Glen Ellen community eyes main administration building at SDC for community center

Community members interested in renovating the main administration building on the Sonoma Developmental Center campus plan to meet again on Monday, June 7, to further explore their options. The old administration building has not been used in years and would require a fair amount of renovation to make it usable, but the potential in the historic building makes it seem well worth the effort it would take.

Preliminary plans, drawn up by architect and Glen Ellen native Mark Perry, include a theater and many rooms that could serve community groups and projects in the future. Perry is also optimistic that there are a variety of good funding sources available.

You can read more about Monday's meeting at Abandoned SDC building eyed as community center in the Kenwood Press. According to the article, the public is invited to attend the meeting, which is scheduled for June 7 at 2 p.m. in room 109 of the ARO building (King 29), on Holt Street, just off Arnold Drive, next to the baseball field in the center of the complex.

New social media website for families with special needs children

The latest venture of Vast Horizons, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area company that operates assisted living homes, is a social network dedicated to families and caregivers of special needs children. Called VHI Connect it aims to connect individuals with special needs, their families, and their caregivers with information, services, supplies, and each other.

The site has not launched yet, but according to VHI is coming soon. Billed as a private network that will include an ecommerce facility and allow members to post classified ads as well as share information, expect the new VHI Connect network to differ significantly from other established platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Certainly there is real value in an online forum and gathering place dedicated to a community with a shared interest or need, which is why the Ning networks have been popular.

If you do use Twitter and would like to connect with others, you can also join The Coffee Klatch (@TheCoffeeKlatch) for a daily interactive forum on a variety of topics relating to both physical and emotional disabilities. Visit The Coffee Klatch website for discussion times and more information.
For more information about the new VHI Connect network, visit the VHI Connect website at www.vhiconnect.org.

Opportunity to Discuss the Lanterman Act Coming Up

Periodically the PHA schedules a conference call to provide community members the opportunity to talk about the Lanterman Act. The next teleconference is this Monday (tomorrow), May 3rd at 8:00 p.m.

If you would like to participate in Monday's call, please send an email to info@parenthospitalassociation.org and request the call-in number and code for joining the call. Prepare for the call by reading any part of the Act and then we can discuss it.

The Lanterman Act is an important resource for families of the developmentally disabled, and we encourage everyone to familiarize themselves with its provisions. For more information, read our previous post Lanterman Act is Key Resource for Families of the Developmentally Disabled.

Families and Staff Rally to Save Lanterman Developmental Center

On Monday, April 26, families and staff plan a rally to stop the planned closure of Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, Calif. The rally is organized to precede the April 29 state Senate hearing to consider the proposed Lanterman Developmental Center closure plan.

Date:    April 26, 2010
Time:   10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Place:  Lanterman Developmental Center
3530 Pomona Blvd., Pomona, Calif. (front entrance on Diamond Bar Blvd.)

At least 100 people are expected to participate. The event is sponsored by the Save Lanterman coalition.

For more than 80 years, Lanterman Developmental Center has cared for thousands of Californians with developmental disabilities who depend on the facility’s unique combination of medical, therapeutic and rehabilitative round-the-clock services. The facility is now slated for  closure, primarily due to state budget cuts.

Save Lanterman coalition members say equal or better – or more cost-effective – services for these vulnerable individuals simply are not available in other settings, such as group homes.

In an announcement for the rally, Robert Hazard, whose sister lives at Lanterman, said, “The transfer of Lanterman residents to community settings would jeopardize their lives and those of others who rely on a community system that is not sufficient to care for everyone with complex medical and behavioral needs at the professional level required. There is no assurance that the residents will receive the services they need if they are moved to the community.”

“We believe a facility closure at the very least would be a highly disruptive experience causing clients great emotional and physical stress, and at the very worst would lead to dangerously inadequate care in inferior, little-regulated group homes,” said Tony Myers, a Lanterman Senior Psychiatric Technician, in the same announcement.

State senators will consider the formal closure plan at the April 29 hearing in Sacramento, choosing whether to adopt DDS’ proposal plan, to amend it or to oppose it. The Save Lanterman coalition asks members of the public to help them convince legislators to oppose the closure.

For more information, including legislators' contact details, visit saveldc.org. You can also add your name to a petition showing your support for Lanterman and its hundreds of residents.

Care Options Important for Developmentally Disabled

Concern over current plans to close some of the few remaining developmental centers in California stems in large part from the differences in care and services between the State-run centers and regional centers, where residents are transferred as State services are consolidated, downsized and eliminated.

Edward Lempinen wrote a series of articles for the San Francisco Chronicle in the late 1990s that brought attention to the downside of being moved to regional centers for many developmentally disabled people. (see: SF Chronicle coverage of developmental center news and issues from 1997-1998) Unfortunately, the issues spotlighted by Lempinen in his award-winning articles persist today.

Ana Mettler put a human face on all of these concerns and various reports when she related the story of her son Carsten on the VOR website. Carsten's journey to Sonoma Developmental Center illustrates the need for care beyond what a family can provide, the limits of care available from regional centers - at least for Carsten, and the benefits available to Carsten at Sonoma Developmental Center.

We're not sure when this story first appeared on the VOR website, but we thank Ana Mettler for telling it. And we're glad Carsten found a home at Sonoma Developmental Center. We are also determined that Carsten and others with developmental disabilities will always have the option of care from developmental centers in California.