HEALTH CARE REFORM- What’s it all about?

You’ll be hearing more and more about this in the coming months.  Last week the Governor filed a Health Care bill that focuses on reforming the way health providers are paid and the structure under which they are paid. The aim of the bill is to reduce health care costs, while improving care for patients.  There is a lot of talk about Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Medical Homes and Global Payments. And there is a lot of concern about what will happen to the way health and mental health services are provided.  Social Workers in particular have raised concerns about their roles in the health care delivery systems.  Private practitioners wonder if social work and mental health services will be included, if private practitioners will be able to maintain their practices, if they want to be part of the ACOs or even how to explore  the pros and cons of that possibility.

At this point, there are more questions about the new system than answers. But you can be sure that social workers’ interests will be well represented in all the discussions and planning.  In fact, NASW has been meeting with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, along with other Mental Health professionals, over the last several months, to make sure that mental health is an integral part of the reform. And indeed, the Governor’s proposal clearly states that mental health shall be an integral part of the new system.  I was at a meeting last week with Secretary Bigby where she told NASW and our mental health colleagues that planning for the transformation of the system will include the convening of a Behavioral Health Task Force that will recommend and set guidelines for the inclusion of behavioral health in any new delivery structure.

As the transformation proceeds, be assured that the social work voice, values and place will be well represented in any discussions and planning.  And please do let me know your thoughts about the evolving process.  We are going to need your best thinking and advocacy  input.  I am so grateful to our staff and our members for their thoughtful input.

Carol J. Trust

Social Work Safety and Loan Forgiveness Top NASW-MA Chapter's list.

Each legislative session the Chapter goes through a major process of identifying bills that it wishes to file and/or support.  The process involves being in touch with our many Shared Interest Groups (SIGS), Commissions, Task Forces, the Board of Directors and the general membership.  Beyond our own membership, we solicit ideas from allied organizations and groups to make sure that we are considering all the issues that affect our members and the clients and communities we serve.  This year the Chapter filed two bills that focus specifically on the social work profession and is giving priority support to 14 other bills that our coalition and SIG partners are putting forth. 

The two professional bills that directly impact social workers and the Social Work profession are: Loan Forgiveness and Maximizing Safety in the Workplace. (You can see the specifics of these two bills and the other bills on our priority list by clicking www.naswma.org)  

Loan Forgiveness is essential for the profession to continue to recruit and retain talented young people.  As our members age, (the average age in Massachusetts is 52) and retire we will be in big trouble if we cannot make ourselves attractive to energetic and passionate graduates or even to younger folks who are exploring career options.

At the same time, we need to make sure that our workplaces are safe, so that staff will feel supported, protected and encouraged to work in all areas of the profession.

These topics are the Chapter's top legislative priorities.  If you would like to be involved in the Chapter’s efforts to make these bills become law, please me know.  You will be put in touch with our Legislative staff who will be spending a good deal of their time at the State House and in the districts organizing for success.

Carol J. Trust

LIFE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

I recently returned from a trip to Buenos Aires, which  is most popularly known for its Tango dancers, and great steaks.  What I didn’t know about was its unusual and perhaps controversial system for recycling.  Here is what I saw and was verified by a number of my Argentinian contacts.

Every late afternoon into the evening, thousands of very casually dressed people, wheel their shopping carts and trolley down the streets of B.A. sorting through the trash.  There are three basic groups: the bottle/glass collectors; the metal collectors and the paper collectors (called cartones.)  The cartones  open up plastic trash bags looking for all sorts of paper products but mostly fold up the large cardboard cartons that small businesses leave out on the side walk.

Each group (and in some cases a group is made up of family members from three generations) has its own streets and blocks that  it has claimed, so the territorial boundaries have been set and are handed down to the next generation.

The cartones are a separate working class group.  They live in the shanty towns outside the city and come into town via special trains just for them to accommodate their trolleys and shopping carts. The trains do not stop at the regular train platforms where folks are coming into town for their office and retail shop jobs.  These are windowless trains brought out of retirement, reserved just for the cartones.

And what was my response?  Compassion? Sympathy? Outrage? At first, yes.  And then I thought, “how amazing!”  The cartones have built an industry that creates jobs and at the same time addresses environmental concerns.  How strange.  Am I outraged at a government that allows this or am I impressed at the resourcefulness of a group of people that had no jobs before. Outrage or resourcefulness?  Outrage or resourceful? What do you think?

Carol J. Trust

New Year's Resolution!

As 2010 winds down and it is time once again to set new goals for the New Year, The NASW MA Chapter invites you to resolve to get involved in Chapter activities!  The Chapter is currently in the final stages of setting its exciting legislative agenda for next session. We are looking for our talented members to provide testimony at the State House, mobilize your peers and of course participate in our Legislative Education Advocacy Day on March 30^th at the State House to celebrate Social Work Month. 

In the areas of Continuing Education and Clinical Issues we are closely watching payment reform and continuing our advocacy with managed care companies.  Planning for new Continuing Education programs that include live sessions, podcasts and the 2012 Symposium are all underway.  If you have a talent for writing, presenting or event planning or would like to be a part of organizing Symposium 2012 and other CE programs, contact the Chapter Office.  The Chapter is also updating our Licensing Test Prep program to comply with the new ASWB changes taking effect in 2011.  Our CEU and LTP schedules are available on our website and open for registration!

If outreach is a more appealing to you, the Chapter has unveiled its Social Work Reinvestment Initiative.  Staff and volunteers are heading out to Massachusetts high schools, youth programs, and community colleges to speak to students about considering a career in social work.  Come tell your story and help educate youth about the wonderful field of social work! We will have an informal “train the trainer” session in late January at the Chapter office for interested members. 

NASW MA has several Shared Interest Groups (SIGS) in various areas of practice that are always open to new members!  These groups meet to network, organize continuing education conferences, follow legislation, draft policy statements, represent NASW in the community, and generally serve as the eyes and ears of the chapter, feeding back information to staff and the elected leadership. To get involved, please e-mail Chapter@naswma.org. You can be added to a SIG(s) e-mail list, or connected to a staff member overseeing the activity in which you have interest. The complete list is available on our website www.naswma.org. 

To explore areas that might of interest to you please check out one of our upcoming networking events!  Our next event will be on February 8^th at Big City in Boston.  Social workers of all levels are invited! Come join us for some good food and great company! Events on the North Shore and Central Massachusetts are also in consideration.

Call the Chapter office to see how you can get involved!

Carol J. Trust

Vacation

I am just getting ready to go on my winter vacation and, as usual, a whole range of thoughts are swirling in my head and heart. The major thought is one that I am truly committed to.  It has to do with an article I read years ago about humans’ biological needs to ‘get away’ or as us modernists say ‘go on vacation.’  The article focused on our animal origins as beings of the forest, of the mountains, of the plains, of the jungles. Our early ancestors didn’t exactly get away.  They were in our view away but it was their norm. They were grazing, lazying about, climbing, walking, wandering.  And we homosapiens  have to do same.  We have just not evolved far enough  from our ancestors to be without these early experiences.  And so, vacations were created.  To bring us closer to our earlier natural environments.  Ashley Montague, one of my favorite  writers on “Man’s Early Origins’ is a huge booster for vacations, or just any get aways that take us back to the forests and the plains.  So, off I go, supported by a brilliant social anthropologist’s rationales and principles.  But not too far, as I will be checking my emails periodically.  I do love getting away and I love being in the middle of the action as well.  Can’t lose, either way.

Carol J. Trust

THE DREAM ACT AND SOCIAL WORK

We all have an immediate and great opportunity to put our values into practice on the Federal level. Right now, members of Congress are planning to bring the Development, Relief, and Education For Alien Minors (DREAM) Act up for a vote and your voice is needed to make this happen.

The Dream Act would provide an earned legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth who pursue higher education or serve in the U.S. military. This bill  exemplifies the core social work values of human rights, freedom from discrimination and social justice.

Many of these immigrant youth grow up without even knowing that they do not have legal status-until they find out they cannot attend college or work or join the military. Students who would be eligible for the DREAM act have already been raised and educated in the United States.  By allowing them to gain legal citizenship,  to continue their education  or to serve in the military, and to work will give our country a huge return on this investment.  The Congressional  Budget Office determined that the DREAM Act will increase government revenues by $2.3 Billion over 10 years and result in a net reduction in the deficit of $1.4 Billion over the same period.

WHAT TO DO?   Contact your Senators and Representatives in Congress and urge them to vote YES on the DREAM Act. 

Learn more about the DREAM Act at: http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/intl/2010/dreamact.asp

Carol J. Trust

Growing up in New Hampshire and the Holiday Spirit

Those of you who have met me look in disbelief when I say I am from New Hampshire. “Oh, come on, you’re from New York.  You’ve got your ‘NEW’s’ mixed up. No, really, I am from New Hampshire- Concud—just kidding, it really is Concord, but none of us townies ever quite got the pronunciation of the ‘r’s the way the rest of the country says it.  I grew up on Westbourne Road, up by the High School, down the street from the State Hospital and over by the woods.  I seem to know what I am talking about when I give these GPS coordinates.  And I have witnesses to my early residence.  There was Graham McSwiney who lived across the street with his Boxer, Mugsy.  And the Hayes kids, all 6 of them, who lived next door.  Diagonally across the street were the Clarners who talked funnier than me with their great Concud accent. I can produce witnesses. And, I guess I just look like I’m from New York.

Yet, I have a certain New Hampshire ethic inbred in me.  The one that proffers  measured frugality.  Emma Landry, my Mom’s chum and a native of Concord had a neat expression that frames the  frugality creed: “ Use it up. Wear it Out. Make it Do or do without.”  And now comes a big Holiday Season that screams another message:  “Buy me.  Buy me. Buy me.” What’s a girl to do in the face of these two conflicting messages?   Enter the Regifting concept.  I love you.  It not only fits in with my New Hampshire  roots, it is a fabulous way of sharing the wealth without succumbing to the consumer frenzy. Regifting here I come.  I just wish I could convert the rest of my circle of neighbors, friends, family. No chance.  This year my staff planned the Holiday party and everyone is a Secret Santa to someone.  Now, let’s see.  Regift or buy.  Mmmm.

Carol J Trust