by Rob Figliulo
Great Turnout! Great Success!
On Monday, June 14, almost 700 golfers played in the Annual Misericordia Bums Golf Outing! That’s close to the record number of players in the outing’s 47-year history. It took four private golf clubs to accommodate so many players. Olympia Fields Country Club has two full 18-hole courses (North and South) and is home to many tournaments on the professional golf tour, including the U.S. Open and LPGA. We always use Olympia Fields as our home base where everyone comes together for dinner, a small gathering of about 700. Two other private clubs were used for golf, Flossmoor CC and Edgewood Valley CC.
During cocktails and dinner, we had raffles, silent auctions and a live auction with spectacular golf trips and sporting events including front row baseball, hockey and Super Bowl tickets. All in all, we raised over $700,000 for Misericordia!
July 4, 2021
OPINION from the New York Times
By David Axelrod
Mr. Axelrod was the senior strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. His daughter Lauren lives in Misericordia on Chicago’s North Side.
My daughter, Lauren, turned 40 last month. She is happy and healthy. And that is nothing short of a miracle.
From the moment my wife, Susan, found Lauren blue and limp in her crib at the age of 7 months — the consequence, we later would learn, of epileptic seizures she suffered in the night — Lauren’s life has been a struggle.
These brutal seizures would continue, poorly controlled, for the next 19 years, roiling her developing brain and necessitating an ever-shifting regimen of medications with punishing side-effects, of surgeries and hospitalizations. More than once, we feared we would lose her.
June 29, 2021
On behalf of the entire Misericordia community, we hope and pray that you are safe and well during these challenging times.
Normally at this time of year we would be writing to you about our annual Misericordia Family Fest. But, like 2020, 2021 is very different as we emerge from the COVID-19 restrictions and yet continue to ensure the health and safety of our residents and staff.
In the interest of keeping everyone safe, we have made the difficult decision of postponing this year's in-person Family Fest. Yet, your support is still vital! At some point in the future, we will invite you to participate in the car and cash raffle, as well as sponsorship opportunities.
The Misericordia Development Team
June 1, 2021
Community Day Services (CDS) is in an ongoing state of transformation, working in tandem with the administrative and executive team to insure consistent application of the latest COVID guidance. Together with campus leadership, CDS is committed to continue to expand resident day service opportunities, with both safety and quality at the forefront of decision making.
The spring outbreaks and subsequent mitigation steps slowed the opening progress CDS has begun. Fortunately, CDS had an established in-residence CDS program in place that continued to provide CDS opportunities - every resident not yet returned to in-program services has a dedicated CDS staff available to them Monday through Friday in their residence. CDS measures have limited the number of residents that can be served safely in programs, with residents returning by cohort groups for their safety.
Year after year, a dedicated team of charity runners supports Misericordia in ways that few others could ever imagine doing – running 26.2 miles through the streets and neighborhoods of Chicago to raise much-needed funds that benefit our children and adult residents.
From first-time marathoners to seasoned runners, each Misericordia Heartracer team member commits to raising between $1,250 and $1,750, depending on the date they register for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. This year the event is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 10, pending Covid-19 restrictions.
by Scott M. Mendel
With a new administration in Washington, D.C., a number of legislative proposals are before Congress that could adversely affect Misericordia. There is also a new regulatory initiative in Springfield that can be detrimental to Misericordia’s future plans. Below is a brief summary of these federal and state initiatives. I am always happy to provide additional information or answer any questions. The best way to reach me is at scott.mendel@klgatescom.
Dear TFC Members:
Senators Hassan, Casey, and Brown, and Representative Dingell, have circulated a draft bill called the Home and Community-Based Services Access Act (the “HAA”). They have asked members of the public to provide comments on the HAA. It is critically important that each of you send in your own comments on this proposed legislation.
The HAA is being portrayed as legislation that will help individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, the way it is drafted, it will have a devastating effect on the men and women with the most significant intellectual disabilities. The bill would end any requirement that states provide the services of intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (“ICF/IIDs”). It would also create a strong financial incentive for all states to close all ICF/IIDs, both state operated and private. 70,000 men and women across the country have chosen to live in ICF/IIDs because they have found that these settings best meet their needs and preferences. All of these men and women would be forced to leave their chosen homes.
Dear Misericordia Families:
We are asking you to take action by submitting a comment to the Illinois Department of Human Services regarding proposed rule changes that will prevent campus settings and other types of congregate settings in Illinois from receiving Medicaid waiver funding. These rule changes will not directly affect any of Misericordia’s current homes because its campus homes receive Medicaid funding that is reserved for intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled (ICFs) and its off-campus CILA homes meet the requirements of the proposed rule. Nonetheless, the rule changes described below can limit housing options that Misericordia may wish to pursue in the future. In addition, we feel strongly that men and women who wish to live in a campus setting, on a farmstead, or in other types of intentional communities should have that opportunity. Under the proposed rule changes, only small isolated group homes in neighborhoods will be eligible to receive Medicaid waiver funding. We know that for some men and women, these small group homes can be very isolating. Some men and women have behavioral issues that preclude them from living in a small group home in an urban neighborhood; they do much better in the calm of a campus setting or a farm community. If men and women find that they prefer to live in a campus setting, on a farmstead, or in another intentional community with their peers, and if that type of setting best meets their needs, they should have that option. The proposed rule changes take that option away in Illinois. In addition, the proposed rule seeks to impose restrictions on where individuals with disabilities may live that are not imposed on any other group. This is wrong and likely unlawful.
Here are some key provisions of the Social Security Act that support choice, particularly the choice of an ICF. Please click the "Medicaid Provisions" below.
Date: March 5, 2021
To: Misericordia Family Association
From: Michael Diaz and Tina Stendardo; Community Day Services Administrators
Dear Misericordia Families,
We hope you all are well and staying safe. We wanted to provide you with an update on the re-opening of our Community Day Services (CDS).
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