The ANCOR State Direct Support Professional of the Year award is judged on the following criteria: effectiveness in building social networks, meaningful and productive participation in the community for the people they serve and advocating or effecting change on behalf of people with disabilities.

"When Easter Seals UCP notified me that I was receiving this award, I was humbled," said Felicia Haywood. "I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity to receive this award and while I appreciate the recognition, the real message is how important it is to care for others – your heart receives the biggest gift of all."

Felicia Haywood was employed with Easter Seals UCP for 2.5 years providing respite care services in the Charlotte area. Haywood is the recipient of this esteemed award thanks to the above and beyond care she provided one young woman and the significant impact she made on her life.

The young woman, who has mental retardation, was living in a difficult home environment and was not receiving the proper care to help her progress in life. Withdrawn and suffering from low self esteem and lack of life skills, Haywood provided this young woman with personal care services and helped her to engage and connect with her community.

Despite being paid for only 13 hours a week, Haywood found herself spending additional time with her client even though the extra time was unpaid. Personal care services were consequently cut due to state budget pains, but even without pay, Haywood continued to provide direct support services to the young woman. When the young woman's father and primary caregiver passed away, Haywood continued to go above and beyond to make sure that her client was given the support she needed – even staying with Haywood in her home.

Today, at the request of this young woman, she is now living with Haywood and a part of her family. Since their first meeting, the young woman has more self confidence, is able to speak comfortably with others and to big groups and has her own job. Thanks to Haywood, this young woman has grown more in the past 2.5 years than her previous 20 years.

"Witnessing the passion and personal responsibility Felicia held as a respite services provider for Easter Seals UCP, I was not at all surprised to see how she managed the care of this special young woman," said Elizabeth Hill, Individual Community Support supervisor for Easter Seals UCP. "The gift was watching the difference and significant positive impact she made and continues to make in her life. I am so incredibly proud that Felicia is receiving this truly deserved award on behalf of our state."

About ANCOR
The American Network of Community Options and Resources is the premier national association representing more than 850 private providers of community living and employment supports and services to more than 385,000 individuals with disabilities. As a nonprofit organization, ANCOR successfully addresses the needs and interests of private providers before Congress and federal agencies, continually advocating for the crucial role private providers play in enhancing and supporting the lives of people with disabilities and their families.

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia
Raleigh, NC-based Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia is a lifelong partner to families managing disabilities and mental health challenges. The nonprofit serves more than 17,500 individuals and their families annually through an array of services. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia, please visit www.nc.eastersealsucp.com.

Contacts

Elizabeth Hill
elizabeth.hill@nc.eastersealsucp.com

Caroline, a camper at Camp Easter Seals UCP, is 19 years old and absolutely loves horses and horseback riding.  She first found out about Camp Easter Seals UCP about 5 years ago from a friend, and once she went to her first session, she was hooked!  

There are lots of things at Camp Easter Seals UCP that keep Caroline coming back year after year, but first and foremost is the opportunity to ride horses.  When she’s not riding, Caroline swims, goes hiking and rock climbing, and even sings in the talent shows.  Caroline misses her camp friends and most of all her camp counselors when each year’s session ends, but like most kids her age, she uses Facebook to keep up with everybody and keep her camp memories alive until next year’s session rolls around.

See Caroline, and her fellow campers & counselors, sing and enjoy each other's company during cabin time at Camp Easter Seals UCP.

Check out all the fun that Caroline had at Camp Easter Seals UCP this summer!

Happy birthday, ADA.
Known as the Emancipation Proclamation for people with disabilities, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990. This landmark law extends civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities in five key areas: employment; services provided by state and local governments; public accommodations; telecommunications; and transportation. Easter Seals played a major role in the development and enactment of the ADA and continues to advocate for policies that empower people with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities rather than be limited by their disabilities.

Twenty years ago, a deaf person couldn’t order a pizza over the phone. A person who used a wheelchair couldn’t ride a lift-equipped city bus. But, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), times have changed for the better. But the promise of the ADA remains out of reach for the millions of adults with disabilities who are unemployed and want to work or who cannot live independently in their communities. 

Take Action: Tell your federal and statelawmakers to enact policies so that all Americans with disabilities can live the promise of the ADA.

Contacts

Fred Waddle
fred.waddle@nc.eastersealsucp.com

A big thank you to Borders/Waldenbooks for this great opportunity!

Contacts

Easter Seals UCP Web Team
webteam@nc.eastersealsucp.com

Every vote counts.  You can vote up to 10 times a day.  Please use at least one of your daily votes for this project -- better yet, use all ten!  You can vote for this project here.

Imagine the thrill a child receives when they are able to climb a rock wall on their own when they usually use a wheelchair as their main means of transportation; or providing a child with opportunity of going on a boat and fishing for the first time in their life.  You can help make this happen.

Contacts

Easter Seals UCP Web Team
webteam@nc.eastersealsucp.com

Connette was elected to the Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia Board of Directors in 2003 and became board chairman in January 2010. During his volunteer tenure with Easter Seals UCP, Connette has provided oversight to the nonprofit organization during a period of exceptional growth and expansion.

"Woody has and continues to provide visionary and strategic leadership for Easter Seals UCP," said the nonprofit CEO and president, C.L. Cochran. "His tenure on our board, combined with his experience in advocating for people with disabilities, insures we remain steadfast in our mission of helping people live full and abundant lives. Thousands of individuals with disabilities, and their families, have experienced a positive impact and improvement in the quality of their lives because of Woody."

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia
Raleigh, NC-based Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia is a lifelong partner to families managing disabilities and mental health challenges. The nonprofit serves more than 17,000 individuals and their families annually through an array of services. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia, please visit www.nc.eastersealsucp.com.

Contacts

• Jane Phillips
  jane.phillips@nc.eastersealsucp.com
  (919) 865-8724

Christie Foppiano, Interim Executive Director of MHA, stated: “The MHA Board of Directors is very pleased to begin the process of developing strategic non-profit alliances that will enhance access to care and provide a greater array of services options to the people of North Carolina.”
Cochran indicated that Easter Seals UCP’s alliance with the MHA may include a memorandum of agreement that will facilitate referrals between the two non-profits.  This, said Cochran, would allow individuals and families access to a wider variety of service options, such as individual therapy, housing, and community-based services for persons who deal with symptoms of severe and persistent mental illness.  The goal for the proposed alliance is the creation of a seamless array of supports that would afford persons with mental health challenges across North Carolina access to the services they need, when they need them.
A number of synergies exist between Easter Seals UCP and MHA:  both are mission-driven businesses that deal with the daily challenges presented by reduced reimbursement rates and increased service needs; both are advocacy organizations; both provide HUD  (Department of Housing and Urban Development) and private housing and community supports; and both provide Assertive Community Treatment (ACTT) Teams.  In addition, MHA also provides Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR), a form of rehabilitation that focus on self help, friendship, emotional support, acceptance, recreational activities, housing, and employment.

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia
Raleigh, NC-based Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia is a lifelong partner to families managing disabilities and mental health challenges. The nonprofit serves more than 17,000 individuals and their families annually through an array of services. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia, please visit www.nc.eastersealsucp.com

About the Mental Health Association in North Carolina
The Mental Health Association in North Carolina is the state’s oldest and largest private, non-profit mental health advocacy organization.  Its mission is to promote mental health, prevent mental illness, and eliminate discrimination against people with mental illness.  For more information on MHA, please visit www.mha-nc.org.

Contacts

• Jane Phillips
  jane.phillips@nc.eastersealsucp.com
  (919) 865-8724

Jun 10, 2010 – Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia, a nonprofit serving children and adults with disabilities and mental health challenges, recognized all the Shop & Care corporate partners that helped raise $2.6 million for the nonprofit during a campaign celebration on June 8th.  Business leaders from Food Lion Family of Banners, including Food Lion, Bloom, Reid’s and Bottom Dollar Food, and campaign participating food manufacturers attended the event held at Food Lion’s corporate headquarters in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Shop & Care is a 19-year partnership between Easter Seals UCP, Food Lion Family of Banners, Bottom Dollar Food and participating national food manufacturers to raise money for children and adults with disabilities.  Since 1991, Food Lion has raised more than $25 million to support these critical programs and services provided by Easter Seals affiliates in 11 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.

During the month-long campaign, over 200 specially marked food products were highlighted in Food Lion stores and advertisements promoting the Shop & Care campaign.  Customers were encouraged to make a $1 donation during check out – contributing more than $1.2 million to the campaign’s total.  In addition, several manufacturers initiated in-store product promotions in support of Easter Seals with special coupon booklets and packaging designs.

“The culmination of these giving efforts to support this campaign was extremely generous,” said Connie Cochran, president and CEO of Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia.  “We are so thankful for our continued partnership with Food Lion.  The customers and corporate support allowed this campaign to be a success and the money raised will have a tremendously positive impact on those with disabilities and mental health challenges served by Easter Seals.

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia
Easter Seals UCP (United Cerebral Palsy) North Carolina and Virginia is a lifelong partner to families managing disabilities and mental health challenges. The nonprofit serves more than 17,000 individuals and their families annually through an array of services. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia, please visit www.eastersealsucp.com.

Contacts

• Jane Phillips
  jane.phillips@nc.eastersealsucp.com
  (919) 865-8724

Charlotte, NC -- Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia Board Chair Edward G. (Woody) Connette of Charlotte was recently elected to the Board of Directors for United Cerebral Palsy Associations (UCPA) in Washington, D.C. The UCPA Board confirmed the selection of Connette on Friday, May 21.

A graduate of Davidson College and the University of North Carolina School of Law, Connette is a partner in the Charlotte law firm Essex Richards, PA.

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia
Raleigh, NC-based Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia is a lifelong partner to families managing disabilities and mental health challenges. The nonprofit serves more than 17,000 individuals and their families annually through an array of services. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia, please visit www.nc.eastersealsucp.com.

Contacts

• Jane Phillips
  jane.phillips@nc.eastersealsucp.com
  (919) 865-8724

In 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced a new provider classification, the CABHA, to go into effect July 1, 2010. The intention of the new classification is to create a more clinically-sound provider community with integrated medical and clinical oversight which assures the availability of an array of services locally and statewide, including outpatient counseling and medication management.

To gain CABHA certification, agencies must meet, at a minimum, the following qualifications: national accreditation for at least three years; endorsement as a provider of at least two child or adult services; enrollment as a provider of outpatient counseling and medication management services; and maintenance of organizational standards and practices in good standing with DHHS. In addition, a CABHA certified agency must employ a full-time Quality Improvement/Training Director, a full-time Clinical Director and a Medical Director.

The certification process is conducted jointly by the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and the Division of Medical Assistance and consists of: an initial application; a desk review at the state level; an on-site verification conducted by DMHDDSAS, DMA and staff from the Local Management Entity (LME) where the agency is to be certified; and a face-to-face clinical interview involving the agency’s Medical Director, Clinical Director and Quality Improvement Director and DHHS and LME staff.

When asked what effect the CABHA certification would have on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Virginia, Easter Seals UCP CEO and President C.L. Cochran said: “With the emphasis on evidence based services to be provided by CABHA, Easter Seals UCP will be able to work with other organizations in addition to providing more services ourselves to improve the quality of care for persons with mental illness across NC. We have invested in ensuring that we are increasingly holistic in providing treatment and recognize also the importance of housing and employment for persons with disabilities to be able to live, work, and play in all our communities.”

About Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia
Raleigh, NC-based Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia is a lifelong partner to people managing disabilities and mental health challenges. Annually, the nonprofit serves more than 17,000 individuals and their families providing more than 2.2 million hours of quality services and supports. Easter Seals UCP enhances the quality of life for individuals and maximizes their potential for engaging in their communities. For more information on Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia, please visit www.easterseals.com.

Contacts

• Jane Phillips
  jane.phillips@nc.eastersealsucp.com
  (919) 865-8724