Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDUCATION
1992 MS, Rehabilitation Administration and Services, Southern Illinois Universit
y, Carbondale, IL
1980 BS, Sociology, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
EMPLOYMENT
01-05-09 to 08-17-10 Director of CILA Development
LTC Support Services
285 South Farnham St.
Galesburg, IL 61401
This position was created upon my hiring with this Company as a way to assist th
em in adapting to the anticipated ramifications of the Ligas Class Action law su
it and its resultant consent decree. This is a class action lawsuit that was fi
led against the state of Illinois to try to force the state to create greater nu
mber and variety of smaller community based living options. The consequential co
nsent decree depended upon funding the new Medicaid Waiver (Community Integrated
Living Arrangement / CILAs) by decreasing the cumulative number of ICFs/DD beds
. In anticipation of these proposed impending changes, the six affiliated Comp
anies operating under the umbrella of DD Homes Network (refer to website www.ddh
omes.net) which includes 110 group homes, 56 of which are 16-bed ICFs/DD, the in
tent was that DD Homes Network would convert their fifty-six 16-bed ICFs/DD to f
ifty-six 8-bed ICFs/DD with fifty-six new 8-bed CILAs. My primary role would hav
e been to develop these fifty-six new CILAs and any other new development that m
ight occur.
However, there were unexpected legal developments which indefinitely stalled the
consent Decree that the State had agreed upon. Even so, DD Homes Network expres
sed its willingness to State Officials within the Department of Human Services /
Division of Developmental Disabilities (DHS/DDD) to proceed with these conversi
ons regardless of the outcome of the Ligas Consent Decree. Unfortunately, this t
oo, has been indefinitely stalled at the state level. Further, in conjunction w
ith the economic crisis of the state of Illinois, development opportunities have
been limited. Hence, as of 08-17-10 my position with this company was eliminate
d and I was laid off
During my year and half in this position while I was waiting to be enabled to de
velop the anticipated new CILAs I was kept occupied with various duties and ass
ignments which included among other things: 1) wrote the DD Homes Network's off
icial position statement and proposal to the state's Division of Developmental D
isabilities regarding its position on the Ligas Consent Decree and Illinois Coun
cil on Developmental Disabilities' position paper entitled "Blueprint for System
Redesign". The underlying theme of this position paper was the company's willi
ngness to convert its fifty-six 16-bed homes to fifty-six 8-bed ICFs/DD and fift
y-six 8-bed CILAs.. This position paper also expressed the company's willingness
to develop new CILAs for individuals residing in Illinois' State Operated Devel
opmental Centers (SODCs) who have similar diagnostically challenging issues that
have created barriers to accessing community placement options; 2) I collected
and created an electronic library of zoning ordinances of more than 80 towns in
Illinois in preparation for future development; 3) I conducted research on other
states that have been impacted by similar class action lawsuits as Illinois' Li
gas Class Action Lawsuit and on Medicaid-waiver trends in general; 4) I assumed
the centralized coordination of the referral process of all referrals to opening
s in the 110 group homes in the six companies affiliated with DD Homes Network.
This included the initial review, routing, and tracking of each of the approxima
te 500 referrals that have been sent to DD Homes Network in the past year and ha
lf. Additionally, I made extensive efforts to reach out to the nineteen PAS (pre
-admission screening) agencies which are primary sources of referrals. This eff
ort enhanced the volume of referrals and improved relations with these agencies
which are essential to occupancy rates of all DD residential services providers
which is in turn the sole funding source for those services; 5) I generated a qu
arterly statistical and narrative analysis regarding the referral process; 6) I
regularly met with and worked with representatives of DHS/DDD's Bureau of Transi
tion Services with regards to the status of all referrals received from State Op
erated Developmental Centers in an attempt to help facilitate an increased numbe
r of community placements into DD Homes Network's openings; 7) I met with repres
entatives of various SODCs in the hopes of developing community based homes in c
onjunction with them; 8) I worked extensively trying to navigate the Village of
Winnebago's zoning ordinances in order to develop a new home for a group of indi
viduals residing at one of the state's SOCDs (Mabely Developmental Center) who h
ad diagnostically similar behavioral challenges. This home would have enabled th
ese individuals to live in closer geographic proximity to their family members w
ho resided in the Rockford area; 9) I generated various other reports, analyses,
etc as requested.
Unfortunately, the opportunities to develop CILAs simply did not manifest due to
circumstances far beyond my control and there is no reason to believe that thes
e opportunities will be occurring in the unstable economic/political climate in
the state of Illinois any time in the near future.
Please feel free to contact my current employer for verification and as referenc
e sources. Don Fike is the President of RFMS and the affiliated Companies of DD
Homes Network and LTC Support Services. His work number is 309-343-1550. His mob
ile phone number is 309-368-1640, and his home phone number is 815-442-3640. Mik
e Bibo is the Director Public Policy. His office number is 309-341-5090, and his
mobile is 309-368-1672.