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Announcement on behalf of Dr. Shavonne Brathwaite,
President of the Board of Directors, Ability Network of Delaware

On behalf of myself and the Ability Network of Delaware (A.N.D.) Board of Directors, I am happy to announce that we have chosen Carolyn Petrak as the association’s new Executive Director.

Carolyn has dedicated her career to advancing the missions of the Delaware nonprofit community. For the past decade, Carolyn has been an integral part of A.N.D.’s growth and prosperity, leading the organization through a highly transitional period. She has managed some of the association’s most successful projects in recent years, including its complete rebranding in 2016 and the massive public relations campaign that contributed to the passage and full funding of the McNesby Act.

Carolyn’s passion and commitment to the mission of the Ability Network of Delaware and its members has made her a trailblazer in Delaware’s advocacy space, positioning A.N.D as one of Dover’s most respected and successful advocacy groups.

Her reputation as a voice for Delaware community service providers has earned her seats on many influential statewide commissions and legislative task forces including Lt. Governor Hall-Long’s Behavioral Health Consortium, Senate Concurrent Resolution 65 Department of Health and Social Services Reorganization Committee and chair of its subcommittee to review the contractual practices of one of the Delaware’s largest state agencies.

She has used her talent to build strong relationships and coalitions with elected officials, state leadership and partners in the nonprofit community to advance A.N.D.’s public policy agenda to a nearly perfect record of unanimously passed legislation. Most notably, House Bill 303 creating an annual Behavioral Health Well Check for Delawareans, a first of its kind piece of legislation.

Carolyn brings energy and enthusiasm to the leadership of this esteemed organization that will undoubtedly raise its impact on the disability and behavioral communities in Delaware and beyond.

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Ability Network of Delaware is quite pleased to share that Easterseals received a report back of zero recommendations for improvement placing Easterseals in the top 3% of all organizations surveyed! In the detail of the report several statements of accolade were shared as feed back including:

• Easterseals leadership members are highly regarded as industry leaders in their efforts to guide the organization, especially during the challenges of the pandemic.

• Health and safety are areas that are clearly a priority for Easterseals.

• There is a very healthy workforce development and management system in place at the organization.

• Staff members stated the organization is their dream job. They stated they are treated with dignity and respect by all leadership and it is the best job they have ever had.

Join Ability Network of Delaware as we applaud Easterseals for their hard work and commitment to serving individuals with disabilities!

To learn more about Easterseals follow this link to their website http://www.de.easter-seals.org

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The recommendations for funding increases in the rate studies done in 2008 (unpublished) and 2014 were never implemented. Another highlight of the legislative session that ended after midnight this morning was the passage of H.B. 303, which capped off four years of hard work by A.N.D.’s Associate Executive Director Carolyn Petrak and Verity Watson from Ruggerio, Willson, & Associates. This bill creates an annual pre-deductible Behavioral Health Well Check insurance benefit for Delawareans. This expanded benefit puts behavioral health preventive services on a par with preventive services for other health conditions, like diabetes. A 2013 survey by KFF found that the only preventive services specific to mental health in the 34 states that offered them was a screening for depression.

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With vaccine and testing mandates on the horizon in Delaware, the results of a survey that A.N.D. Executive Director Thomas Cook asked aSuggestion to conduct suggest that most providers of I/DD and behavioral health services feel that vaccine and testing mandates will not make workforce shortages much worse than they already are (less than 5% of the 92 responding service providers felt employees would quit if vaccines became mandatory). Both surveys also gave additional qualitative information suggesting what accounts for vaccine resistance among DSPs and how service providers have been addressing it.

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Read the full op-ed at The News Journal.

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