Ombudsman Update

The P&A Ombudsman Project has completed the first two quarters of its grant cycle. The project provides advocacy for consumers of state funded services who have a developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury. The grant is funded by the New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

After a long search, the Ombudsman Project is pleased to have hired a half-time advocate in Roswell, Dixie Kruse, who will cover programs in Chaves and Dona Ana counties as well as the three ICFs-MR in Carlsbad, Carrizozo and Ruidoso. Yolanda Sanchez is the advocate who works in San Juan and McKinley Counties through a contract NMP&A has with the Native American Protection and Advocacy Project to provide Ombudsman services in these two counties.

Other P&A staff assigned to the Ombudsman staff are Ann Docter Chavez, Miguel Chavez in Las Vegas, Roberto Anchondo and Johanne Guyton. All staff receive support from the front office personnel and the legal services staff.

The information and Referral Unit of P&A coordinated presentations to many of the providers of
Brain Injury and Developmental Disabilities programs throughout the grant's targeted areas. Ombudsman staff has followed up, and continues to follow up, with programs who have consumers who qualify to receive Ombudsman advocacy.

During the initial start-up of the project, the transfer of Jackson class members from ICFs-MR to DD Waiver programs in their home communities generated several cases. Since that time, cases have been opened in each of the geographical areas designated in the grant, in both of the target disability classes and in all of the state funded categories covered by the Ombudsman grant.

Systems issues are also looked at through the work done by the Ombudsman Project. Meetings have been held with consumer group and service providers to begin to identify service systems issues that need to be evaluated. Presentations have been made to the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and the Brain Injury Advisory Council to update them on the progress of the grant. Project personnel from Albuquerque and from the Native American Protection and Advocacy Project presented information about the nature of the grant and its status to a group at the Regional Meeting of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in July in Dallas, Texas.