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| | Coming Soon: 2011 FAD Conference ! | | Please mark your calendar for 2011 FAD Conference at World Golf Resort in St Augustine on June 30-July 3, 2011! | |
| President's Vlog & blog |
August 9, 2010
Hope you are all keeping cool this summer! It has been a hectic year so far.
The Deafhood workshop that was held last January in Tampa was a success. Ella Lentz and Genie Gertz were awesome speakers. I would like to thank Susan Cole and Betti Bonni for setting up this workshop.
February found us in Tampa again for the FAD Board meeting and Deaf Nation Expo. We were able to get many new members and advertise the 2011 FAD conference and Wet and Wild members.
March found us at the Academic Bowl hosted by the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. The FAD sponsored the Hospitality Room for students and advisors from 16 schools and programs for the deaf in the southeast region. We are proud that FSDB came in second place and went to the national competition at Gallaudet University.
April found us at the FAD Board meeting in Daytona Beach. We donated money to the National Leadership and Literacy Camp, and agreed to establish a legal defense fund for Deaf Children's language rights.
In the month of May found us at the Governor's Hurricane Conference sponsored by the Center of Independent Living in Broward County. I was assured that there will be access for deaf and hard of hearing people during hurricanes including interpreters at shelters.
The month of June found us at the Florida School for the Deaf graduation where a scholarship of $1000 was awarded to Nicholas Williams who will be attending Gallaudet University. A second scholarship was awarded to Stephanie Williams who graduated from Wellington High School and will also attend Gallaudet University. I would like to thank Donna Drake and her committee for their work in reviewing the scholarship applications.
I also spoke to a group at the Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Sarasota and we recruited a few more new members.
On a personal note, I would like to congratulate Vice President Lissette Molina who got married on June 12 to Tim Wood!
July found us at the National Association of the Deaf conference in Philadelphia. Hilary Ainbender, Tom D' Angelo, Mary Moore and I were delegates for the Florida Association of the Deaf. Our two motions were voted in the top 20 priority motions for the NAD Board to work on in the next two years. The first one was for NAD to work on strategies to protect our schools for the deaf and the second is to continue to educate the medical community to ensure that all medical services are accessible to deaf people. We are proud of our Miss Deaf Florida, Cara Di Giovanni who represented Florida well. Florida was represented awesomely by Chris Wagner who is the Vice President of the NAD and Lissette Molina who just completed her term as Region 3 representative on the NAD Board. We are proud of our FAD members, Cindy D' Angelo who was on the Miss Deaf America pageant committee and Joy Ann Di Giovanni as our state pageant director.
The Wet and Wild event was on July 30 and 31. I would like to thank Purple VRS for sponsoring this event. A "HUGE" thanks go to Maureen Whetham and Jon Ziev who did a fantastic job putting together this very large fundraiser. In addition, I want to thank Mary Moore, Lissette Molina-Wood, David and Dolores Tropp and Bob McMahon for their time and effort volunteering at this fundraiser. At this event, we were able to get 25 new members.
I also attended the Open House at the Center for Independent Living in Palm Beach County to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are thrilled that the House Bill 3101 and Senate Bill 3304 passed. This is the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (C.O.A.T).
I am excited to report that the Resource List for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the State of Florida is now on our website at www.fadcentral.org. I would like to thank Debbie Lauricella for spending her time and effort to put together this very important and useful document. This document is a "real time-saver" for me because people will refer to the website to find information from this resource list instead of contacting me.
The next FAD Board meeting will be at the Broward County Association of the Deaf on September 25 at 9 am.
Lissette Molina and I will attend the Florida School for the Deaf 125th anniversary on October 23. The FAD donated $500 to sponsor this event. I would like to congratulate David Nelson who is the new president of the Florida School for the Deaf Alumni Association. I would like to congratulate Chris Wagner, the former president of FAD who is now chair of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind Board. It is important for us to all work together to support our state school for the deaf.
Hilary Ainbender will attend the Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf conference in October. I have appointed Jenny Locy to represent the FAD as liaison to the FRID to work on providing training and workshops for Certified Deaf Interpreters.
Feel free to contact me at june@fadcentral.org if you have any comments, questions or concerns. | |
| Important Information abt Medicaid & Interpreters |
Are you a deaf person on Medicaid who has asked your doctor to provide an interpreter and they said no? Or the doctor told you to bring your own interpreter? Do you know a deaf person on Medicaid who has been denied interpreters by their doctor? If so this information is for you.
Medicaid is a form of health insurance in Florida. Medicaid is overseen by the Agency for Health Care Administration known as AHCA, who is headquartered in Tallahassee. AHCA has set up a number of rules that Medicaid doctors must follow to keep receiving payment through Medicaid. One rule is that these doctors must provide qualified interpreters, when a deaf person needs one to effectively communicate with their Medicaid doctor.
AHCA has set up 13 Medicaid area offices throughout Florida to help make sure people on Medicaid can get help when needed. If you are deaf and have asked your Medicaid doctor for an interpreter, and he or she will not provide one you must contact your local area Medicaid office immediately and let them know. If you let them know they can contact your Medicaid doctor for you and make sure the doctor will provide an interpreter. To find your local area Medicaid office you need to go to http://ahca.myflorida.com/Medicaid/Areas/index.shtml and click on the county you live in. This will give you the phone number for the Medicaid office to call. You must call the office in your county.
When you call your local Medicaid office to tell them your doctor will not provide an interpreter please have 3 things ready: 1. your Medicaid number, 2. the name and address of the Medicaid doctor who will not provide an interpreter, 3. the date that you called the doctor asking for the interpreter when he or she said no.
This process is ONLY, and we repeat only for deaf people on Medicaid in Florida. Please do not call if you do not receive Medicaid, the office will not be able to help you.
If you do call your local Medicaid office, as we have told you to do, and the Medicaid office has not called you back within three business days or refuses to help you at all please contact Attorney Sharon Caserta at sharon.caserta@jaxlegalaid.org or videophone 904-245-1121.
The Florida Association of the Deaf, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, The Deaf Service Centers Association and Florida Legal Services Inc plan to begin working with Medicare , and possibly the private insurance companies to help set up a similar system. Once an easier process has been created for deaf people who get Medicare or private insurance we will let you know.
Please share this vlog with others in Florida.
Thank you.
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| Copyright (C) 2009. All rights reserved. | Florida Association of the Deaf Wednesday, September 01, 2010 |
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