Thursday, September 27, 2018   (Win/Place/Show Rooms)

7:30 am - 8:30 am      Registration Desk Opens - Back Stretch Lobby

7:30 am - 8:30 am      Hot and Cold Breakfast Buffet

8:30 am- 9:30 am       Welcome/Introductions and Opening Remarks

Erica F. Berman, Assistant Executive Director for Guardianship Services, The Arc New York

Katharine Wilson Conroy, Esq., Chairperson, The Arc New York Guardianship Committee

9:30 am - 10:45 am     Session #1: "Guardianship Reform: Where are we now and how did we get here?"

Presenters:     

Kate Jerian, Esq., General Counsel, The Arc New York, and Tara Anne Pleat, Esq., Wilcenski and Pleat, PLLC

In this session, the presenters will discuss and explain the "who" and "why" of efforts to reform Article 17-A, as well as the current status of those efforts.

10:45 am - 12:00 pm   Session #2: "How Can the NYSARC Trusts be Used to Promote a Person's Quality of Life?"

Presenters:     

Lisa K. Friedman, Esq., Attorney at Law and member of the Board of Trustees of the NYSARC Trusts; and,  Heidi J. Flatt, CPA, CGMA, Chief Operating Officer, NYSARC Trust Services

The presenters will discuss the basics of Supplemental Needs Trusts, including the who, what, when, how and why. Recent changes to the SSI Program Operations Manual System (POMS) rules related to Trusts will also be examined in addition to required documentation, the ABLE Accounts and Supplemental Needs Trusts. The speakers will further address Fiduciary obligations and Trust Distributions, while using a Fact Pattern to help explore these issues.

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm    Buffet Lunch (networking)

1:00 pm - 2:15 pm      Session #3: "End of Life Decisions and Aging in Place: The Challenges of Supporting Individuals with Increased Complex Medical Needs"

Moderator:     John H.T. Dow, Esq., Assistant General Counsel, The Arc New York

Presenters:     

Mr. Shannon Stockwell, Esq., Deputy Director Mental Hygiene Legal Service, Third Judicial Department

Joanne Delrossi, Guardianship Coordinator, Columbia (Coarc)

Shelley VanLare, RN, Quality Improvement Coordinator, The Arc Monroe

Eileen Stewart-Rooney, Guardianship Coordinator, AHRC Nassau Chapter

Some people with intellectual and developmental disabilities will experience chronic or acute medical conditions that might warrant feeding tubes, tracheostomies, and other mechanical or extraordinary interventions. These often prevent them from returning to or remaining in their natural environments because they need the additional supports and resources that only skilled nursing facilities can provide.

This panel presentation is intended to explore some of the challenges that advocates encounter when balancing the burden of intensive medical care with the quality of life of those they support. Panel members will discuss some of their most challenging or most successful experiences in helping people live and die with dignity. In particular, the panelists will work through several scenarios that address misconceptions and misunderstandings about the MOLST process and life-sustaining treatment.

Critical issues that might be addressed include but are not limited to:

• The purpose behind the MOLST process and the ethical – legal considerations it requires;
• The process of considering a 1750-b meeting and preparing the MOLST Checklist and MOLST Form
• The role of MHLS in 1750-b meetings and the factors they consider when objecting to or supporting life-sustaining treatment, and;
• The difficulty when a person requires a feeding tube or other mechanical devices and the residential provider is unable to support them at home.

2:15 pm – 3:30 pm      Session #4: "Supported Decision-Making:  Incorporating SDM Within the Advocacy Services and Supports We Provide"

Moderator:     Nancy Succoso, Guardianship Services/Quality Improvement, The Arc Westchester

Presenters:     

Lawrence R. Faulkner, Esq., General Counsel and Director of Corporate Compliance, The Arc Westchester

Desiree Loucks Baer, Assistant Executive Director at National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), Albany and New York Area

Sheila E. Shea, Director, Mental Hygiene Legal Service, Third Judicial Department

Supported Decision Making, we all use it.  We all seek the advice of those we trust to make every day and more significant decisions for ourselves. A friend to recommend a physician, another to offer advice on car dealerships or a good restaurant, or another to recommend a barber or hairdresser.  The individuals we support have a wide range of decision-making capacity. The old model defining capacity as “all or none” no longer meets the needs or reflects the abilities of the individuals we support, in truth it never did.  The question to be addressed by the panel is how to include supported decision making and other tools to assist decision making and not to inappropriately take the right to make decisions away from the individual, within the “guardianship” services already provided by so many of the chapters. Discussion will center around the supported decision making pilot project and its role-out upstate as well as cases of guardianship diversion and modification or removal.

3:30 pm - Adjournment