Valley View Crisis Update

PSAD NEWS E-Zine

Press Release

Valley View Crisis Update; Change is Coming

Outcome of events culminating with 3/31 Rally and through Senator Pileggi efforts resulted in a court ordered 1-year stay for Valley View to remain as is until Elwyn and State work out a solution to:

1. keep the deaf and deaf blind residents intact,

2. appropriate licensure, and

3. adequate funding.

Outcome of Meetings with Dept. of Aging and PSAD

Outcome of the 4/13 meeting with the Department of Aging in Harrisburg, followed by 4/14 meeting with the PA Society for the Advancement of the Deaf (PSAD) Board of Managers.

From the Dept. of Aging, the following 3 points were agreed upon and shared with PSAD Board of Managers:

1. Dept. of Aging sees the value of keeping the community intact;

2. Dept. of Aging is committed to working with Elwyn to resolve the licensure and funding issues;

3. Legislative item seems to be the best solution in the long term to maintain program(s) in the Commonwealth for deaf elderly.

And the PSAD outcome was:

Creation of Committee on Communication Access (CCA) which segments communication access during principal life experiences and functions, from birth to death, describes best practices for each segment, identifies current shortcomings and proposes solutions for the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Appointed CCA members: Sam Hawk, chair, April Nelson, Rev. Beth Lockard, Lillian Hoshauer- all formerly of the VV Committee.

The Committee was given seed funding to achieve its purpose.

Impact

This is an extraordinary development as it will allow the deaf and hard of hearing citizens to proactively develop guidelines for adoption within the Commonwealth. This is the first known instance of deaf constituents developing their own standards --- we have been, heretofore, drawn into the agendas of other disability groups and government bodies.

Next Step

The PSAD Committee on Communication Access looks to schedule meeting with Senator Pileggi's legal staff regarding legislative action to maintain programs in PA for the deaf senior citizens.

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