MADE IN THE SHADE Page 12
Volume 29, Number 7
July 10, 2018
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Crisis line is closed, but help is available
PAID
TWIN CITIES, MN PERMIT NO. 4766 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
by Access Press staff
SERVICES To page 4
Disability is not a brave struggle or 'courage in the face of adversity.' Disability is an art. It's an ingenious way to live."
HARRY MEYERING CENTER
Kyle, activities coordinator and Richard, a client at Mankato's Harry Meyering Center, are among the many Minnesotans watching cuts to services.
Emergency bid fails; cuts take effect July 1 to waiver services by Jane McClure Tough times are ahead for many Minnesotans with disabilities and their service providers. Efforts to stop a seven percent cut to waiver services fell short June 28. U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright issued a 13page ruling that allows the cuts to go forward, starting July 1 and continuing to December 31, 2019.
Wright ruled against a group of four people representing a larger group of plaintiffs as well as the service provider coalitions Minnesota Organization for Habilitation and Rehabilitation (MOHR) and ARRM. A hearing on an emergency injunction to stop the cut took place June 27 in federal court in St. Paul, with disability community and state government representatives presenting arguments.
CUTS To page 5
Neil Marcus NEWS DIGEST Reach for Resources leader honored Page 12 Community mourns losses Page 3 Fund suicide prevention Page 4 Use our Directory of Organizations to find resources Page 7-10
Getting children safely to school is training goal by Access Press staff Students with disabilities in the Mankato area will be able to join their schoolmates when walking or biking to classes in the future. Educators in that part of the state enjoyed a June 28 training day focused on safe walking and bicycling for students of all abilities. The expanded Walk! Bike! Fun! Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Curriculum was presented by a coalition of groups led by the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The training will provide lesson plans for students. Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is helping the partners to provide equitable pedestrian and bicycle safety education for all students. It is the first such curriculum available in the nation. “Minnesota is taking another important step to expand access to physical activity opportunities for students of all abilities with this expanded curriculum,” said Kristine Igo, director of the MDH Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives. Twenty-five educators participated in curriculum training with BikeMN at Immanuel Lutheran School in Mankato. Numerous organizations worked together to develop an adaptive toolkit for the
THANK YOU
trainings. They will use feedback from teachers to refine the curriculum and training over the next three years. Statewide Health Improvement Partnership communities work to bring Walk! Bike! Fun! into local schools by applying for teacher trainings, lending bike fleets and helmets, and supporting local training opportunities. The objective is to continue to build local momentum for biking and walking education. Youth use the streets for bicycling every day. Yet roads can be hazardous, and children are not formally educated Educators from southern Minnesota are developing a biking to maneuver skillfully on and walking to school program for students with disabilities. the streets. With lessons from this curriculum, local Walk! Bike! Fun! Pedestrian and Bicycle volunteers learn what they need to help Safety Curriculum. Collaborating teachers educate students about traffic organizations include MDH, Olmsted rules and regulations, potential hazards County Public Health, PartnerSHIP and skills needed to walk and bike safely. 4 Health, Courage Kenny Institute, Studies show that children who walk Minneapolis Public Schools, BikeMN, and bicycle to school are more physically Twin Cities Adaptive Cycling, Blue Earth active, have improved mental health County Public Health and area schools. SCHOOL To page 5 Project collaborators rolled out the
Access Press thanks this month's issue sponsor MRCI!
MDH
One more resource for Minnesotans in mental health crisis is gone. As June ended, Canvas Health shut down its crisis hotline, Crisis Connection. Like many other health needs statewide, funding for Crisis Connection was involved in the ongoing dispute between Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders. Canvas Health had sought $1 million to support the crisis call center, but that funding and the rest of the supplemental budget bill fell to Dayton’s veto pen in May. During the 2018 legislative session, Canvas Health, the Oakdale-based nonprofit agency that operates the crisis services, requested long-term sustainable state funding to continue its services. “We are disappointed that these crisis services will not be funded by the state,” said Canvas Health CEO Matt Eastwood. “Our primary concern is for the health and safety of Minnesotans who rely on Crisis Connection as a lifeline during difficult times.” After June 30, calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273TALK) that were previously routed to Canvas Health’s Crisis Connection for triage and counseling will now be routed to another state that accepts overflow calls. People who call the Crisis Connection number (612-3796363) will be redirected to other community resources. Canvas Health is encouraging those who distribute the Crisis Connection number to remove it from their printed materials, web sites and other communications. “We regret that making these changes is the only option we have to maintain Canvas Health’s other mission-driven services, including providing mental health, substance use, mobile crisis, and emergency social services to those who have the most complex needs in our community,” Eastwood said. Crisis Connection’s phone lines received about 50,000 calls per year. About half of those calls came from people contemplating suicide or in the midst of mental health crises. Canvas Health provides services to people struggling with mental illness, substance use, crisis, unstable housing and trauma. The nonprofit community health agency offers more than 35 programs at seven metro clinics. The agency acts as a safety net provider, serving people with complex needs who may not otherwise be able to afford care. The hotline nearly closed last summer after a similar budget request failed, but Canvas Health diverted federal grant money to keep it afloat and received other support. The shutdown comes amid increases