizing Heat Stroke Warning signs of heat stroke vary but may include the following: * An extremely high body temperature (above 103°F, orally) * Red, hot, and dry skin (no sweating) * Rapid, strong pulse * Throbbing headache * Dizziness * Nausea * Confusion * Unconsciousness What to Do If you see any of these signs, you may be dealing with a life-threatening emergency. Have someone call for immediate medical assistance while you begin cooling the victim. Do the following: * Get medical assistance as soon as possible. * Get the victim to a shady area. * Cool the victim rapidly using whatever methods you can. For example, immerse the victim in a tub of cool water; place the person in a cool shower; spray the victim with cool water from a garden hose; sponge the person with cool water; or if the humidity is low, wrap the victim in a cool, wet sheet and fan him or her vigorously. * Monitor body temperature and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops to 101-102°F. * If emergency medical personnel are delayed, call the hospital emergency room for further instructions. * Do not give the victim fluids to drink. Sometimes a victim's muscles will begin to twitch uncontrollably as a result of heat stroke. If this happens, keep the victim from injuring himself but do not place any object in the mouth and do not give fluids. If there is vomiting, make sure the airway remains open by turning the victim on his or her side. You can get more tips and information on extreme heat and safety at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heat_guide.asp For more information about services for seniors and people with disabilities including a list of air condition locations, transportation services and crisis intervention in Multnomah County please call Multnomah County Aging and Disability Services Helpline at 503-988-3646 or TTY 503-9883683 or the city of Portland information and referral line 503-823-4000 or call 211.  For a list of cooling centers, please check out this story online at http://www.katu.com/news/local/51704582.html. Hello, my name is May Altman and I’m the new Associate Director at Independent Living Resources. I am pleased and proud to be part of the ILR family. Prior to coming here, I worked in human services for many years. I am impressed by ILR’s talented and dedicated staff, volunteers and consumers who all work hard to achieve their goals and the goals of the agency. It truly exemplifies the spirit of helping one another build on their strengths, create opportunities and build skills to succeed. It has been an exciting time for ILR. We moved into a beautiful, newly remodeled building. There is so much more space and this building will allow us to keep and expand the services we offer. We have new room for groups and training opportunities, and all staff have offices in which to meet the consumers and volunteers which we love as this helps improve services for everyone. We celebrated the new building with an open house on June 22nd. Many current and former consumers and volunteers attended, along with staff and community partners. We thanked those who helped us accomplish this move, especially the Bonney family who donated money for the remodeling. Our Board president Steve Weiss and Bob Bonney cut the ribbon, officially opening our doors for service. As we opened our doors however, other doors were in risk of closure. I am referring to the recent legislative crisis. The governor announced in June a severe across the board budget cut that severely impacted the human service budget. Many of our consumers were at risk of losing vital services that would impact their ability to remain independent. Thanks to the efforts of individuals and advocacy groups the emergency legislative committee met and restored $17.1 million in funding. That means Medicaid programs providing at-home services to more than 11,000 seniors, people with physical disabilities or mental illness will not be cut at this time. Under the plan, Oregon Project Independence will also be saved, at least through February. The program provides some 2,000 seniors with housekeeping, shopping and other help to keep them living independently. Some supports for children with disabilities will also be saved. It is important to realize that the legislature heard the concern of the people. Your voice is important. Even though we might feel overwhelmed and powerless in the face of massive cuts it is important to not give up. I have heard legislators say that a most important factor in making decisions is hearing first hand how something will affect their constituents. They value hearing your stories. We can make a difference. Consumers who are interested can attend our Advocacy meetings. We meet at ILR the first Monday of the Month from 1-3. To find out who your legislator is:www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr On Friday, June 11 at 4 pm at Director Park, (named after the Director family, not because there are Director chairs in it) I joined a lively group of people rallying for the sustenance and improvement of TriMet. The rally was put on by the Amalgamated Transit Union 757 and the Transit Workers Union, groups that are directly involved with our Fixed Route and many of our LIFT drivers. The public was invited and many passionate participants carried signs. I carried one that said “We need our buses.” A few political candidates were in attendance and John Kitzhaber, our former governor, spoke as well. The goal was to draw attention to our desires for TriMet to maintain adequate funding and to avoid raising fares, cutting out routes, restricting times and places of routes, or eliminating drivers’ jobs. One of the ways that was suggested to get some funding was to allow the use of Stimulus Funds for operating revenue. Currently, Stimulus Funds are only available to purchase buses or pay for capital projects. Portland, unlike many bus companies in the US, has some routes that actually pay for themselves in fares. They are the #72, the #8, the #6 and the #4, and sometimes the #75 as well. Most cities have higher tax subsidies for their public transportation than TriMet. I went to this rally because I ride the bus or the LIFT, every place I go. I do not drive a car. Many bus and LIFT drivers are my friends. I do not want to see any of them lose their jobs. I REALLY don’t want to see any more routes cut. How do you feel about recent route cuts? Are you a frequent bus rider? Which routes do you ride? Would you come to a rally like this? What kinds of things do you do to keep your bus service and LIFT service rolling? You can be proactive about Trimet’s bus and /or LIFT service in some of the following ways: Attend CAT (Committee on Accessible Transportation) meetings when possible, which are held on the third Wednesdays of the month or give your CAT representative information about your bus and or LIFT service. You can find information on CAT meetings online at: http://trimet.org/meetings/cat/index.htm Your current CAT representative is Patricia Kepler at ILR, and you can contact her to voice your TriMet-related advocacy wishes. Call or email TriMet about the service in your area. If you are concerned about changes in service near you, let them know. You can see their contact information online at http://trimet.org/contact/index.htm?from=footer or call them at 503-238-RIDE (7433). Finally, the bus drivers have a union: Amalgamated Transit Union 757, which is located next door to ILR at 1801 NE Couch. The bus drivers union is interested in ensuring bus drivers keep their jobs, which is something we as transit riders are also interested in, so they are an excellent resource for information. You can also find them on the internet at www:http//ATU757.org The Rent Well Class Four or five times a year, Independent Living Resources holds a Rent Well class. In this article, we will review what a Rent Well class is and what it covers. Rent Well classes are typically 7 to 10 weeks long and include a weekly meeting with an instructor, written homework, the making of a Housing Portfolio and an Action Plan. This is different than the Ready to Rent Classes which typically are composed of six weekly meetings with an instructor and the completion of a Personal Contract. Rent Well now carries a Landlord Guarantee which was carried by Ready to Rent until November 2009. If you go to Housing Connections many landlords will say they are accepting tenants with Ready to Rent but they mean they accept anyone with the Landlord Guarantee. If a person graduates Rent Well in Multnomah County (even if they live in another county) the Guarantee is worth $2000. This money is never seen by the tenant, however. It is an insurance policy for the landlord if the tenant does something worthy of being evicted. The landlord will get the money and the tenant will not owe eviction fees, court costs, damage repairs, etc. Often this Guarantee is never used. Some landlords will change some of their screening criteria for someone who has taken a class and has a Guarantee. Many people take this class just to find out about their rights in housing and what is legal for landlords to do. It is an interesting class but it is also a lot of work. If you are interested, please call Lina at 503-232-7411and leave a name and your telephone number. Please repeat your contact information to ensure she gets the correct name and phone number. You can also contact her via email at lina@ilr.org to register for class. Medicaid Buy In for Employed Persons with Disabilities Did you know, as a person with a disability, you may become eligible for Medicaid if you are employed? Many people go without health insurance – even when they are employed. This is a fantastic way to gain health insurance even if you are working a part time job! Through a program called Employed Persons with Disabilities (EPD) you may become eligible for Medicaid (Oregon Health Plan Plus) if: * You are employed * You have a disability * Your resources (i.e. checking, savings, etc) are below $5000 If you become eligible for Medicaid through EPD, you will have a monthly buy in fee ranging from $0-$150 per month depending on your monthly income. To learn more you may contact our Work Incentives Coordinators at ILR or you may contact our partners at Disability Rights Oregon at (503) 243-2081. We all have different expectations of privacy when we use the Internet and now that ILR has a Facebook page, it is helpful to review the controls Facebook offers for its users. First, I would like to remind everyone that you can find our page at Facebook by searching for “Independent Living Resources Portland” in the search box. You’ll see our name and logo; simply click on the link to be taken to our Facebook page. You can follow us by clicking on the ‘Like’ button at the top of the page. This will cause any updates we make to our Facebook page-events, photos, updates-to appear in your news feed, so you don’t have to visit our page every day, content will just appear in your feed! You can comment on things we have posted or share them with others who might be interested and we encourage you to do so. You may wish to control who sees your profile though and how much content is available to people whom you don’t know. To do this, there’s a link in the upper right hand corner of your personal profile called Account. Under this menu is a variety of selections but the one I want to direct you to is the ‘Privacy Settings’ choice. Once you select the Privacy Settings, you will be taken to a page where you can view what your settings are. By default, Facebook has user’s privacy settings to public, so anyone looking at your profile can see your status, posts, photos, relationships, email, address and more. Some people may decide that’s just fine but if you would like to change your selections, you can do so with the Change Selection link in the lower left. From here, you will be given a menu to control what other people see in the “Things I share” section, options to control what others see of you in the “Things Others Share” section and the opportunity to limit who can see what your contact information is, from your address to your email in the ‘Contact Information’ section. You can have content available to everyone, only friends, just you, or customize lists any way you would like! There are a lot of options though, so don’t feel the need to hurry through them. Choose what you want to share based on what you feel comfortable with. You can always tighten or loosen your privacy options as you see fit whenever you want to. Most importantly, have fun. Facebook is a useful tool for everyone to connect and share important events and fun stories. With a little effort, you can join in and still feel comfortable that you are sharing with only the people you want to share with. Join us for a Healthy Lifestyles Workshop for People with Disabilities! The Healthy Lifestyles Workshop is a three day workshop packed full of fun and support. The best part of the experience is that it’s absolutely free! This workshop will help you explore what wellness means to you, set your own wellness goals, learn from your peers and make new friends. There will be opportunities to experience yoga, non-impact aerobic exercise (NIA) and massage. Enjoy a support group once a month for 6 months after the workshop. Healthy Lifestyles will be held at Independent Living Resources’ beautiful and spacious new location at: 1839 NE Couch Street, Portland, Oregon 97232. The next workshop will be held in March 2011. Sign up today! Register with Sarah Gerth by calling 503-232-7411 or via email at sarah@ilr.org. Upcoming Tour for Visually Impaired Features Works by Leon Golub and Jeff Koons The Portland Art Museum's August 19 tour for the visually impaired focuses on works by American artists Leon Golub and Jeff Koons. The Golub exhibit includes the opening painting from Golub's "Mercenaries Series" (inspired by conflicts in Central America and Africa in the 1980's) and a series of portraits of Nelson Rockefeller, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro and others whom Golub drew for his study of "the faces of power." The tour will conclude with a visit to the large, colorful painting by Jeff Koons, "Girl with Dolphin and Monkey Triple Popeye (Seascape)," which hangs near the Golub works but couldn't be more different in style and spirit. The Portland Art Museum offers docent-led tours with extended visual descriptions for blind and visually impaired visitors at 2:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. Participants meet inside the main entrance of the museum, at 1219 SW Park Avenue. In addition to these monthly small-group tours, the museum can schedule special tours for blind and partially sighted children and adults. Please call the museum (503-276-4278) four to six weeks in advance to arrange your tour. Greetings! Looking back at all the seasons I've shared with the ILR community, I realize how much we have accomplished together! In particular, I had the honor of greatly expanding the SMS program, from just a few folks to our current team of incredibly hardworking, compassionate and amazing individuals. Their transformation in terms of learning new skills and responsibilities has been an exciting challenge for me and I feel very fortunate to have been able to support their personal journeys. I want to thank every member of our SMS team and all the volunteers who work so hard to make ILR a welcoming oasis in the community and a place where personal transformations are an everyday experience. It has been a true honor to get to know everyone at ILR, from consumers and volunteers, to our fabulous SMS team and our incredibly hardworking and compassionate staff members. It's been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone as we strive to make ILR a better place for all. One of the most exciting accomplishments my SMS team and I have been working on is the creation of the ILR Lending Library, complete with books in a variety of formats, including Braille and other materials, such as an extensive book on tape collection, information and referral resources and a variety of movies in VHS and DVD. We are still in the finishing stages but we hope to open the Lending Library soon. Thank you to our SMS team, particularly Lynn, for their help on this project! If you have items you would like to donate, please let Dan know by calling 503-232-7411 or via email at dan@ilr.org The time has now come for me to say fare thee well to the ILR community. I have been given the opportunity to go back to grad school to become a librarian and so must say goodbye to all of you. I know that the new Office Manager will be very lucky to become part of the ILR community and I can't wait to see everything ILR accomplishes in the months ahead! Thank you to everyone for welcoming me into your lives! As summer wanes and the crisp air of September approaches, we at ILR are looking forward to our next ARIP at a beautiful new location, Tualatin Nature Reserve, on Friday, Sept 10th. This year, we are proud to announce a call for Scott A. Lay Advocacy award nominations. Scott Lay was a tireless advocate for people living with disabilities and an inspiration to us all. If you know of someone whose life mirrors the dedication to equality Scott demonstrated, please take the time to nominate them for the award! Applications can be downloaded from our website at www.ilr.org or feel free to stop by and pick up an application in person at our lovely new location: 1839 NE Couch St, Portland, OR 97232. If you are interested in volunteering for ARIP, please contact may@ilr.org or by calling 503-232-7411 to apply. The Moving Process Hopefully, all of you know now that ILR has moved to a new location, 1839 NE Couch Street. But for those who may not have heard or been able to attend our Grand Opening, we have moved and are open to serve the public now! The process started in March, when we signed the lease. The space was still raw and unready for us but we were on a deadline so we could move in by May. Contractors busily took over, transforming the building. With only a few weeks to work, they set up conference rooms and offices, poured concrete for a new ramp to increase the accessibility of our location and built us a new Training Center where we can hold classes and let other groups use the center for opportunities to train or meet with members of the community as well. We thought you might enjoy seeing some before and ‘in progress’ pictures, while you can see more photos of the new location in our article on the Grand Opening! On the left, contractors pour cement for the new ramp and on the right you see the finished ramp. On the left is our Training Center, as it was being worked on during the rebuild. On the right, people enjoy our finished Training Center during the Open House. ILR’s Spring Recreation Events By Patricia Kepler, IL Specialist & ILR’s Recreation Maven! Please RSVP to Patricia 1 week in advance for all events. Friday, September 10—A Roll In The Park. It is time again for ARIP, and this year it is at a park. We have wonderful things planned. This event requires registration with the front desk. Friday September 17—Movie Night at ILR. Come watch Blindside on our giant screen TV. Bring $5 for pizza. Evening starts at 5 PM. October 9-10 —The ILR recreation group is returning to Oral Hull park for another overnight adventure. Come along and enjoy walking, swimming, and other activities. Space is limited so RSVP soon. Tuesday, October 26 —our annual Trip to the Pumpkin Patch! Join us for a trip to the country and pick out your own pumpkin. Space is limited so RSVP ASAP. Tuesday, November 16—Bowling. Join us for some fun out of the rain. Bring money for lunch or a sack lunch. Rsvp by Wednesday November 10. Friday, December 10—Annual Holiday party. 11 AM-3 pm. Come join in the fun, sing holiday carols, play games, and enjoy some holiday food. RSVP by December 3. Do you have recreation ideas for the recreation group? Please contact Patricia with your ideas. Call her at (503) 232-7411 or by email patricia@ilr.org Return Service Requested Page 12 NW Independent Living Matters Summer 2010 Page 13 Page 18 NW Independent Living Matters Summer 2001 Page 19