“Dining Makes A Difference” is a success.

January 19, 2012 (Durham, NC) – Ruby Tuesday’s “Dining Makes a Difference” fundraiser for RHA Howell’s Bridges Community Alternative Program for Children program (CAP/C) in December raised enough money to grant a special wish to a medically fragile child.

On Wednesday, December 14, Ruby Tuesday’s near Southpoint Mall in Durham donate 20 percent of its dining receipts that day to grant a wish to a child in the RHA Bridges CAP/C program. The fundraiser was part of Ruby Tuesday’s GiveBack Program.

“Everyone at RHA Bridges wants to thank the restaurant’s general manager Mark Gibbons and

L-R: John Gibbons, Director of Case Management; Patti Weaver with A2Z; and Mark Gibbons, General Manager for Ruby Tuesday.

his wonderful staff for hosting the Give Back night,” said Debbie Valentine, marketing director for RHA Howell, Inc. “We’d also like to thank Patty Weaver with A2Z Home Medical for sponsoring the Bridges staff lunch, and all of the families and friends who dined at Ruby Tuesday that day to support the Bridges program.”

RHA Bridges serves as a “bridge” between families, needed services, the Department of Social Services, the Division of Medical Assistance, physicians, and therapists. Bridges helps to coordinate the work of home health professionals that make CAP/C services happen for children with medically complex needs through age 20. Bridges is the go-to source for families of children who need help in navigating the system of care and support. For more information visit www.rhabridges.com.

RHA Howell is a non-profit statewide organization that has been supporting children and adults with disabilities and their families for nearly 40 years. For more information visit www.rhahowell.org.

For more information on Ruby Tuesday’s GiveBack program, go to www.rubytuesday.com/giving-back.

Two grants will help the center implement new opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity.

January 16, 2011 (Polkton, NC) — The Anson Children’s Center in Polkton, NC, a five-star, developmental day center for children, including special needs children, recently received two important grants: an “Eat Smart, Move More” Community Grant, and a Shape NC grant.

“Eat Smart, Move More” grants provide funding to local communities to implement strategies that reverse the rising tide of obesity and chronic disease among North Carolinians by increasing opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity.

“Shape NC,” a groundbreaking initiative supported by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, tackles childhood obesity by focusing on young children in childcare and community settings. In partnership with the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI), Shape NC helps centers and communities create naturalized outdoor learning environments that support child development, physical activity, and healthy eating. NLI’s playground designs also help connect children to nature.

The Anson Children’s Center will use the grants to renovate the Center’s playground and purchase new equipment.

Why so much focus on childhood obesity? According to a 2011 report by the Trust for American’s Health, North Carolina has the 11^th highest childhood obesity rate (18.6%) in the nation, and more than 31 percent of NC children ages two to four are considered at risk for becoming over weight.

“Young children’s earliest experiences with healthy eating and physical activity will promote a lifetime of healthy behavior,” said Sam Hedrick, president of RHA Howell, Inc., which owns and operates the Anson Children’s Center. “We are delighted that the Anson Center was chosen to part of this very exciting initiative.”

The Anson Center is ranked in the top 25^th percent of North Carolina’s childcare centers, serving a five star pre-school program. Anson is licensed to serve 66 children and is located at 383 Cotton Street, Polkton, NC  29135. Ginny Davis serves as executive director. For more information on RHA Howell’s Anson Children Center, call 704.272.7076.

For more information on Shape NC, visit www.smartstart.org. For more information on North Carolina’s Eat Smart, Move More initiative, go to http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/.

For more information on RHA Howell, Inc., visit www.rhahowell.org.

RHA Howell announces annual fundraiser.

December 14, 2011 (Greensboro, NC) — RHA Howell has announced that the popular lighted ceramic Christmas trees made by people with disabilities are available again this year for purchase online.

Available in green or white, the ceramic Christmas trees stand about 12 inches tall and feature tiny lights on the branches that are illuminated by a bulb inside the tree.

People with disabilities who are served by RHA Howell’s Greensboro day and community programs made all of the trees. Proceeds from sales will benefit RHA’s developing arts immersion program.

“Our Christmas trees have been a popular fundraiser for many years,” said special events coordinator Debbie Valentine. “They’re a lovely holiday decoration and our clients love making them.”

The ceramic trees are $25 each plus shipping and handling ($15 via UPS ground). Or they can be picked up at RHA Howell Greensboro, 1508 Gatewood Ave., Greensboro, NC, 27405. Orders should be placed online at www.rhahowell.org by clicking on the Christmas trees icon.

For more information contact Kandy John at 336-273-6105, email: kjohn@rhanet.org; or Roger Jones at 252-521-1131, email: rojones@rhanet.org.

The Greensboro day and community programs are part of RHA Howell’s statewide service to children and adults with disabilities and their families. For more information visit www.rhahowell.org.

To secure internship placements for students.

December 13, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — Bridges, RHA Howell’s Community Alternative Program for Children (CAP/C), has announced its new partnership with the Shaw University Department of Social Work’s internship program.

“Bridges is honored to partner with such an outstanding university and looks forward to continue this relationship into future,” said John Gibbons, program director.

The program allows Social Work students to interact with clients of the agency or organization where they’re placed, to provide coordination of family support, and to learn about community resources.

Students in the program work a minimum of 16 hours per week in the field agency to which they’re assigned, 240 hours per semester for a total of 480 hours.

The first intern from Shaw, Salima Hines, began at the Bridges program in September. Manina McNeil, assistant professor and coordinator of field education at Shaw, worked with the RHA Bridges staff to get Hines the internship opportunity.

RHA Howell is a statewide, non-profit organization that that has been working with children and adults with disabilities for nearly 40 years. The RHA Bridges program provides the “bridge” between families and services they need, working with the Department of Social Services, the Division of Medical Assistance, physicians, therapists, and in-home care providers.

Bridges also provides CAP/C services for medically fragile children through age 21. For more information visit www.rhabridges.com.

For more information on Shaw University’s Social Work department, contact Manina McNeill at 919-333-4652.

Money Follows the Person (MFP) is a state demonstration project that assists people who live in inpatient facilities to move into their own communities with supports. The project’s intent is to allow North Carolinians to have greater choice about where they receive their long-term supports.

This marks the first time that MFP has assisted in transitioning a child with complex medical needs

L-R: Maria and her twin sister Nicole.

back to her home through CAP-C. Much of the credit goes to Holly Lemieux, Executive Director of Hilltop Home, for recognizing that this particular child was ready to return home, and for getting CAP-C to assist in helping the family re-unite.

“This 18-month partnership with Hilltop Home and RHA Howell CAP/C has been a true labor of love,” Lemieux said. “After nine years, this family is realizing their dream of having Maria at home where she belongs. Many thanks to Lena Robertson, RHA Howell CAP/C case manager, for her advocacy in making this happen.”

The RHA Bridges staff has been working closely for months with Trish Farnham, Project Director, and Christy Blevins, Assistant Director for the MFP project, to make this family’s dream a reality.

“Our CAP-C professional team has been working diligently to identify the needs this child will have upon her discharge to ensure a seamless and successful transition back to home,” said John Gibbons, Director of Bridges CAP-C Case Management. “Our case managers also helped to organize home and vehicle modifications to make the environment ready for the child’s return home.”

The modifications included widening doorways, installing a ceiling lift to move Maria safely about the home, building an entry ramp, and modifying the family van to accommodate her wheelchair.

“It has been quite an undertaking for our case managers,” said Gibbons, “but one that has also been rewarding for all of us.”

MFP provided funding of $23,000 to help make this dream a reality. The funds were approved in advance to ensure that the needed modifications could be in working order prior to Maria’s discharge from Hilltop Home and before the effective date for her CAP-C services to begin.

For more information on North Carolina’s Money Follows The Person program: http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dma/medicaid/MFP.htm.

About RHA Bridges:

RHA Bridges, a program within RHA Howell, Inc., serves as a “bridge” between families, needed services, the Department of Social Services, the Division of Medical Assistance, physicians, and therapists. CAP-C Bridges helps to coordinate the work of home health professionals who provide care for children with medically complex needs through age 21. For more information on the Bridges CAP-C Case Management program, visit www.rhabridges.com or call 919-803-2960.

Chef Pat Walston helps 17 young men and women prepare an Italian menu.

September 23, 2011 (Goldsboro, NC) — Pat Walston, Corporate Chef for House-Autry Mills volunteered her time recently to conduct a cooking class at RHA Howell’s Magnolia Place in Goldsboro, NC.

Magnolia Place is a 24-hour supported living program for people with disabilities. Its mission is to provide quality training and residential services for selected students of the Work Source East Vocational Rehabilitation Facility.

Seventeen Magnolia Place residents attended the hands-on cooking class to learn how

Chef Pat (center) and her Magnolia Place assistants. L-R: Cynthia Daye, Tasha Howard, and Vonda Ashford.

to prepare an Italian menu.

But first, Chef Pat taught the group about food safety and handling. Then she divided them into three smaller groups: one to prepare the appetizers, one to prepare the entrees, and another to prepare dessert.

With assistance from Magnolia Place staff members, Chef Pat demonstrated techniques of cooking as the group prepared Caprese salad skewers (appetizers), two hand-made deep-dish pizzas, hand-made meatball subs (the students prepared the meatballs one by one), and a chocolate brownie trifle for dessert. In the process, they learned how to prepare an actual meal and how to work together as a team in the kitchen.

Afterward, they all sat together and enjoyed the meal.

Making meatballs

“We are so grateful to Chef Pat for donating her time to the Magnolia program and for giving back to her community,” said RHA Howell’s marketing director Debbie Valentine, who joined in the fun as a member of “Team Brownie” to make dessert. “Some of the guys were a bit skeptical at first, but after feasting on the Italian-inspired meal, they all wanted to learn more about cooking!”

Chef Pat Walston, who lives in Goldsboro, is a regular participant in RHA Howell’s annual “Epicurious Vino Challenge” fundraiser held each summer at Hinnant Family Vineyards in Pine Level, NC. The challenge requires professional chefs to use a Hinnant

The meatball sub team

wine as a main ingredient in a signature dish. Chef Pat received an Honorable Mention in the People’ Choice category.

Magnolia Place is located at 1401 Salem Church Road, Goldsboro, NC 27530. For more information about the Magnolia Place program, contact Charlotte Wooten, Residential Director at 919-734-9039 or visit us online at www.rhahowell.org.

Made-from-scratch pizzas.

"Team Brownie" prepares dessert.

“Other people have great stories about big things that have happened to them,” Cohen, 40, says, “but for me, it’s like the label on a sweetener packet that just really catches my attention.”

The book is a collection of humor columns Cohen wrote for several newspapers when he lived in California as well as new ones he’s written since he moved to Cary, NC, in 2008.

But there’s more to this book than a good belly laugh. Cohen will donate the bulk of the proceeds from sales to The Miracle League of the Triangle, a baseball league for kids with special needs, including his own son, Max.

“Max’s various physical and mental challenges prohibit him from participating in a lot of fun, regular kid stuff,” Cohen said. “The League is one of the few places where all of those barriers and limitations are magically wiped away. It’s a place where Max gets to have some independence, to leave Mom and Dad in the stands and head out to the field. And we have made a lot of great friends, people who understand the challenges of being the parents of a special needs child and can offer advice, support, etc. After receiving all of that, my wife Michele and I wanted to give something back.”

Cohen is selling Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane at Miracle League baseball games in Cary, through CreateSpace (https://www.createspace.com/3638597) and on Amazon. The book is also currently available at All Booked Up book store in Apex (104-B Salem Street) and at Chambers Arts in Cary (200 South Academy Street). An ebook version will be available soon and will be announced on the book’s website www.stayingcrazy.com.

For more information on Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane and author Cris Cohen, go to www.stayingcrazy.com.

For more information on the Miracle League of the Triangle, visit www.miracleleagueofthetriangle.com.

The North Carolina non-profit is included on the website Disability.gov.

September 2, 2011  — The White House has listed RHA Howell, Inc., as a primary employment resource in North Carolina for people with disabilities on its dedicated website www.Disability.gov.

RHA Howell is a statewide, non-profit organization that provides a host of services to help people with disabilities and their families make choices to live more independently. Among those services are vocational rehabilitation facilities, the Supported Employment Network (SENET) for people with disabilities and the businesses that hire them, employment services under the Social Security Administration’s Ticket-to-Work program, residential services for children and adults, and “Bridges” a community alternative program for children.

Disability.gov offers the public access to information on a variety of topics, from finding employment, financial aid and housing, to laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities. As part of the sites service to people with disabilities, it lists organizations, by state, that provide these services. RHA Howell is one of the selected 20 organizations listed at www.disability.gov/state/north_carolina/employment.

“People with disabilities have the same dreams as everyone else,” said RHA Howell president Sam Hedrick. “They want to work. They want to earn the same wages for the same work as everyone else. They want to secure employment that provides benefits, and they want to be considered for opportunities to advance in their careers. We believe that everyone who wants to work ought to have the opportunity to work — to find and retain gainful employment, given the appropriate supports.” 

For more information about RHA Howell, visit www.rhahowell.org. For specific information on SENET, visit http://rhasenet.org.

NC Providers Council to hold annual conference in October.

August 29, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — The North Carolina Providers Council will hold its annual conference, this year entitled “The Change Imperative: Retooling to Meet the Challenge,” October 4-6 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel and Conference Center at Four Seasons in Greensboro, NC.

According to Executive Director, Bob Hedrick, this year’s event is more critical than ever before.

“North Carolina’s health care system is confronting its most sweeping transformation in decades and it is having a dramatic impact on the people we support. We need to be armed with the information and tools needed to meet these sweeping federal and state changes.” he said. “The NC General Assembly has imposed provider cuts leaving people with disabilities in a compromised state. Medicaid costs are rising and we have been given an ‘imperative to change.’ We must find even more creative ways to support people with limited resources.”

The NC Providers Council preserves and promotes access to quality services for people with intellectual/ developmental/ physical disabilities, mental illness and substance abuse who require support to remain in their communities.

“The conference offers three days of the most up-to-date and relevant information critical to all providers,” said Richard Anderson, president of the council’s Board of Directors and Director of Governmental Affairs & Strategic Development for True Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., “information they need to thrive in the changing world of providing support services for people across in North Carolina. A stronger, more collaborative provider network is essential.”

According to Anderson, conference sessions are “specifically designed to address many of the questions and challenges providers are facing during these new economic and political times as we move to managed care.”

Sam Hedrick, president of RHA Howell, and program chair for this year’s conference, adds that topics range from “The Change Imperative: Retooling To Meet The Challenge;” to “Legislative, Budget, and Policy Changes Affecting Providers;” and “Affordable Care Act – Progress, Challenges, Opportunities.”  Among the 25 speakers lined up for this year’s conference are Lanier Cansler, Secretary of the NC Department of Health & Human Services; Worth Bolton, Clinical Instructor at the UNC-CH School of Social Work; Pam Shipman, CEO of PBH and Dr. Pam Silberman, CEO/ President, NC Institute of Medicine.

The 2011 conference provides attendees the opportunity to earn continuing education units (CEUs) through the Council’s partnership with the UNC School of Social Work, Jordan Institute for Families.

The NC Providers Council is also accepting sponsorships for the event.  Any agency, organization, business or individual that would like to sponsor the conference can do so on the website: www.ncproviderscouncil.org.

Registration and a complete conference agenda are also available at the website. For more information, go to www.ncproviderscouncil.org or call 919-784-0230