To learn more about any of our Assistive Technology (AT) services, please click the Contact Us! button below.

     The NHT team continues to work hard and go above and beyond to provide individuals with the best possible assistance available.

     With our growing numbers, we are looking to hire more remote positions to assist more people to escape the prisons of nursing facilities and integrate or re-integrate back to community living.

Nursing Home Transition Success -

FELIX

Around 2 am, about 2 hours into their late night drive through Maryland, Felix looked up from his phone in the back seat to see his brother asleep in the front passenger seat. He thought about making him switch seats but decided to leave him alone and continued to browse his phone.

Felix recalls not being able to move or feel his lower half when he came to. He remembers them pulling him from the SUV and putting him in the ambulance but then the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital after many surgeries.

Felix had suffered a broken neck and spinal cord injury and has been in a hospital or nursing facility ever since. Felix has not let this stop him and has overcome so many things in the past five years!

Most people with Felix’s injuries don’t get the chance to walk again. Fortunately for Felix, through determination and lots of therapy, Felix still has some mobility. Felix has the most use of his hands and is able to transfer from his motorized wheelchair into a standing position as long as he has something to hold onto. Felix is also able to utilize a walker to take a few steps.

Felix is currently taking college classes online as well as learning how to drive.

WELCOME HOME, FELIX!

Nursing Home Transition Success -

MICHAEL

We received the nursing home transition referral for Michael on February 8, 2022, stating he wanted to live in Sunbury. When the wait for housing was becoming too long for him to bear, he asked us to look in the Williamsport area. An apartment in Williamsport became available the same day one became available in Sunbury. We encouraged Michael to look at the one in Williamsport since he was already familiar with Riverside Apartments in Sunbury.

As we entered the apartment, a look of satisfaction overcame Michael's face. He didn't say much as he wheeled himself through the apartment. We showed him the front porch he could sit out on and then asked him how he thought the place looked.

He replied, "It looks like home."

We returned to the housing office and signed the lease.

Things did not go smoothly from there. His discharge was delayed because his insurance company needed him to have a sleep study to provide him with the CPAP machine he needs while sleeping. He was finally discharged on August 8, 2022.

Michael was excited and nervous to start his new chapter.

Michael had some trouble with his first caregiver. She was not showing up when scheduled which caused Michael to miss his doctor's appointments. Because he missed an appointment, he did not have enough insulin and ended up in the emergency room; this happened twice. We contacted his community-based Service Coordinator and asked that a new caregiver be found.

We visited Michael to complete his one-month post-transition follow-up visit and he is doing very well!

Michael faced a few challenges in the facility while trying to build his strength to walk. He stated he pushed himself too hard at times and paid for it later. Finding affordable and accessible housing was another barrier but we overcame it and found him a new place to call home.

Michael became quiet for a moment while he was searching for the words he wanted. He finally looked at me and said, "I can't find the words to express how thankful I am." When asked what he likes best about being in his own place, he had three words: FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE, and PEACE. 

WELCOME HOME, MICHAEL!

Independent Living Success

DAVE

In December of 2021, Roads to Freedom was contacted by a social worker at a long-term care facility in Columbia County. The facility called looking for assistance finding housing for a man named Dave. 

While Dave was in the facility, his landlord disposed of the contents of Dave’s home to allow a new tenant to move in. Once the facility was aware that Dave’s health insurance would no longer cover his stay, he was discharged, on Christmas Eve to a homeless shelter, Saving Grace, in Lycoming County.

RTF staff met with Dave to help him create a plan to reach his goal of returning to Independent Living in Northumberland County.

Sunbury was home for Dave and that is where he wanted to be. RTF staff worked with Dave to achieve this goal. Dave had lost all his documents. He had no ID, no banking information, no Social Security card, he was literally starting over.

With support from RTF, Dave began picking up the pieces.

The first task was to recover his documents. Once this was completed, Dave was able to complete applications for housing. RTF assisted Dave to find medical care while he was temporarily staying in Lycoming County as well as getting him connected with the DIG Furniture Bank.

ADA CIL-ebration

Eat and Run Catering and Restaurant
The Hatchet House
WILQ-FM
River Valley Health and Dental Center
League of Women Voters of Lycoming County
Pennsylvania Department of Health
Lycoming-Clinton Mental Health/Intellectual Disability & Autism Services
ADAPT National

Check out more from our guest speakers HERE and the coverage by NorthCentralPA.com HERE.

     Roads to Freedom is a proud provider of Representative Payee Services, also known as Rep Payee Services. We help those who need assistance managing their finances by paying bills such as rent, groceries, electricity, gas, phone, and cable as well as giving a stipend to the consumer.

     RTFCIL employees develop a budget, assist with understanding social security administration letters and payments, as well as report changes and paystubs to the Social Security Administration.

     Most of our consumers are receiving disability benefits; however, we also offer Financial Power of Attorney services for those who work and are not receiving disability benefits.

If you or someone you know could benefit from having a Rep Payee, please contact us at 570.327.9070 extension 240.

Advocacy

RTF advocates and consumers have long been aware of the barriers that guardianship creates for Independent Living. Since the start of the Pandemic in 2020, the need to reform the guardianship process and educate the disability community has become a priority at RTF.

RTF has been instrumental in the development of a national advocacy group that meets weekly to identify barriers and strategies to create systemic change. The advocacy group is a collaboration between Mind Freedom International, the Center for Estate Administration Reform (CEAR), the Pennsylvania Council on Independent Living (PCIL), and individuals and families that have been impacted by fraudulent guardianships. This group continues to grow as more people are learning about this advocacy objective.

RTF has been contacted by people that have had family members removed from their homes by Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) that serve as guardians. RTF has left an advocacy trail that begins locally and has escalated to filing amicus briefs with the PA Supreme Court on behalf of David Italiano. David has been kidnapped and held against his will by the Huntingdon County Area Agency on Aging (AAA).

AAAs are funded by the Administration of Community Living (ACL) through the Department of Health and Human Services. ACL funds are intended to support individuals seeking to live in the community, not to force people into institutional or congregate living arrangements.

We have recently learned that 19 of Pennsylvania’s 52 AAAs are serving as guardians. RTF sees this loss of Civil Rights as a plague that requires much education for the disability community as well as lawmakers. Judges are quick to order a guardian to be appointed prior to considering a less restrictive alternative to guardianship.

RTF was invited by the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) to present a webinar earlier this month to educate the Independent Living community about guardianship mills that are polluting the nation and alternatives to guardianship.

RTF continues to promote alternatives to guardianship for all members of the disability community.

Please help us spread the word of this new group to anyone

you think would be interested or could benefit!