NEWS AT A GLANCE

A Gift of Mobility

10,000 wheelchairs will be delivered to people with physical disabilities around the world by the Wheelchair Foundation, with the aid of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with an ultimate goal of distributing one million wheelchairs in the next five years. On March 31^st, 250 of those 10,000  wheelchairs will be distributed to disabled Croatians  at Topusko Clinics who need, but may not be able to afford one.

Said Chris Lewis, Wheelchair Foundation Director of Public Education, “We are proud to work with the LDS church to bring relief to the Croatian people, and people from other nations around the world. It is wonderful to witness the immediate positive change that comes into a person's life, and the life of the entire family, through the simple gift of a wheelchair.”

It is estimated that approximately 125 million people with disabilities worldwide require a wheelchair for some portion of their mobility, but are unable to afford one. It is the hope of the Wheelchair Foundation to help ease the burden of those in need.

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Parents Make Themselves Heard for Deaf Children

Federal action has been taken against Education Queensland by two Sunshine Coast families over school facilities for deaf children. 10-year-old Ben Devlin’s parents say Ben only has the reading and writing skills of a preschooler, and that they want better facilities at the Noosaville school he attends.

Coolum Primary School First-grader, six-year-old Tiahna Hurst, is another child of protesting parents. Gail Smith, Tiahna’s mother, also the daughter of deaf parents, says her daughter only receives 14 hours of special assistance per week. Gail says, ideally, a full-time interpreter to sign for her daughter while at school, which is customary with what is offered in other states. The government is doing what it can, according to the Queensland Deaf Society.

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Thinking About Starting a Business?

Snyder Law Office with the American Owned Business Association is hosting a seminar on April 22^nd from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.  Topics covered will include legal concerns, marketing, and business planning.  The seminar will be located at the Snyder Law Office, 1600 University Avenue in the Second Floor Conference Room. There is a $25.00 fee for the seminar.  For more information contact: Snyder Law Office, PA at 651-415-0800 or 651-645-5150.

Last month Access Press highlighted the disability employment outlook perspective from Dr. Roy Grizzard from the Department of Labor.  Dr. Grizzard’s office is working on an agreement with the Small Business Administration to encourage entrepreneurship among people with disabilities.

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Northwest Agrees to Fine over Wheelchair Access

The Transportation Department said that Northwest Airlines (NWA) will pay a fine of $225,000 because it didn’t supply an in-flight place to stow wheelchairs for passengers with permanent or temporary disabilities. Terms of the settlement dictate that NWA will be able to put the money toward implementing storage space on its 27 Airbus, A319 and A320 aircraft for folding wheelchairs. Also ordered was a requirement for NWA to make sure every aircraft with 100 seats or more will be able to accommodate at least one collapsible wheelchair. Forbes.com reported Transportation Secretary saying, “With this settlement, the department sends a clear signal that we all must work to ensure that passengers with disabilities have equal access to air travel.” Similar settlements have been reached with other major airlines.

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This Issue of Health-care Fraud Is Important to All

U.S. Government agents apprehended 11 suspects in alleged phony motorized wheelchair claims, collecting more than 1,000 Medicare patients’ insurance information.  The suspects were paid the full amount for motorized wheelchairs but provided less expensive power scooters, and in some cases provided nothing at all.

Recently, Medicare has cracked down on false claims, and recovered $52.5 million. A basic power wheelchair costs about $5,000, 80 percent of which can be covered by Medicare, with the remaining 20 percent often picked up by private insurance coverage.

Medicare paid out nearly $35 million in power wheelchair claims in Texas alone in 1999. That figure rose to an astonishing $170 million during the initial nine months of 2003; at least $100 million more than Louisiana, the next highest state in claim figure.

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