Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

July/August, 1999

New Hampshire’s First National Disability Professionals Week
by Paula Christifoletti-Bailey, NH DDS Specialist

(Editor’s Note: Caution! The enthusiasm and excitement of this new NADE member could be infectious!)

FOR THE FIRST TIME, the NH DDS observed National Disability Professionals Week. Presently, NH has ten NADE members and new members are enrolling every day!! I am a new NADE member and I represented my DDS at the NADE Albuquerque NM and Columbia MD training conferences in April and June, 1999. To quote Anne Graham, ‘I am hooked on NADE!...” and I am so eager to share my enthusiasm with the other DDSers here in Concord, NH!!! On Monday, June 14, the first day of National Disability Professionals week, my director Russell Day called a supervisors’ meeting and I shared highlights from both conferences with Russell and with his fellow administrators. On Wednesday, June 16, a first of its kind Disability Professionals Week celebration took place in the Conference Room. The eight new NADE members were invited to sit up front and they were each given pink carnations and a copy of the certificate that Brenda Kaselis and Debbie Thomas presented to me at the Awards Ceremony in Columbia, MD. Next, I made my presentation to the DDS staff, underlining the many advantages of becoming a NADE member. A lively debate followed. I also distributed Jeffrey Price’s handout from both conferences, entitled “What has NADE done lately?” Along with a NADE membership report from March/April Advocate, each employee at the gathering was introduced to the Internet website page, www.nade.org and thy were encouraged to use the NADE website regularly to keep up with all NADE news. Every day of Disability Professionals Week, at least twice a day over our VERSA e-mail system, I sent out a “mini-highlight message” which came from the Albuquerque and Columbia NADE training conferences. The real fun began on Wednesday, June 16. After my presentation to the DDS staff, I distributed a grab Bag of goodies which I had accumulated from the two conferences. The gifts given away included an Albuquerque canvas hand bag made by a local New Mexico blind association, a Baton Rouge DDS cookbook, a picture-card/biography series of the White House and its inhabitants, a travelogue of Baltimore, and a UFL key chain! On June 17, I proudly wore the NADE Columbia conference T-shirt that Anne Graham gave to me at the Columbia conference after my panel presentation regarding the Rationale Summary. Along with the T-shirt, I wore the “red hot chili pepper” bandanna which all of us “party-hardy” goers received at the Los Amigos Round-up in Albuquerque! Because New Hampshire is one of the ten prototype states, our DDS staff is gaining valuable skills through an intensive training program in Rational Summary writing, one-on-one claimant conferencing, and RFC writing. Since early 1998, we have been heavily committed to the Prototype process. We have reworked and refined the Rationale Summary and we are proud of the fact that this part of the process has enabled us to achieve 100% accuracy in the country, regarding the decision that are made! In early Spring of 1999, representatives from the Boston Regional Office awarded us with the Commissioner’s Citation for excellence in the development of the Rational Summary as part of the Prototype process. The training we have received here in New Hampshire will hold us in good stead as we enter the 21st century. The potential contributions of the NH DDS to NADE are immeasurable. I guess I am biased, but we do have an extraordinary group of physicians, examiners, support staff and administrators who all work together as a team to put forth the best product possible. The celebration of National Disability Professionals Week was timely and an appropriate way to reinforce our pride in where we have come from and, more importantly, to anticipate the exciting journey ahead that will lead us into the next century. I want to take this opportunity to thank the following individuals who have made my initial experiences with NADE so pleasurable and enriching. To Rebecca Calvert, who was the first friendly face I saw when I arrived in Albuquerque in April! She went out of her way to make our stay pleasant. The trip to Santa Fe was the icing on the cake! Thank you Rebecca and the DDSers from NM! To Anne Graham, who got me “hooked on NADE!” Thank you Anne for your encouragement to continue being active in this great organization. Thank you for inviting me to participate on the Rationale Summary panel. You are truly an inspiration to us all. To Gene Jerry, who was the most with the most in Maryland. You took Charlie and me on a magnificent whirl-wind afternoon tour of Baltimore, including a sampling of the best Blue Crab in the area, a moving visit to the Blacks in Wax Museum and a stroll through Fells Point, as well. To Charles Alexander for the best baked beans in town! You all put out an extraordinary meal for us every night! Complements to the chefs, including Charles. To Brenda Kaselis, who has been communicating back and forth to me on e-mail regarding NH becoming a chapter, our staff becoming certified NADE members, and other issues that our membership will be discussing at our meetings in the months ahead. Also, thank you to Debbie Thomas for your assistance in some of these matters. To Susan LaMorte, who sent me NADE mini-posters and other motivational materials to get us going in New Hampshire! To Debi Chowdhury, whose bubbly enthusiasm is inspirational and infectious. You have inspired me to carry the torch and to turn on some NADE light where morale at this time is so low due to an inordinate amount of work and little promise of upgrading. I encourage all of colleagues that NADE is a professional organization that could be helpful in advancing our cause but a strong membership is the first step! Last, but not least, thank you to all of the NADE gals that came to visit us last fall. You spread the word, and it caught on. Hopefully, you will see more of us NH DDSers in the weeks, months, and years ahead! Next stop...DENVER, OCTOBER ’99 !!