|
Projects and Initiatives
Oklahoma Family Support 360° Center
Our Service Values and Principles
Assistance for Families- since families cannot prepare ahead for the financial, physical and emotional changes that occur when a child with disabilities is born into the family, together…
Assistance and Training for Physicians and Health Care Professionals
Our Impact
For more information, please contact: Tara Ford Project Coordinator, Oklahoma Family Support 360° Center and Family Advocate (405) 271-4511 Ext., 41016 or e-mail Tara-Ford@ouhsc.edu
Oklahoma Self-Advocacy Network
The Oklahoma Self-Advocacy Network is committed to improving the lives of people with disabilities and to building effective partnerships to help them fully participate in all aspects of their communities. The Oklahoma Self-Advocacy Network is a collaborative effort to strengthen the self-advocacy movement in Oklahoma. The Center for Learning and Leadership (CLL), the Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council (ODDC), the Oklahoma Disability Law Center (ODLC), the OKDHS Developmental Disabilities Services Division (DDSD) and Oklahoma People First are committing staff, funding and other supports to ensure the success of this project. CLL provides stipends to self-advocates to attend the meetings, travel assistance, and a staff person to assist in meeting facilitation and coordination of the collaborative partnership. Commissioner Sharon Lewis, Administration on Developmental Disabilities, convened five regional self-advocacy summits across the country. The summit in Kansas City was held in April of 2011 and included participants from Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota. The summit team included representatives from Oklahoma People First, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), the National Youth Leadership Network, the Center for Learning and Leadership, the Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council, the Oklahoma Disability Law Center and the OKDHS Developmental Disabilities Services Division. In her opening comments in Kansas City, Commissioner Lewis said, “Self-advocacy has been a cornerstone of the developmental disabilities movement in the United States, starting over 35 years ago with the original People First organizing efforts. The Developmental Disabilities Act makes clear the importance of the voice, influence and power of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and expects that the network that it authorizes – the State Developmental Disabilities Councils (SDDCs), the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) and the Protection and Advocacy Agencies (P&As) – will encourage and support the involvement of self-advocates.” The Oklahoma summit team appointed Nancy Ward, SABE, and Rose Ann Percival, CLL, as co-chairs for the project. The team decided to continue the work from the summit and formed the Oklahoma Self-Advocacy Network. The team has continued to meet and has started to develop a plan to accomplish the project’s mission. Some activities include:
New partners that have come to the table include the Oklahoma Family Network (OFN), self-advocates, family representatives who care for a person with a disability, Traumatic Brain Injury Raiders (TBI Raiders), and People First advisors and board members.
Notes from September 14, 2011 Meeting Notes from May 20, 2011 Meeting Notes from Self-Advocacy Summit Meeting on April 13, 2011
For more information, please contact: Rose Ann Percival Community Partnerships Coordinator (405) 271-4500 Ext., 41038 or e-mail roseann-percival@ouhsc.edu
The Oklahoma Family Leadership Council (FLC) was established in 2007. The FLC membership is predominantly family members of children, youth and/or adults with developmental disabilities and special health care needs who serve in leadership roles across the state. The members bring perspectives from rural families, families of adults and children with a range of support needs, families from different racial and ethnic groups, and different socioeconomic levels. The FLC represents the CLL’s ongoing commitment to include the perspective and participation of families in all core activities, including preservice preparation, community services, research and dissemination. The purpose of the FLC is to work collaboratively to strengthen the family leadership and advocacy infrastructure in Oklahoma, with an ultimate goal of improving systems and services for people with disabilities and their families.
Primary goals of the FLC:
Key activities of the FLC:
For more information about the FLC, contact: Jacquie Devereaux, Chair, at Learn2Lead-UCEDD@ouhsc.edu or Wanda Felty, CLL Coordinator for Community Leadership and Advocacy at Wanda-Felty@ouhsc.edu.
Oklahoma Person-Centered Thinking Project
The Oklahoma Person-Centered Thinking Project is a collaborative effort to increase knowledge and skills in person- centered practices throughout Oklahoma. The project partners are the Center for Learning and Leadership, the Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council, the Oklahoma Disability Law Center and Bios, A Better Life Homecare, Inc. The project has a long-term goal of improving the lives of people with intellectual and other disabilities by changing the thinking and practices of the people who support them. The person-centered approach means that the people who know the person best come together to identify what is important to the person as well as what is important for the person. Training in person-centered planning is training in a way of thinking as much as it is in a way of developing a plan. Too often plans are written but not used because the people responsible for implementing the plan were not part of writing it. Therefore the plan has no meaning for them. The person-centered thinking approach ensures that the plan includes not only considerations of health and safety, but also personal preferences, communication, rituals and daily routines. Working together with the person and his/her supporters, the plan becomes more than a paper requirement. It is a document about the best ways to support and respect the person to have the best life possible. The Person-Centered Thinking project has five main objectives:
We believe this approach is critically important for a person who is not able to communicate with words. The tools help us listen differently and hear how the person communicates with his or her behavior. For more information, please contact: Special Programs Coordinator (405) 271-4500, Ext. 41012, or e-mail Mary-Long@ouhsc.edu
Since 2002, the Center for Learning and Leadership has worked with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Developmental Disabilities Services Division (DDSD) and the Oklahoma Medicaid agency to implement Self-Directed Services for two Medicaid waivers for children and adults with developmental disabilities. In May 2005, the Oklahoma Self-Directed Care Act gave people with disabilities the authority to have more choice and control over their services and supports. It also required that a Self-Directed Services Advisory Committee be created to allow self-advocates and family members the opportunity to make recommendations to the two state agencies about policies and procedures for Self-Directed Services. Self-Directed Services was made available through a pilot program in fall 2006. Doris Erhart, a parent and CLL staff member, developed a training curriculum in partnership with professionals from DDSD for families and DDSD case managers to be educated about Self-Directed Services together. During the initial rollout of Self-Direceted Services, Erhart trained the curriculum with a professional from DDSD. This unique model of having parent-professional trainees and parent-professional trainers has allowed family members and professionals to learn together and access the same information at the same time. The Self-Directed Services Advisory Committee continues to work in an advisement capacity with DDSD and Oklahoma’s Medicaid agency about Self-Directed Services. Families and self-advocates on the committee have built relationships with program administrators and the DDSD director. The family-professional partnerships that are so integral to this initiative have provided a model for state agencies that provide services to people with disabilities to use input from families and self-advocates to influence the way services are provided.
Project Coordinator, Self-Directed Services (405) 271-4500 Ext., 41006, or e-mail Doris-Erhart@ouhsc.edu
Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) The Oklahoma NARCH IV project is complete. What is NARCH? The US Indian Health Service describes NARCH this way… "Federally recognized Tribes, Tribal Organizations (including Tribal Colleges) and Tribally authorized Indian Health Boards are eligible to form partnerships with research institutions and apply for funding to create a Native American Research Center for Health (NARCH). The NARCH initiative, now in its seventh year and fifth funding cycle, provides funding to AI/AN Tribes or Tribally based organizations to create partnerships with research institutions and conduct high quality biomedical, behavioral and health services research that will be relevant to the needs of the Tribes.” Project Tasks
Oklahoma NARCH Faculty Development began in early 2007 and accepted the first class of participants in August 2007. Planning, coordination and delivery of the faculty development program were the major tasks. Work included:
Results:
Participant comments
For more information, please contact: Valerie N. Williams, Ph.D., Project Principal Investigator UCEDD Director and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development
Home | About the Center | Consumer Advisory | Products | Projects & Initiatives | Education & Training
|
Oklahoma NARCH IV was led by the Chickasaw Nation. In collaboration with the Chickasaw Nation and the Cherokee Nation the OU Health Sciences Center developed a NARCH IV project for faculty development. The project included research training for Tribal employees/members to facilitate their work within the Tribal health system as key partners with academic faculty and other community members for the conduct of health related research. The Oklahoma UCEDD worked to develop and sustain relationships with Oklahoma
Tribes and to engage in community based participatory research. UCEDD staff (Williams and Harnden) was involved with the Oklahoma NARCH faculty development project to support the development of these relationships and worked with participating tribal members on
projects of shared interest.