Programs Help Caregivers Reduce Stress, Learn to Cope

Helping Grandmother walk, by Rosie O'Beirne on flickr.com (Creative Commons license)

What happens when the caregivers need care?

An article in this week's New York Times addresses that question -- with hopeful conclusions and advice.

All parents endure stress, but studies show that parents of children with developmental disabilities, like autism, experience depression and anxiety far more often. Struggling to obtain crucial support services, the financial strain of paying for various therapies, the relentless worry over everything from wandering to the future -- all of it can be overwhelming.

"The toll stress-wise is just enormous, and we know that we don't do a really grat job of helping parents cope with it," said Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, the director of Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine.

"Having a child that has a disability, it's all-encompassing," he added. "You could see how people would lose themselves."

Fortunately, Doctors have been studying the efficacy of mindfulness techniques in reducing the stress and associated depression and anxiety that may come along with it -- and the results of their study are promising. It turns out, training in simple breathing techniques, cultivating awareness in the moment and learning to curb negative thinking, among other things, goes a long way in improving a caregiver's sense of calm and ability to cope.

Read more about the study here: When the Caregivers Need Healing, by Catherine Saint Louis, in The New York Times (July 29, 2014).

Report In on Sonoma Developmental Center's Efforts for Recertification

Updates:
Sonoma Developmental Center stripped of federal funding, by Derek Moore, in The Press Democrat (July 25, 2014)
Troubled Sonoma Developmental Center loses federal funds, by Isabelle Taft, in the Sacramento Bee (July 25, 2014)

Officials are meeting at Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) today to discuss the results of the Center's months long effort to make the necessary improvements to regain Federal certification and funding. SDC lost federal funding for a portion of its programs last year amid investigations into reported lapses and problems in patient care. The funding lost amounts to $1.37 million per month and affects 112 residents.

You can read more about this online at Improvement at Sonoma Developmental Center falling short, by Derek Moore, in The Press Democrat (July 24, 2014).

Can Community Care Answer the Needs of the Developmentally Disabled?

The Sonoma Developmental Center, Sonoma Valley, Calif. (Conner Jay, The Press Democrat)

As Secretary Dooley prepares to reconvene the Task Force considering the future direction of California's remaining developmental centers, questions remain about whether or not community homes and services can meet the needs of all of the state's developmentally disabled citizens.

An article published in the Press Democrat this week highlights some of the questions and concerns: Future of Sonoma Developmental Center on group's agenda, by Derek Moore (July 19, 2014).

For more information about the task force, including agendas and audio recordings of past meetings, visit www.chhs.ca.gov/Pages/DCsTaskForce.

Recent Sonoma Developmental Center News

I may seem like summer doldrums time but activity continues surrounding California's developmental centers and service for the State's developmentally disabled. The Sonoma Index-Tribune has posted an update on recent developments impacting Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC). You can read it online here: SDC update, by David Bolling (7/8/2014).

Op-Ed: What Happened to You, Governor Brown?

The following open letter to California Governor Jerry Brown was recently circulated among folks in Sonoma Valley concerned about recent moves to limit services to the developmentally disabled and downsize, and possibly close, the State's few remaining developmental centers. The letter has now been posted by The Sonoma County Gazette; you can find it online here: OpEd: Open Letter to Governor Brown - What happened to you? It is re-posted here in its entirety.

Dear Governor Brown,

You must excuse the informal and impolite tone of this letter, but what the hell happened to you?

Where is the man that walked with Chavez and stood up for civil rights? Where is the Jesuit and Zen trained man who met with Mother Teresa and appointed Gary Snyder, and acknowledged that the poorest and most vulnerable among us must be respected and cared for?

Where is the man who spoke for years on KPFA, the only radio station dedicated to free inquiry, human rights and rational, moral thinking?

Where is the man who led meditations and gave dharma talks at Spirit Rock?

Where did that man go, or was it all just a lot of crap and BS?

That the same man could consider closing the regional developmental centers in CA, which house and care for some of our most profoundly ill and incapacitated citizens is incongruous beyond words. Where is the morality behind this? Is this all just to save a few bucks, because that’s relatively what it is, while at the same time promote major projects that will cost hundreds of billions? You would do this on the backs of those patients who are our human responsibility to aid and care for? What manner of man are you? Who are you, truly?

I suggest that before you jettison these people and their families you come to Sonoma’s Developmental Center and spend a day in the presence of these folks and the people who take care of them. I suggest that you hang with them for a time, talk and eat with their caregivers and then decide what you should do for them.

I’ll tell you this though. There’s a contingent in Sonoma comprised of land trust organizations, environmental organizations, political organizations and concerned citizens who will fight every step of the way, as it was done before, to prevent the SDC lands from going to private developers so they can glean more profits. If it takes years, as it did before, I guarantee we will not relent on this.

It should not be necessary to tell you this, you of all people, but it is our collective responsibility and obligation to provide the patient populations at developmental centers the highest and best care we can muster, not shunt them off to insufficient small private care facilities ill equipped to meet their needs. Government can’t run away from this waving a monetary excuse. Are you a governor or an accountant?

And whatever happened to the man that used to be Jerry Brown?


Will Shonbrun, Sonoma

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Find more local Sonoma County news online with The Sonoma County Gazette.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana S. Dooley Reconvenes Task Force

California's Health and Human Services Agencey released the following announcement on Thursday, July 3rd:

California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Diana S. Dooley today announced she will reconvene the Task Force that developed the Plan for the Future of Developmental Centers in California.  The Task Force includes consumers, consumer advocates, regional centers, community service providers, organized labor, families of developmental center residents, members of the Legislature and Department of Developmental Services staff.

Consistent with a recommendation in the Plan and in response to Governor Brown’s message in the recently signed Budget Act, the Task Force will be charged with examining services for the developmentally disabled in the community.  The Task Force will develop recommendations to strengthen the community system in the context of a growing and aging population, resource constraints, availability of community resources to meet the specialized needs of clients, and past reductions to the community system.  Issues to be examined will include community rates, the impact of new State and federal laws and regulations, and staffing levels at Regional Centers.

When the landmark Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act was adopted in 1969 to establish community-based alternatives, California took the first step to develop a robust community system for those with developmental disabilities to live full, integrated lives in their local communities.  Today, California serves approximately 275,000 individuals in the community system with a budget of $4.7 billion.

Secretary Dooley said in reconvening the Task Force, “This diverse group of stakeholders did a remarkable job coming together, setting aside differences, and producing a set of recommendations to chart a course for the future of the Developmental Centers.  I believe this same group can build on that success by examining services in the community.  By working together and resisting the inclination toward either/or thinking, we can focus on appropriate services for people with developmental disabilities, regardless of setting.”

The first meeting of the Task Force will be July 24, 2014.