LANCASTER, Pa., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- United Disabilities Services is pleased to announce the creation of a separate 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of recruiting, certifying and training service agencies who provide home and community-based Medicaid Waiver services in Central and Western Pennsylvania. This new organization, Accessing Independence, will also serve as a supports coordination entity for specific home and community-based services. Accessing Independence is located in the Greenfield Corporate Center at 1817 Olde Homestead Lane. This completely accessible location provides office space for five employees. The annual operating budget for Accessing Independence is $610,000.00.
Gerald Meck will serve as the interim Chief Executive Officer while continuing his present position as CEO of United Disabilities Services. Gerald stated that the creation of Accessing Independence responds to the need to separate the Supports Coordination function from service delivery, assuring people with disabilities will continue to receive unbiased assistance in choosing a provider of services. Katherine Zumbrun will manage the day-to-day operations of Accessing Independence as the Executive Director. She has more than twelve years experience providing administrative oversight to home and community-based programs. In addition, she has received her master’s degree in public administration from Penn State University and is certified in non- profit management from LaSalle University.
Accessing Independence is guided by a ten-member volunteer Board of Directors, five of whom have a disability. David Kreider, Chief Financial Officer of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, serves as President of the Board.
During the past several months Accessing Independence has been coordinating the implementation of the Department of Public Welfare’s Home and Community Based Services Information System (HCSIS). This system was built to automate the collection, storage, analysis, and retrieval of information to facilitate business processes within the Commonwealth. Melissa Herr, Director of Operations, has been working with the Department to respond to the Commonwealth’s growing challenge of effective case management reporting.
Accessing Independence can be found at http://www.accessingindependence.org/, or more information can be obtained by calling the toll-free number 1-800-913-7282.
Contact: Katherine Zumbrun Executive Director Accessing Independence (717) 358-1255 kathyz@udservices.org
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United Disabilities Services
CONTACT: Katherine Zumbrun, Executive Director of AccessingIndependence, +1-717-358-1255, kathyz@udservices.org
Web site: http://www.accessingindependence.org/