IDAHO

The Community Integration Committee (CIC), the major state group for assessing Idaho's needs and resources for people with disabilities continued its work throughout 2003. Composed of state agency representatives, advocacy groups and consumers, the committee has been prioritizing its recommendations. These include some changes that can be accomplished without significant additional resources in view of the state's budget problems.

An example is a rules change that is being recommended to the Department of Health and Welfare to require private nursing homes and intermediate care facilities to specifically and regularly inform their residents of community alternatives that may be open to them. The CIC is urging the department to propose the rules change to the next legislative session in 2004.

State officials also point to a pilot project for moving some people out of institutions to community living in one area of the state as an example of an initiative that originated with a member of the committee, the Developmental Disabilities Council. The CIC urged state officials, they say, to apply for federal grants to help develop projects. As a result, the state applied for and was awarded a federal Systems Change grant. The proposal that was funded incorporated committee recommendations.

In the pilot area, a community development project is pulling together public and private-sector organizations and agencies to help mobilize resources for people with disabilities who leave nursing homes or ICF/MR facilities to live in a community setting. The community itself expressed interest in the project, state officials say, and has agreed as a community to develop the project.

State officials say they will need to evaluate the results of the pilot project before they can commit to further efforts of this kind. "We have to see what the demonstration project tells us," one official said. "What kind of services does it take, what does it cost, and what are the outcomes to transition people to the community?" Being able to go to the legislature with the actual outcomes of the pilot project, she said, will be a "huge asset."

The federally funded project also involves a statewide anti-stigma campaign to widen awareness in the community about the capabilities of people with disabilities. The state is distributing a film, public service announcements, posters and flyers throughout communities as both a broad public service publicity campaign and as a means of getting specific information to consumers about long-term care resources that are. The project also involves a 1-800 number for people to call if they have further questions.

The state's planning for people with disabilities involves providers, partners, advocates and family, say state officials. "Previously, everyone looked to the state's social service agencies to provide services and access to people with disabilities," one official said. "Now we have a process that brings everyone to the table." A "sustainable system" that lasts through the years, the official said, is one that "involves all the different entities in a community and all of their resources."

The process has not always been easy, according to one official. "We've learned some things. We've really struggled with different directions that different players wanted to go, and there are different degrees of satisfaction with what we're doing." State officials believe, however, that they have been able to move ahead on several initiatives.

The Community Integration Committee will evaluate itself in January 2004, according to state officials, looking back at where it has been and forward to what may still need to be done. At the end 2004, the committee will decide if it needs to remain in business, according to state officials. There are no plans at this time to produce a written plan, officials say.