 Welcome to this edition of Abledon Anaheim, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns and achievements of the differently abled. I've always been your host, Lawrence Seiler. On this edition, we will speak to Commissioner Monica Hutt from the Department of Elderly and Disability Services of Vermont, Dale. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Abledon Anaheim. It's nice to be here. What are the missions and goals of your organization? So the Department for Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living is the Department and State Government. We are one of the departments under the Agency of Human Services. And Dale's mission is pretty big and pretty broad. It's to make Vermont the best state in which to grow old or live with a disability, with dignity, respect and independence. Okay. What services exactly does your office provide? Okay. So, again, Dale is a pretty big department in state government. So we have five different divisions in the department. The first two are probably divisions that you're well aware of. Actually, maybe all of them. You guys are in the know anyhow. So we have the Developmental Services Disabilities Unit, Developmental Disabilities Service Division. So services for individuals with developmental disabilities across the state of Vermont. Which include what exactly? So we fund services through all of the designated agencies in every county and catchment area in the state of Vermont. And then all of the specialized service agencies. So places like Washington County or the Howard Center, Green Mountain Support Services. I know you're familiar with those guys. Green Mountain Self-Advocates. Green Mountain Self-Advocates is a group that operates independently, but we are certainly connected to them. They're one of our biggest stakeholder groups. Yeah. So that's one of the divisions, the Developmental Services Division, Developmental Disabilities Services Division, DDSD. We have the Adult Services Division. So that is services for older Vermonters and Vermonters with physical disabilities. We have vocational rehabilitation. So employment services for individuals with disabilities. We've got the Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which are both vocational services and independent living services for individuals. So you oversee the whole state of Vermont. Yes. And then finally we have the Division of Licensing and Protection. So adult protective services. Somebody was going to report abuse or neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. They would come through APS at Dale. And also survey and certification, which is licensing for hospitals, for residential care homes, for nursing homes, and we also have all of the public guardians in the state of Vermont. Okay. Well, explain what is a public guardian. Oh, okay. So a public guardian is somebody- But we're not throwing you off guard. Yeah. No, that's okay. That's okay. A public guardian is someone that's been appointed by the court for somebody who's in need of guardianship. So somebody with a developmental disability, somebody who might be older. That's not to say that everybody with a disability needs a public guardian. In fact, I would argue that most people with disabilities do not need public guardians. But sometimes when you do need a little bit of help with legal matters and medical matters and you might need some help making those decisions and the court decides that you need that help, they'll appoint a public guardian for you. So for example, because I've done numerous times, I've done over the years shows like if someone dies, a parent of that person, a guardian would be appointed to help with the person's daily life skills. Is that what- If somebody's parent died? Yes. So not, if they needed it, sure, absolutely that can happen. Sometimes other family members can become guardians. I think that the first test of that is does somebody actually need a guardian or can they make decisions on their own if they get a little bit of help? All of us get help making decisions. I don't buy a car without talking to my husband and I wouldn't buy a house without talking to my dad. Everybody gets some help and input on big decisions like that. So I think most people with developmental disabilities are very capable of making those decisions on their own. If they need a court appointed guardian and a parent of theirs had died, of course we could help them to apply for that. Yeah. Now, in terms of elderly services, you guys have been a partner with Orca Media doing public service announcements or videos. Can you explain a little bit about that partnership? Sure, sure. So the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, we're actually partnering with Orca Media, which is great, with the Attorney General's Office, with Cove, the community of Vermont elders, and with Cove's SMP, Savvy Seniors Acting Troop to create these videos, these video skits that illustrate some of the most common scams that are targeting our older Vermonters. Which are considered, okay, can you define? They are victims, they are. They can be. Sure. I mean, anybody can be a victim of a scam, right? We all get those strange phone calls that claim to be coming from the IRS or claim to be coming from Medicare or Medicaid or somebody who's telling you that. Or in order to get a job, you have to give me money. Right. Right. Please never, I mean, for a person with a disability, that could throw someone off. Okay, I want to get a marketing job, but I have to give this company money. Why? Right, exactly. Because it's smart to know that that's not true and you want to react to that. But scammers are really smart and so they keep reinventing and inventing new ways to get to people. So the video series, we call it Stay Savvy Vermont, and it is a video series that uses these actors from the Burlington area. They're part of Lyric Theater, but they're older Vermonters themselves and they're part of the SMP Savvy Seniors acting troupe through Cove. And they act out these skits, these scams. They show how it might happen, what kind of a call you might get. So these actors demonstrate what happens and following the acting portion of it, we have a question and answer with some attorneys from the Attorney General's office. Just telling people if this happens, this is what you can do, this is who you can call. This is one of the things you need to be aware of. Just really trying to educate people. So that's been a great partnership. Can you define, since we're talking about scams, and then we'll get to the PSAs in a minute, define a scam. What exactly is a scam? That's such a good question. I don't know that I can define a scam. When I think about them, I think about it as somebody who intends to take money from you. The Madoff scandal, or the Lehman Brothers situation. He was convicted of fraudulent practice. I don't know if it falls under scam, but it probably does. But the idea that these scammers are looking to make money, and the only way that they make money is to get it from people who are being fooled into believing that there's a good reason to give them money. Should be stopped. So it could be identity theft. It could be getting your personal information and then using that. It can be getting you to give them money for some reason. Or a device like what they call a skimmer. I've been doing research. Yeah. You mentioned that. I don't know what that is. A skimmer is a device that people would put, like I said, a gas pump or an ATM machine. You put in your code like you normally would, but you take your card out when you're done, but the little device would get your information and then empty your account or something like that. Right. That's pretty high level. Yeah. It's called a skimmer. You might want to do some research on that. Yeah. But they have a new system. These are scams. They call lifelock where they protect everything. Right. Oh, I've heard of that. And they have wallets too now to protect your cards. Yep. They protect anybody from reading it from a distance. Exactly. The information from that. I've seen that. I think I have one. I hope I have one. What has been your experience working with people with disabilities? So I've really been in the field for, I think we've talked a little bit earlier about 28 years. I worked for just a few different jobs out of college, but settled in pretty quickly to working in a non-profit in the Burlington area and then at the Howard Center for 13 years and then in state government for the last 13 years as well. So about 28 years of working in and around the field of disability and with older Vermonters. Now in terms of working with people with disabilities, your opinion, what are the misconceptions around people, especially when people first meet them? Because there's a lot of misconceptions that people have to know. It's such a great question. And I think it's probably a little bit different for every person. But I think in general, the misconception that I bump up against most is that people start any interaction with somebody with a disability trying to figure out what they can't do, trying to understand the can't instead of the can. And making assumptions about what people are able to achieve. I think that that's the biggest one that I know and especially when you're talking about somebody who maybe communicates a little bit differently, who might not be verbal or who might use a communication device, you see a lot of times that people are making assumptions about their intelligence that are absolutely untrue and inaccurate. So trying to make sure that people understand somebody might communicate a little bit differently, might talk a little bit differently, but the intelligence is all there, is still there and needs to be really looked for, the capacity, the ability. Steve, while we take a break, let's take a look at what Orca Media has been doing with the Department of Disability and Underly Services, Dell. Let's take a look at that right now. Sure. I'm TJ Dunovan, Vermont's Attorney General. And I'm Monica Hutt, Commissioner at the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living. Every year, hundreds of older Vermonters are victimized by professional scammers trying to rob you of your identity, your resources and your sense of safety. But there is something you can do to protect yourself. This series, Stay Savvy Vermont, is designed to show you how those scams work and what they look like so that you can identify them and guard against them. Stay Savvy Vermont is a collaboration between the Vermont Attorney General's Office, the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, Cove and Cove's SMP Savvy Seniors and Orca Media. Our goal is to give you information to protect yourself and your families from scams. And to tell you what resources are available to you if you think you've already been scammed. This is information you can share with your friends, your family, anyone you think may be a target. Protecting ourselves, protecting each other, that's what we can do to combat professional scammers. We hope this series will be the first line in defense to keep ourselves and everybody safe and free from exploitation. Stay smart, stay safe, stay Savvy Vermont. Again tonight? Why? It's the only thing there's any good on. What do you want to watch? I don't know. I'm just so tired of watching basketball every single night. Well, if you've got a better idea. Well, isn't there a gardening channel? Or maybe we could watch the cooking channel for a change. The cooking channel? Can you get that, Albert? Hello? Hello? Grandpa? Who is it? Dan? Dan, is that you? Yeah. It's me, Grandpa. It's Dan. And I'm in terrible trouble. Hold on. And Detective Franks will tell you why. Dan? Dan, what's going on? This is Detective Franks. Do my speaking, please. My name is Albert Wankstrom. I'm Dan's grandfather. Who are you and what's going on with my grandson, Dan? Well, Mr. Wankstrom, I'm with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Your grandson and two other men were stopped here last night in Fort Hunter, British Columbia. And it was approximately eight hours of cocaine found in the car. Two men with your grandson tested positive for the substance in their bloodstream. But your grandson did not. Nevertheless, he's being held in an accessory. And will be charged in Queens Court accordingly. At the moment, it looks like the arraignment will probably be next Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday. And until that time, he'll be held here in the Fort Hunter lockup. Oh my God, no. Albert, what is that? What's going on? It's Dan. He's in jail in Canada. Oh, Albert. Isn't there something we can do about this officer? Fine young men. I'm sure he'd never be involved in any kind of criminal activity. There's nothing that could be done. Sure, if you're approaching bail for your grandson. Otherwise, if it was for quite a spell, I'm afraid. Bail? How much is the bail? Albert, please tell me what is going on? I will when I finish talking to the policeman. Just a minute. Sorry about that, Sergeant. How much is the bail? It's Detective Frank. The bail is set for $6,000. And you can wire that to me here at the station house. Your grandson will be released immediately. Shoot your grandson in Canada. I'm reasonably confident that there will be no further action. Given that he had no cocaine in his bloodstream. Would you like the address for that wire? $6,000. Yeah, all right, we can do that. Give me the address, please. Albert, give me that phone. This is Mrs. Wankstrom. I'd like to speak to my grandson, please. Certainly, Mrs. Wankstrom. Here he is. Hi, Grandma. Are you and Grandpa going to be able to get me out of here? Oh, now, don't you worry about that, Dan. We'll take care of things. Are you all right? Your voice sounds a little funny. No, I'm fine, Grandma. I just had a rotten cold, that's all. Oh, all right, I was just concerned. Now, Dan, how did you happen to be in Canada for heaven's sakes? Isn't Beverly do right about now? Well, I had to come up here on a business trip, and the rental car I was driving broke down, and these guys were giving me a ride into town when we got stopped by the cops. Oh, what a shame. But you're sure that Beverly is all right. Oh, and what about little Stanton? Did he get over that nasty ball? Oh, he's fine, I'm sure. And Stanton is doing just great. It's been real nice talking to you, and I hope you enjoy your stay in your nice imaginary jail, talking to your imaginary wife, Beverly, and your imaginary son, Stanton. Albert, if you'd ever read something besides the sports pages, or watch something besides the sports channel or ESPN, you'd know that our grandson in jail in Canada is a scam that's going on all over the place, and you came that close to costing us $6,000. I can't believe I fell for that. Sorry, honey. What was it you wanted to watch? What should I do if I think I've already been scammed? Stop payment. If money has been sent to a bank or financial institution, call the institution or bank through which you sent the money immediately. Scammers are quick to pick up their money, however it's worth a try. Also, contact your credit card company immediately. How should I respond to the caller if I get a call like this? Hang up. Scammers will try to keep you on the line, but the best way to avoid getting scammed is to end the call. Don't try to talk to them, just hang up the phone. If the conversation is by text or via email, end the conversation or block the sender. Where do I report suspicious calls? And what information do I need in order to report a suspicious call? Call us. The Attorney General's Office Consumer Assistance Program wants to hear from you at 1-800-649-2424 or visit us on the web at consumer.vermont.gov. If you want to report a loss or want to report a loss for somebody else, we want to hear from you. If outside of normal business hours, leave us a voicemail message or send an email. If you need immediate assistance, call local law enforcement or dial 211 for referral to other agencies. The Office of the Attorney General recently launched a new scam alert system. Because so little can be done once the scam has occurred and money has been transferred, the purpose of the scam alert system is to notify people and prevent the harm from happening in the first place. How this system will work is participants can sign up for receiving a scam alert through either email, text, or phone call. And once a scam has been launched, the Office of the Attorney General will send out an alert through either text, email, or phone. And sign up for the VT scam alert system at 1-800-649-2424 or by visiting consumer.vermont.gov. Welcome back. Tell me a little bit about why did Orca Media partner with your office? What was the main reason behind it? Well, I can't speak for Orca Media, but I think one of the missions of public access stations is to reach out into communities. And they really are designed to serve a public good. So I think when we offered this opportunity to Orca, they were really quick to jump on it. They're right here in Montpelier. They're really aware of what's happening in state government. At the state house, they really have their finger on the pulse. I think Orca does. And they were more than willing to jump into this partnership with us to try to get this message out to as many Vermonters as possible. Now, in terms of independent living, because your office deals with independent living. Sure. What are some of the services that your office provides with that piece? Because living on one's own, especially with being challenged in some ways, some forms or another. So what exactly did your office do? So remember I talked about the different divisions in the department. It depends on what your particular situation is, what your particular challenges might be, what you might be looking to get support with. But in developmental disability services, if you're eligible for services through developmental disabilities, you can apply through your designated agency. You would start with your designated agency and you can apply for a whole host of services. You can look for residential supports or supports to work with you in community, supports with employment. You get a lot of people to work. So for a person that's a job coach, for example. Exactly. If that was necessary, that could happen through us for sure. For older Vermonters, again, our most intensive services are focused on individuals who might need a nursing home level of care, who really need to be in a nursing home because of their really complicated medical issues, but who maybe don't want to be in a nursing home, who maybe want to stay in their own homes and in their own communities, and we can wrap supports around those individuals. Now it's important to understand that we work with partners in the communities. We work with our designated agencies. We work with specialized service agencies. We work with the area agencies on aging, with home health agencies, with our adult day program. So we don't provide the services. We partner with organizations across the state. The only time where that's not true is in vocational rehabilitation and the division for the blind. So for somebody who's coming to voc rehab, who has a disability or a barrier to work and who wants to find a job, they can go through voc rehab or the division for the blind and visually impaired if they have a visual impairment or are blind. And the VR folks and the DBVI folks will work with those individuals directly to get them hooked up with jobs in the community. So for example, now what if in terms of nursing homes, what if someone is being, because it's nursing home abuse all the time and abuse with nurses and medical personnel. If someone's being abused. Right. If that were happening, what do you do? How does, yeah, because the news reports that stuff all the time can't get past it. There was big abuse with institutions years ago and people with special needs. Right. How does your office or when they got put into play, how does your office deal with that type of thing? Right. So it's always a happy thing for me to be able to say that of course Vermont doesn't have any institutions for individuals with developmental disabilities anymore. That was closed many, many years ago. In terms of reporting abuse or neglect, I mean if you are somebody who's being abused or neglected, you can call Adult Protective Services which is one of the functions of the Department of Disabilities Aging and Independent Living. You can call or make a report online. Yeah. And if it was happening in a nursing home, it would also involve our survey and certification. Oh, I'm not asking a wrong question. No, no, no, it's exactly right. If it's happening in a nursing home, you could make that same call and you could also call our survey and certification. And all those numbers are on our website so you can find those there. No, if there's abuse, I'm not asking a wrong question here, but if there's abuse and you guys investigated or bring investigators into the situation, does the person or place in question nursing home lose their license? It would really depend on what we found, right? Yeah. If certainly there are, in order to maintain your license you have to meet standards of care for health and safety. What we find is that you're violating those standards of care. It's possible that you could lose your license. Nursing homes are licensed through CMS, through the Centers for Medicaid Services. And so our investigators and survey and certification work through CMS, so Medicaid, to make those decisions. So they would do the investigation. They would do the findings. They would make a recommendation. CMS would be part of making that decision about licensing and loss of license. But we would certainly be one thing we have to reiterate to our viewing audience is that when you work with people with disabilities or elderly or people that are infirm, it's a thankless job, right? People don't get paid as much as they want, because in terms of that piece, what is one thing, or one piece of advice that you can give to a viewing audience? If you want to work with people with disabilities, what do people usually look for when they're trying to go into that field? So I guess I would first say that I don't think it is a thankless job. I think it's an amazing and extraordinary job. I think people that find themselves in this field or drawn to this field are drawn to it because they recognize the opportunity to be part of somebody's life is something that's just so important and profound. I don't disagree with you. I wish that rates of pay were much higher. Certain cities are fighting for living ways with direct care workers, people that are trying to get into this field. Right, and Vermont's been working on that. I mean, the governor and the legislature have been really focused on trying to raise wages across the healthcare arena and certainly in developmental disabilities in our Choices for Care program for independent support workers. In terms of advice, again, I think it's typically a field that people go into after having made connections with individuals. I think that's really a lot of times what I see is people have made a connection with somebody in the community and realize, wow, this is something that I'd like to be able to do. I'd like to be able to help. I mean, this is a powerful movement that we're a part of in terms of disability and aging and community-based services. It's really powerful to say communities are able to provide what people need and want. And it's important that we keep all the members of our community as part of our communities. And I think that people that are drawn to that are those folks that are just really jazzed about the civil rights aspect of it, really recognize the value of every human being. I mean, it's important work. And I think people are drawn to it because of that. How long has your office been in existence? Oh, my gosh, that's such a good question. You know, I don't know. You have a commission? I know. I should know that. So obviously, no, that's okay. We have to re-edit that part. Oh, no, that's fine. That's totally fine. So the department has gone through lots of different changes. And so in this configuration, I think it's probably been since maybe... Because New York, Boston... Well, New York, Boston and other big cities have the mayor's office for people with disabilities. Is your office controlled by... The governor's office is controlled by... Right. Our office... We respond directly to the governor's office. Well, first, I'm sorry, first to the agency of human services, so to the secretary of human services, and then to the governor. So we are part of the administration and part of Vermont State government. So in some form, you know, Dale has existed for a very long time. Okay. Ken, you being the commissioner, I think we can ask this. No one's perfect. No office is perfect. Right. People have made mistakes. Where do you see your office? This is a two-part question, actually. Where do you see your office helping more people in the future? Or how do you see your office helping more people? And then how has your office improved over the last couple of years? Has there been... Because, you know, people... Obviously people with special needs have been in institutions 30, 40 years ago. I guess I'm talking as an advocate here, but could have that been prevented if your office was created earlier, or, you know, so on and so forth? Yeah, I don't know that I can speak to whether or not, you know, we could have prevented the institutionalization of people overall. You know, there are a lot of states that still have institutions, and so I think Vermont has been really progressive in looking to get rid of institutions entirely. You know, we got rid of sheltered workshops entirely. People work... Yay! Yeah, we got rid of the opportunity because it wasn't... Yeah, a sheltered workshop. If I may give an example. For example, sheltered workshops would be, for example, a business that might put a device together, and then it's like an assembly line. If you don't put that device together fast enough you don't get more money or something like that, and your checks end up being 30, 40, 50 bucks, which is not a regular paycheck. Right, exactly. So in Vermont we don't have any sheltered workshops. Individuals with disabilities work competitively in the community, which means that they get paid minimum wage or above minimum wage. And we don't have, you know, many, many people with disabilities at one workshop because we want to make sure that people have opportunities and can pick whatever job they want to have, right? What if a person with a disability wants to learn to be a computer programmer? Right, they should be able to do that. Or in food service, for example, if they want to do that, then they can... Right, so it's important to know what they need, what kind of supports they need to succeed, what their interests are, and a lot of times you just don't know what your choices are until you've been out there a little bit. So I don't know that we could have prevented all that, but I think when... I'm asking a real question, please. Forgive me. Oh, no, that's okay. But I think that, you know, there's always looking ahead and trying to think about what's next. And so I think imagining... It's important in Vermont that we don't just sit around and pat ourselves on the back for how great we are. Oh, we got rid of institutions. Oh, we don't have supported workshops. We're so wonderful. We are wonderful, but as soon as you start thinking that too much, you're not looking for the next thing. You're not looking to push forward. So I think the goal is to always be pushing forward and trying to imagine what's next when you think about rights and responsibilities and community inclusion for folks with disabilities. How do we take the next steps? So define, since we're talking about independence here, throughout this whole thing, define community inclusion. Well, that's a really interesting question, right? Because we used to talk about it. Yeah, we used to talk about inclusion. And I think in our heads, certainly for me, I'll speak only for myself, you would think about, well, if somebody's living in an apartment in the community and they're working, they're included. I think that if somebody's living in an apartment and working, they are part of a community. Are they included? Included to me means having connections, having a network outside of paid providers who you're friends with, who you can call on when you need. You know, having your favorite restaurant that you go to and people know that you're going to show up every Tuesday night for a pizza. You know, I think being included in your community means being involved and engaged and active in your community. And I think we're still working towards that. I think folks with disabilities are in community, and that's amazing. But I think that really moving towards absolute inclusion, that's our work from now until forever. So would you define your office as a huge advocacy organization that has a lot of things within it? Yeah, I think that we have an advocacy role. I think we also partner with a lot of organizations that are pure advocates. You know, we work with Disability Rights Vermont and we work with the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council. We work with Vermont Family Network. We work with Green Mountain Self-Advocates. And those organizations are pure advocacy. And sometimes they're mad at us about stuff. And that's their job. Mad at you? Mad at us. Or they're not... Well, because it's their job to keep pushing us forward. It's their job to challenge us when they think we're not doing enough. It's their job to call us out if we're sitting back and relaxing too much. You know, any organization that has... Assistance is key. Right. All that bureaucracy, you know, that can sort of stymie you. And so we've got advocacy organizations that really speak on behalf of individuals with disabilities and push us forward. I'd like to think that Dale does that as well, but you have to have checks and balances in any system. What exactly is checks and balances in this case? I think like exactly what I just said, calling us out when they think we're not doing something appropriately or challenging us on, you know, if we issue rules on something and saying, hey, those don't seem right, those don't seem fair, that back and forth has to happen to get to the place that you really want to be. Now, in terms of Governor Phil Scott and how you guys work together, explain that relationship between the governor's office or state offices and your office. Right. So I certainly do work and have been very honored to work with the governor directly on some projects and some issues. Mostly, though, I work through the Agency of Human Services, so the secretary is a man named Al Gobey. And Al works directly with the governor. The governor does appoint my position, so I have to, you know, my job interview is with the governor and he gets to decide. And he's been a great, great supporter of the work that we've done in disability, a great supporter of the work that we've done for older Romaners as well. Do you have social work experience? In my background? Sure. It was a case manager at the Howard Center for a long time and supervised case manager, so that's certainly my background. So that brought, so you brought a lot to the table being in your business and that you are now? I think so. Yeah, I think so. I think the governor was looking for people to appoint into his commissioner and deputy secretary and secretary rules that did bring some experience to the table. Different people, different levels of experience, but yeah, I think I did. I think I brought a lot of background. Okay. In terms of future goals, I mean we're still not done yet, but what do you see for the office going forward? Oh gosh, yeah, there's so much. I think that we continue to set goals in each division that really drive us forward, that really try to move us to a place where we are cutting edge and on the cusp of some new things. So in each division there are different things that we're working on. You know, we talked a little bit about guardianship at the very beginning of the program, and one of the things that we're working on in the developmental disability services division is this concept of supported decision making. So somebody wouldn't be appointed a guardian, but a court might appoint or might reject a petition for guardianship and instead say that a person was going to work through supported decision making and not need or utilize a guardian. A payee. Maybe a payee, maybe not didn't need that, but recognizing that people don't always need guardians. It's a very automatic response where people will seek guardianship for someone with a developmental disability or an older Vermont, and that's just not always necessary. A person can make decisions for themselves. Or with a little bit of help, like we all use. There's nothing wrong with asking for help. Absolutely not. Vermont is one of the first states to have had a court actually reject a petition for guardianship and instead agree to utilize supported decision making for individuals. That happened up in the Northeast Kingdom not that long ago, and so we were really happy with that and are moving, trying to move that work forward. We're looking to really figure out how do we work with the hospital. With all of the work that's been happening with University of Vermont Medical Center and OneCare, trying to really understand how does how do disability services and services for older Vermonters link into the whole idea of an all-payer model. What does that look like? So all what? An all-payer model? What exactly is that? Oh gosh, I'm the last person to explain this to you, but it essentially means that it's all of the payers for healthcare services. So private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid. Hospitals are working within this all-payer model to create parity so that services and supports happen the same regardless of who's going for insurance. So for example, is your office in charge well, I wouldn't say in charge, but at the forefront like for example if someone has to pay a co-payment for their Medicare or for their prescription or their diabetic device or something and now what happens if a person because a person who gets Social Security and let's say they only have that one check a month, but can't afford the medications. Can your office step in through the Medicare Medicaid and try to help? So there's a department in the agency called the Department of Vermont Health Access, and that's our sister agency to us and they handle all of the Medicaid for the state of Vermont. So we might be able to work with Diva around that, try to understand what the situation is, but it's not our decision to make and Medicaid is all federal, right? So even no matter what Vermont wants to do or doesn't want to do, we also are always bound by the federal laws, by the national laws around that. But we can certainly help people think about it. Like, they can't afford something can, is it like a I wouldn't call it a scholarship for medical supplies but, you know, that type of thing. Yeah, I don't know if there are I hear what you're saying, sort of scholarships or stipends for that. I don't know if that exists Lawrence, I would have to look into that. They know some drug companies open and they're offering to help if you can afford your medication. Yeah, I mean I think we can help people figure that out if they're in services with us. It's not open to everybody, but if you're receiving services that's something that your case manager could help you try to figure out. That's typically how that would work. Okay, so tell people where to go if they want to get in contact with your office. Right, so there's a website for all of Vermont State Government and you can go through Vermont.gov and then just look up under the agencies, the Department for Disabilities Aging and Independent Living that will take you to our website and there's contact information there. So for more information on DALE and the services they provided you guys people can go to www.vermont.gov .org What is it? It's just Vermont.gov www.vermont.gov Well is there anything else before we end that you would like to tell us about your office? I don't think so. We have a couple of minutes left. I don't know I don't think so. It's been a fun interview. Well pros and cons I want to ask this question then pros and cons What's your name? Your department What do you like about your job? What do you don't like and other things around that? I really do love my job. It's a huge honor to do the work that I do and a big pro is that I work with really amazing people. The staff You have to have good customer skills to work in your field. I think so. I think we've got great staff at Dale. We have great partners in the community. The providers that we work with and partner with in the community are just extraordinary. We have this very important body of work that we're engaged in and it's pretty wonderful. I don't love talking about money. That's probably my least favorite part is having to make really challenging decisions when money is scarce. That's always hard. We're talking about people and people's lives. It's not like a supermarket. It's not just an exchange of an item for money. It's people's lives. You can't afford this so we can't give it to you as a prize. Exactly. It's people's lives we're talking about. But that's also the pro. Being able to be involved in people's lives is pretty amazing. So what if you can't afford something in your in the field of disabilities, how do you guys go around that? It's a great question. I work in my office. I work with the secretary. I work with the legislature and the governor. A lot of times we have to make really hard decisions and we do have to give something up. But oftentimes people are supportive of the things that we want to do. Most of the time they really are and the legislature will appropriate the dollars for it. And the governor will support a budget. It's a long involved process and always a difficult conversation. But again, Vermont has been really supportive for a very long time. Well, we would like to thank you for joining us on this edition of Abled in an Air. Again, you can contact Vermont.gov That's www.vermont.gov Well, we would like to thank Commissioner Monica Hutt of Dale for joining us and I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time for another edition of Abled in an Air.