MCIL Moving Home Manual-Click here NEW

News about long term care and nursing home transition, from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

MCIL has a Brailler and offers fee-for-service Braille embossing (printing) to the general public, in both English and Spanish. We can print any plain text (no formatting) document. For instance, having pharmacies provide Braille copies of the explanations and warnings medicines now included when prescriptions are filled. (The Americans with Disabilities Act requires pharmacies to provide alternative formats of information to consumers who request it.)

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MCIL tiene una impresora de Braille. Podemos imprimir las copias de cualquier texto sin el formato, (los caracteres itálicos, enfáticos, etc.) del español o el inglés. Para más información, llame ud. MCIL, al numero 410-444-1400. Haga clic en este texto para más información en inglés.

After thirteen years as MCIL's Executive Director, Frank Pinter resigned on February 4 to take charge of training for a program serving persons with developmental disabilities in Masachusetts.

To say we will miss him doesn't begin to express our sadness at seeing him leave. Even so, we cheer him on in his new role! He left MCIL in great shape with a strong and hard-working staff serving about 700 active consumers. Andrea Buonincontro is now MCIL's Acting Director providing us with welcome continuity. As MCIL's Assistant Director with Frank, Andrea is well qualified to take the lead!

We have a new T-shirt available, click this text for pictures
and ordering information.

Tenemos ahora una camisa de MCIL, marque el símbolo para información.

MCIL's 2004 Annual Meeting took a new form, a luncheon. Click meeting name,left,to see what we did.

MCIL's 2003 Annual Meeting— Click meeting name to find out what we did

Recent Accomplishments

MCIL Success Stories (new)

MCIL's Mission Statement

Independent Living Philosophy

MCIL's Core Services

MCIL's Consulting Services

Current events, activities, news and views

Most recent newsletter

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page to find the answers you need.

The 3rd Annual Power through Participation Conferenceof the Maryland Statewide Independent Living Council took place August 12 - 14, 2004, at the Hyatt Regeny Hotel in downtown Baltimore. Called "NO DEPOSIT = NO RETURN," this three day conference examined how what we get out of life depends upon what we put into creating the life we desire.

Workshops included sessions on housing, Personal Assistance services and supports, transportation, and the power of the Citizen Advocate.

MCIL is a nonprofit agency of people with disabilities offering services and advocacy throughout the Baltimore Metropolitan Area.

MCIL’s mission is to provide services to help empower persons with disabilities to lead self-directed, independent and productive lives in the community.

Independent Living is controlling and directing your own life.  It is about making decisions, taking responsibility for your actions, learning through success and failure, and having opportunities to participate in all aspects of community life. It is exercising the greatest degree of choice about where you live, with whom you live, and how you live.  As Judy Heumann said, "Independent Living is not doing everything by yourself; rather, it is being in control of how things are done."

The core services that MCIL offers are:

ADVOCACY—Empowering individuals to have increased access to the community by breaking down barriers and through systems change.

INFORMATION AND REFERRAL—Providing contacts and resources in the community.

INDEPENDENT LIVING SKILLS TRAINING—Developing everyday life skills to be more independent.

PEER COUNSELING—Examining and discussing issues and concerns.

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Current events, activities, news and views:

MCIL presented two information displays and gave mini-workshops at the "World of Possibilities" expo Saturday, June 25, at the Baltimore Convention Center.

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Frank Pinter, MCIL's Executive Director, was interviewed on TV about how people with disabilities have been treated throughout history. To see the program, click watch interview.

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MCIL staff and consumers joined the Anne Arundel County chapter of Habitat for Humanity two days this winter to work on their Ability House. We hammered and nailed, and lifted walls into place to help build a house with accessible features including wide doorways, lowered light switches and raised electrical outlets, a ramped entry, and partially accessible bathroom. The intent was not to build a totally accessible house, but to meet the needs of a family with one person who often uses a wheelchair. Habitat also wanted disabled people to help build the house, in cahoots with Ability Magazine which wrote an article on the process, ABILITY House: Building Homes and Awareness. You can read it on-line by clicking the title, or better, come to MCIL and see the magazine in print which has a photo of our Board President, John Wiley, who worked Saturday, November 1,2003, with Patsy Kreins, an MCIL consumer and volunteer.

John, and later in the month a bus full of consumers from Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM), proved that you don't have to watch carefully to keep from smashing your thumb while hammering nails. You only need to aim correctly, which is what they did. John also joined a line of workers to raise a framing for wall into place, an impressive feat requiring synchronized lifting and pushing.

MCIL staff members worked all day on November 5, and enjoyed the work and the feeling of accomplishment.

The house was dedicated on March 28. When asked by a reported for the Maryland Gazette what having disabled persons on the building team meant, Patsy is quoted as saying, "...what we already knew, that the only thing in the way of a disabled person's ability to do things is other people's attitudes."

Arundel Habitat is building more Ability Houses, including one a few blocks from the first, which is being built by an all-women team sponsored by Lowe's home improvement. Patsy liked constuction enough to join up and is representing MCIL on the team.

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MCIL's 2003 Annual Meeting took place on Saturday, September 13, 2003, and in collaboration with the ADAPT Free Our People march and rally. We began with a press conference at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and after that marchers walked to the Arbutus Fire Department building on Southwestern Boulevard, where they pitched their tents and spent the night. MCIL held its annual meeting around 4:00 PM, and then, instead of our traditional dinner, we provided supper to share with the participants of the march

The Free Our People march started in Philadelphia on September 4th, and ended in Washington, D. C. on September 17th. People with disabilities from all over the country walked and rolled all the way. We served over 200 people for supper!

All revenus and proceeds that we would have gotten from our Annual Meeting went toward supporting this event. We thank everyone who gave us your support by attending the MCIL Annual Meeting, and/or by helping host the supper by bringing/preparing/serving food.

All of you who helped MCIL support the march contributed to a truly national effort.The goals of this critical movement are part of our IL -- independent living -- philosophy.

The website for the march is www.freeourpeople.org.

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Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

MARYLAND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
from Nursing HomeTransmittal No. 190

House Bill 946/Senate Bill 620

This bill, passed during the 2004 legislative session, places new requirements on nursing facilities and requires the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to reach out to nursing facility residents who have indicated a preferenc to return to the community.

For more information contact the Nursing Home Section of the Division of Long Term Care Services at 410-444-1400, or go to their website at

www.dhmh.state.md.us

Check this space or call to learn about future events!

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