Friday, February 25, 2011

Mark Your Calendars for the Sonoma Valley Footrace and Festival

Spring really is coming to Sonoma Valley, and when it does, thoughts turn to the annual Sonoma Valley Footrace & Festival.

This spring the Sonoma Valley Footrace & Festival returns to the Sonoma Developmental Center on May 14, 2011. The popular event includes both a challenging 10K on- and off-road run through the stunning landscape surrounding SDC, and a 5K run that takes a mostly level course through the SDC grounds. Enter the race of your choice!

Awards will be presented to the top runners in various categories, and all runners receive a T-shirt. Adult participants will also receive a commemorative glass and tickets for beer and wine tasting at the Festival.

Both races start at 8:00 a.m. Advance registration fees are $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. You can register online at www.active.com or by mail. See the event brochure (pdf) for details. On race day, registration is $30 for adults and $20 for children and begins at 7:00 a.m. (Don't be late, or you'll be running to catch up!)

For those not running - and for runners after the race - a number of other activities and entertainments are planned. The Festival part of the day's events runs from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and includes:
  • Live music from Harvey and the Wallbangers
  • Children’s carnival attractions - including a bounce house, velcro wall and games
  • Free fun run for kids at 10:30 a.m.
  • Car show
  • Beer and wine tasting starting at 9:00 a.m. (adults only, ID required)
  • Food available for purchase
  • Raffle
The Festival entry is free. There will be ticket sales for the beer and wine tasting, raffle, and the children’s carnival attractions and games.

For more information and to register for the race, visit the Sonoma Valley Footrace & Festival website (www.dds.ca.gov/SVFF).

Friday, February 18, 2011

SDC Staff Question Patient Transfer

The Kenwood Press is reporting a riff between the Sonoma Developmental Center administration and some staff at the Center over the transfer of a patient out of the facility. (see: SDC staff and administration at odds over transfer of patient, 2/1/2011)

At issue is the scheduled move of a 68-year-old developmentally disabled resident who has lived at the Center for sixty years. The woman, referred to as "Martha" in the article, cannot speak and is blind and hearing impaired. Despite her disabilities, however, she can walk and enjoys supervised outings. As part of the ongoing effort to downsize the facility, Martha has been identified for transfer to a smaller group home administered by an area regional center.

PHA member Pat Walters explained the general situation at the Center to the Kenwood Press reporter. "What is basically happening is that for various reasons the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) would like to downsize and close developmental centers and instead have persons like "Martha" live in group homes and other places," Walters is quoted as saying.

A force driving the situation is the 1969 Lanterman Act, which stipulates patient choice and placement in the "least restrictive" environment. While some people thrive in smaller facilities, problems have been reported for older clients removed from established relationships and for the most severely disabled, who don't receive the same level of care outside the developmental center. The concern is that the Lanterman Act is being zealously applied to force people out of developmental centers into inappropriate care situations.

"Martha" does not have parents or a conservator who can participate in determining her course of care, and so people on her care team have stepped in and taken the extreme measure of hiring an attorney themselves to argue on "Martha's" behalf. A psychologist, appointed by the court to evaluate Martha agrees with the SDC staff that the move would prove risky for "Martha," but the issue is not yet resolved.

"Martha's" is not an isolated case. Even though an important provision of the Lanterman Act was to ensure choice of placement, other families and clients have gone through protracted legal battles in recent years to gain or maintain placement in a developmental center.

More details are included in the Kenwood Press article. For more background on problems associated with client transfers from developmental centers, see SF Chronicle coverage of developmental center news and issues from 1997-1998, a list of articles PHA has collected on delicious.com.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Generous Donors Respond Again for PHA

Each year many generous individuals and businesses respond with donations for the Parent Hospital Association's annual auction, and 2011 looks to be another year when our 'Heroes with Heart' come through wholeheartedly.

It's still a bit early (the event is not until March 19th), and we always like to send out official acknowledgements and thank you's to contributors, but we wanted to take a moment here to mention a few of the donors and their generous contributions that have come in recently.

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far - and to all those planning to join us this year.
Don Sebastiani & Sons - 6 cases of wine
Corks Restaurant - dinner for 2
Schug Carneros Estate Winery - private tour for 12, with wine and cheese
Deerfield Ranch - wine tasting and cave tour
Kenwood Vineyards - VIP tour for 4, with 4 bottles of wine
Di Rosa Preserve - 2-hour tour for 4
Infineon Raceway - 2 tickets to West Coast Moto Jam
Wild Game Dinner for 6 with the Martinelli's
Merry Edwards Winery - magnum of Angel Wing Pinot Noir
Tug McGraw Foundation - 2 tickets to the Tug McGraw concert in Mountain View, CD and autograph
Tom Whitworth - fine art prints of California wildlife
Graton Ridge Cellars - private tour for 8, with Chardonnay
Chateau St. Jean - wine donation
Ravenswood Winery - case of Petit Syrah
Sebastiani Theatre - Movie Lover's Club Membership; 10 movie passes
El Dorado Kitchen - brunch for 2
Ledson Winery - private tasting for 4
Flavor Bistro - gift certificate
The Girl and The Fig - gift certificate
Arrowood Wiinery - private tour and tasting for 4
The Lodge at Sonoma - deluxe room
Big 3 Diner - dinner for 2
There will be both a silent and a live auction, (along with champagne, hors d'oeuvres, dinner and good company!) and all proceeds from the evening support the work of PHA throughout the year.

Invitations have gone out and reservations are coming in. If you are not on our mailing list but would like to attend the event on March 19th, email info@parenthospitalassociation.org with your mailing details or visit the event's page on our website. You can download a copy of the invitation there.

If you would like to sponsor a table or donate for the auctions, we welcome your support. The PHA is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization registered in the State of California, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please email us for a donor packet or download copies of our sponsorship forms from the website.

Thanks again to everyone! Hope to see you on the 19th.
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