STS Advocates!
CT Our Families Can't Wait:
Forums this Summer
 
The “Our Families Can’t Wait” I/DD advocacy group of concerned citizens organized by the SEIU/1199 Healthcare Workers Union has made great strides this year in raising awareness among Connecticut legislators about the critical need for more state funding and support services for I/DD individuals living in the community and on the waiting list for placement.
 
As a result of their efforts, more than $4 million in new funding has been authorized to provide residences, but this will cover only 100 of the 3,500 individuals on the waiting list.
 
The tragedy remains that STS, with its full spectrum of services, is not being made available as a choice, particularly for I/DD individuals on the waiting list with severe disabilities or who are elderly or aging, many of whom desperately need the high level of care STS provides.
 
The first Family Forum was Saturday, June 28 in Meriden. There will be more forums scheduled throughout the summer. Watch our website for updates.
 
Those of us who have attended these meetings have been able to change perceptions about STS. People who thought of STS as an outmoded and unjustifiably expensive facility come to realize that STS provides unique services, and that we, STS family members and supporters, are sympathetic to their concerns and are deserving of sympathy and understanding as well.
 
We also have found that families are particularly concerned about care for their relatives as they age and fear seeing them in nursing homes that are not equipped to provide proper care to this population. Stressing that STS provides services to many elderly I/DD individuals with complicated physical problems often gets attention.  So does the suggestion that a skilled nursing facility be opened on the campus.
 
Also please consider attending future “Our Families Can’t Wait” events. Watch for updates on our website. You can also join the “Our Families Can’t Wait” mailing list.  E-mail Union organizer Lara Shepard-Blue at lshepard-blue@seiu1199ne.org or call her at 860-251-6048.
 
We can’t afford to pass up these important opportunities to meet and talk to DDS families about STS and to encourage them to contact the Home and School Association of STS with their questions and concerns.  
Tell them they can call us at 855-200-0490; e-mail us at info@homeandschoolsts.org; or visit our website, www.homeandschoolsts.org. Those of you who have the handout cards we distributed at the last general meeting can give them to people who show interest.
 
Also, please ask people you talk to for their e-mail addresses so that we can keep them informed about STS and 
the issues affecting I/DD individuals in Connecticut.  
 
Let’s do what we can to gain support for STS. The right to quality long-term care for our most vulnerable citizens cannot be ignored.
 
Thank you.

How to Stay Informed
 STS guardians are encouraged to join the “Our Families Can’t Wait” mailing list. E-mail Union organizer Lara Shepard-Blue at
lshepard-blue@seiu1199ne.org or 
call 860-251-6048.