July newsletter 2009 community catalysts of california Farewell and Best Wishes Community Catalysts of California would like to thank Wendy Forkas for 15 years of dedication and service to consumers, staff and the company as a whole. She has made a great impact on this company and will surely continue to make a difference in the lives of many wherever she goes. We would like to wish her great success in her future. Thank you Wendy for all that you have done and will continue to do. You will be remembered and greatly missed. Community Catalysts of California Employee Anniversaries 9 Years Maria De Leon - SAL 8 Years Sharon Knivila - UK Luat Nguyen - SC 7 Years Jaime Rodriguez - MDO Luz Velarde - EC 6 Years Sandra Gayles - SC Lorie Krieger - SC 5 Years Estella Hill - RH 4 Years Diana Ragan - UK 3 Years Daniell Fox - RH Pearl Gallardo - FSO 2 Years Laurie Cable - SC Ronald Clayton - SD Gissell Lopez - SC Kasey Rabin - SM Michael Weidner - PH 1 Year Teddy Agbayani - PACE Wanda Brown - UK Alexander Bravo - SAL Mary Edgerly - PACE Alphere Johnson - RH Stacy Meyer - SM Christina Newcomb - SM Christina Prigmore - PACE Rahul Sharma - PACE PaNhia Xiong - FSO Advocacy in Action The Ukiah Daily Journal As lawmakers in Sacramento debated whether they could continue honoring all parts of the social contract with the state’s most vulnerable residents, a group of concerned local residents took to State Street Tuesday afternoon to protest proposed cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, Medi-Cal services and a string of others with an Advocacy in Action public event. “The consumers put this together,” said Area 1 Developmental Disability Program Board Executive Director Tom Montesonti. “This is their event. One of our jobs is to train in self-advocacy...When these consumers go to Sacramento and talk face-to-face the legislators really listen, but right now things are desperate for everybody.” The state faces an unprecedented drop in tax revenue and a widening budget deficit amid the deepest recession in decades. At stake are programs for the poor, elderly and frail, placing millions of people in the nation’s most populous state at risk of falling through a decades-old social safety net. “We’re trying to bring awareness that services are being cut across the board,” said Matt Senften, of Adult Behavioral Consultants, as he held a sign toward traffic. “The elderly, children, the disabled, everything is being cut. It’s just not right. These are people who need our help.” California’s $24.3 billion deficit is roughly a quarter of the general fund, which is the state’s main bank account for paying its daily expenses. For perspective, lawmakers could eliminate all funding for state prisons and the higher education system and still not save nearly enough money to address the shortfall. The budget gap is the biggest of any state. “What the Legislature is doing is hurting everybody,” said Ryan Larkin, of the Redwood Coast Regional Center, who organized the event. “Enough is enough. We’re having another rally next week in front of the courthouse.” Senften said that even with these staggeringly high numbers, withholding services from those who needed help the most would eventually cost the state even more money. “Emergencies always cost more,” he said. “We’ve seen cuts proposed all the time, but in my time involved in this, this is the worst I’ve seen.” As of Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had proposed cutting $16 billion from state programs, borrowing $2 billion from local governments and raiding other government accounts worth about $6 billion to close the deficit. “For example, they’re proposing cutting all dental coverage,” said Montesonti. “You can get into real trouble that way. You can develop heart problems from that. If you don’t have good verbal skills and you’re in pain you’re more likely to act out. Then you might be chemically restrained.” California spent 5.4 percent of all its state and federal funding on public assistance in 2007, compared to a national average of 1.7 percent. That doesn’t include Medicaid and other social service spending. Ironically, while many of the programs to assist the frail and needy have their roots in the Great Depression, they may be undone by another great economic downturn. “We’re seeing cuts to services for children and healthy babies,” said Montesonti. “First 5 (Mendocino) has seen a 50 percent cut. Research shows the more money you spend on children early, the less you spend on them later. We have to go upstream.” The elimination or significant reduction of social service programs also cuts against President Barack Obama’s economic recovery efforts and attempts to overhaul the nation’s health care market. “My personal opinion is that we should tax the wealthy the way Reagan did,” said Montesonti. “People’s lives are going to change. Because of these changes we don’t even know how to be advocates any more.” By ROB BURGESS The Daily Journal Redwood Coast Ukiah Ukiah June went by very quickly in Ukiah. It started out nice and cool and ended with temperatures in the high nineties. Ukiah has many options for summer fun. A few of our favorites are the Concert in the Park, Midnight Movie Madness, and barbecues at the lake. A group of staff and consumers went to Airport Day at the Ukiah Airport. They enjoyed a pancake breakfast. It was a lot of fun looking at different types of planes and watching the air shows. Some of the consumers took turns working at a booth for U.V.A.H., a very popular day program in Ukiah. Staff and consumers planned and attended a barbeque at the City Park. We are working on getting the Advisory Committee up and going again. Hopefully we will be able to plan some fun events, starting with attending a San Francisco Giants game. On the 30th many consumers and staff from our agency and many others attended an Advocacy in Action rally in front of the Area 1 Developmental Disability board. Consumer Harry H. of Plum House made the front page of our local paper. Happy Birthday to employee Electra Gemmill and consumer Fini T.! A few words for Wendy... Wendy, Your authentic leadership and support through the years will not be forgotten. You brought all our company values to life. I wish you the best trailblazer! -Claudia Southern California El CentrovSan DiegovSan Marcos El Centro We would like to send a big congratulations to our IL consumers Everado and Victoria who were Married on May 29th. The office has been busy hiring to keep up with our program growth. We would like to welcome our newest staff Tarah Slaughter who will be a DSA. San Diego We continue to receive referrals. This month we would like to welcome 2 of our newest Supported Employment consumers, Moriah and Brian. Welcome to you both! San Marcos We would like to welcome our newest DSA, Jennifer Bachand. She has all ready made quite an impression on management and we’re excited to see what kind of impression she has on her consumers. Additionally, Supported Living Case Manager Teri Geston has been going to supported living assessments. Stay tuned to hear about new SL consumers coming soon. Thank you to the Butterfly Club! Thank you Butterfly Club!!! Two Independent Living consumers have been awarded Request for Proposal funds. Kesha W. is receiving a new mattress after using her old mattress for 10+ years. Kelly M. and John R. are building a bedroom in their mobile home for their two year old son. The project is expected to be done this month. Wheelchair Regatta Harbor Cruise South Bay Santa Clara Santa Clara may have not have been in the newsletter for a couple of months, but we have certainly been busy! Here are some of the things that have been going on with us: We celebrated Ann Marie Miller’s 10-year anniversary last month. We also named Laurie Cable Employee of the Quarter and would like to recognize David Bergheim for receiving the P.R.I.D.E. award back in April. Congratulations to you all and thank you for your dedicated service! We are currently having an “Opportunity Drawing” in which 4 baskets with different themes have been made. Tickets are $1.00 a piece and the 4 different baskets are as follows: A Gardening basket valued over $80.00• A Date Night Basket valued over $80.00• A Beach Basket valued over $90.00• A Football basket valued over $80.00• We had a CAC Walk-a-Thon in April and raised $367.00. Altogether the consumer’s and staff walked over 300 laps around Civic Center Park. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed lunch, a movie, popcorn and refreshments back at the office. Everyone had a great time and we are so proud of how much was raised! The San Jose Giants donated 10 tickets to us for their 6/26/09 game. To thank the consumers who participated in the Walk-a-Thon, they were invited to go to the game! A few words for Wendy... I will greatly miss Wendy and would like to thank her for the opportunity to grow here at Community Catalysts. To me Wendy has been a mentor, teacher, a sounding board and much more. Wendy has shown me how to be an effective listener, communicator and supervisor. Wendy has given me guidance and shown me where I have needed to grow as well as given me positive feedback. Wendy has given me the opportunity to work under GREAT managers. I do not have the words that can show how much I will miss and appreciate Wendy. I do wish her all the best and thank her from the bottom of my heart. I would not be where I am today if it were not for Wendy Forkas and Community Catalysts of California. Sincerely, Denise Mansfield Central Valley Merced Our Social Rec. crowd and staff had a great month fishing and barbecuing at the Lake and shopping in Gilroy at the outlets. Some congratulations are in order: We would like to congratulate Nicole Dahlgren, Case Manager for her 1 year anniversary. We initiated her by making her get under the table during an earthquake drill. Also congratulations goes out to Phillip (Dion) Jenkins, Direct Service Aide, on his marriage to Brittanee. Happy 21st Birthday to Jose Cortes, Direct Service Aide. We will all miss Laura Johnson and Wendy Forkas. Thank you for all their hard work and devotion to the company. We wish them both the best. Consumer Anniversaries 18 Years Nick. A - SM 17 Years Russell T. - SD 16 Years Carol F. - SM 14 Years Eduardo B. - EC Mary M. - EC Dora N. - EC Charles T. - EC Rene S. - EC Karen R. - FSO James C. - SM 12 Years David H. - SM Ryan L. - SM 11 Years Mollie W. - EC 10 Years Greg M. - SAL Barbara D. - SC Raymond R. - EC 7 Years Albert P. - UK Joylene L. - SAL Jami S. - SD William D. - STK 6 Years Joe L. - SM Nathan H . - SM 5 Years Lowella M . -FSO Monica C. - FSO 4 Years Anthony H. - MCD Kurt W. - MCD Jay R. - SC Samer M . - SAL 3 Years Talayeh E. - SM Donald S. - SC Raymond B. -MCD Jose A. - SM Yu-tse K. - SC Charles M. - FSO 2 Years Juanita G. - MCD Bunseng S. - MCD 1 Year Glenn P. - EC Twila W. - MCD Danny D. - MDO Leonel S. - STK Healthy Communication can Help Ease Workplace Conflicts Success on the job means liking your work environment as well as liking your work. Maintaining harmony with the people you work with is critical. The key to building constructive relationships is good communication. Is there someone who rubs you the wrong way? Better communication can help. The first step toward improving things is to forget where the fault lies and to realize you can only control yourself. That could mean changing your attitude. For personality conflicts, an effective strategy is to: Make a list of the person’s abilities, talents, positive character traits and personal interests. • Examples: energetic, good with details, punctual, loyal, loves music, etc. Choose a common ground and share some thoughts or information. Once you start • talking openly about something, you create a path toward positive interaction in other areas. For other conflicts, rather than voice a complaint without a remedy, try presenting a new proposal or solution to the problem. Then you will be perceived as a problem solver, not a problem maker. When communicating your position, choose the right time, right place and right mood. Try not to say something that could make matters worse. Learn to be positive. Try not to gossip or talk negatively about others; be complimentary and encouraging; rely on humor whenever possible. These are small efforts that go a long way toward making everyone feel better, including you. For more information, visit MagellanHealth.com or you can access our Employee Assistance Program by calling Toll Free: 1-800-523-5668.