00:00:00 Speaker 1

Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Julie Andrews Krieger, director of the Taking Control program, and I'm your host, Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Julie.

00:00:15 Speaker 2

Thank you once again for having me, Ernie.

00:00:17 Speaker 1

It's our pleasure. For some time, you've been directing the Taking Control program and the largest aspect of which is Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Services (CDPAS) for people that might not be familiar with it, if you could briefly mention how that functions?

00:00:36 Speaker 2

Certainly. So, Ernie, the CDPAS program has been operating for over a dozen years at WNYIL and it is a consumer directed program whereby our consumers select the staff that they wish to take care of them. They are called personal assistants. Very similarly, we have recently introduced the Veteran Directed Care Program, which is funded solely by the Veterans Administration. A partner of the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in Buffalo, and Batavia, WNYIL received the sole contract for Veteran Directed Care with the VA. The Veteran Directed Care model was new to Western New York. It has demonstrated success in self-directed care by veterans across the nation, So, what does this mean? Veteran Directed Care assists disabled veterans by providing an alternative way of receiving Home Care Services that allows you to have more control over who provides the care and how it is provided. The Veteran Directed Care program authorizes a monthly flexible spending budget to buy goods and services based on the needs assessment for a disabled veteran to live safely at home. That is veterans participating in this program are able to hire their family and friends to provide for their personal care needs, or to provide support to their family caregivers. The Veteran Directed Care veteran is provided with a person-centered counselor. In the case of our program, it is someone who is another army veteran and the reason why we selected him to provide this service is that he has the experience in both military life as a veteran and in human services.

00:02:36 Speaker 2

And this is to ensure that a trust-built rapport is built with our veterans. His job is to interface directly with the veterans and to help them in assessing their needs in their homes and in the communities. And then the veterans and our counselor work together to build a spending plan to identify the costs for their personal assistance, and obtain any additional goods and services that the veteran requires to improve their quality of life in their home and in community. So, what that might look like is if they need a snow removal service that's in addition to aid service and perhaps goods might look like something like adaptive kitchen equipment so that they continue to work on their own meal preparation by themselves.

00:03:28 Speaker 2

So, one of the focuses of this program is for us to reach the more underserved rural parts of Western New York, where veterans face provider shortages and geographic and distance barriers, as well as there's limited broadband coverage, which also impairs their ability to participate in telehealth programs and there are other social determinants of health relative to rural living experiences.

00:03:59 Speaker 2

So, we are largely focused, even though we're here in Buffalo and we do have, we will have veterans in Niagara that we will be focused on services in Erie, Niagara, Livingston, Wyoming, Genesee, Orleans, Allegheny, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, all very rural areas.

00:04:22 Speaker 1

Boy, you've really made this an easy interview for me, I got to say. 

00:04:27 Speaker 1

But we're running low on time. I'm sure people will have questions. How can they get a hold of you?

00:04:31 Speaker 2

They can get a hold of me at the agency 716-836-0822 ext. 151 or e-mail jandrews@wnyil.org

00:04:46 Speaker 1

Thanks so much for being with us, Julie

00:04:49 Speaker 2

Thank you, Ernie.

Speaker 1

You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Julie Andrews Krieger, director of the Taking Control program at WNYIL. And I've been your host, Ernie Churchwell.