A LOOK BACK AT THE NATIONAL A.T. REUSE CONFERENCE AND A

PREVIEW OF THE ATIA 2010 ORLANDO WEBINAR

~ OCTOBER 26, 2009 ~

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Welcome here today to our Pass

It On Center webinar. We're thrilled that you're with us.

And we're looking forward to sharing information

about the ATIA preconference and also the strand that we're

planning for ATIA in Orlando, The Assistive Technology

Industry Association conference. And that's actually going

to be -- the preconference is going to be January 27th,

2010.

And we're also going to be recapping what we

learned and what we experienced at the conference.

So very glad that you're with us. Just want to do

one more mic check.

Can everybody hear me okay?

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz Persaud

with the Pass It On Center right here next to Carolyn. And

I just wanted to do another mic check and say hello. So

hope y'all can hear me.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: All right. Great. Great,

great, great.

And I did also want to welcome Kimberly Griffin,

who is our transcriptionist. She does a great job with our

transcriptions and getting those up there, transcribing the

webinars. Thank you so much, Kimberly, for joining us.

And also wanted to give a special thank you to

Trish Redmon, who has done such a great job pulling

together the preconference.

Unfortunately -- she's online with us, but

unfortunately she's not able to chime in with comments

using her voice. She will be using the public chat.

So, Trish, jump in at any moment. You did a great

job pulling this PowerPoint together. I like the look. So

that's great.

So everyone should be seeing the "Pass It On

Center, Creating or Improving Your AT Reuse Program." Let

me know if you don't see that slide, and I'll go ahead and

hit the refresh button just so that everybody -- I want to

make sure everybody sees it. Okay.

And Liz just reminded me that the transcriptions

will be ready in three weeks.

And do you mind talking a little bit about where

they're posted on our website.

LIZ PERSAUD: Sure. Once you go onto the Pass It

On Center home page, up top along the top there are

different icons, different tabs that you can hit to get to

different areas on the website.

And if you click on "Webinars," it will pull up the

webinar schedule for this year. And then if you scroll

down further on the page, you'll see a grid that has the

PowerPoint, the transcription, and the audio of today's

webinar as well as archives back for the past two years as

well too.

So y'all be sure to check that out and give us any

feedback that you have as well.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Thank you, Liz.

These webinars are getting a lot of hits. A lot of

people are looking at the archives. So we're excited about

having a space and having that be a living document,

something that people can download and interact with. So

that's great.

So we're going to start off first with the ATIA

preconference and just talking about the strands, primarily

because Caroline Van Howe is going to jump in at some point

and talk a little bit about ATIA.

And then we're going to actually do . . . (audio

skipped) . . . and kind of wrapping up our conference that

we just had that was in Atlanta. And we really appreciate

all of you who came. And that was so much fun, and we

learned so much. And we appreciate those of you who

weren't there being interested and listening in. So that's

great.

So we, for the preconference, have some learning

objectives. And here they are. There's four learning

objectives. And Liz is going to cover these for us real

quick.

LIZ PERSAUD: So these are the preconference

learning objectives that we have in place. And basically

we want to use the indicators of quality for AT reuse to

plan an effective program to really put that tool into use

so the folks out there who are wanting to build their AT

reuse program can use it effectively.

We want to identify priority decisions and tasks

for starting or improving the program; to adopt practical

strategies from thriving programs; and to jump start the

project plan through team activities in a hands-on

workshop.

And I really want to reiterate that, that this

preconference is really going to be hands-on, really

communicating effectively and giving folks tools and

resources that they can actually walk away with and go back

and implement everything that they learned to start their

reuse program.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: All of those learning objectives

go right back to our title, which is creating or improving

your AT reuse program.

We're getting more and more calls from folks. We

got a call just two days ago from Easter Seals. I got an

e-mail over the weekend asking, you know, how they can

start a reuse program.

So there's a lot of folks out there trying to start

one and also trying to improve. So that's what our goal

is.

So the leaders that are going to help instruct

during this session -- and we're going to actually support

them in big ways so that we can work together as a team

during the preconference -- it's going to be Sara Sack, who

continues to be a leader in this area and continues to work

closely, obviously, with folks as they're looking at

different aspects of running the program.

And then she's also wearing two hats at this.

She'll be at -- continuing to work with the Pass It On

Center. So appreciate Sara jumping in to do that.

Cathy Valdez with Project MEND in Texas is going to

be, once again, just like she did at the conference, being

honest about lessons that she's learned and also how people

can grow. She's done an outstanding job with her program.

Dorothy Young from Mississippi, the rehabilitations

services program there, is going to share some of her

insights and some expertise when it comes to marketing and

such.

Sam Creech from Walton Options from Independent

Living in Georgia is going to be on the panel also working

with us bringing in that perspective of what does it look

like to do this from, you know, a very small center and how

you can actually be very successful working, you know, at

servicing maybe a hundred people a year or less. And so

we're excited about what he's going to be bringing.

And then Lindsey Bean, who's going to be wearing

two hats. Again, just like Sara, she works with the Pass

It On Center, but she'll also be bringing experience when

it comes to matching and other experience from working with

Paraquad.

And Joy Kniskern will be with us; I'll be there,

and I'm looking forward to that; Jessica Brodey, who is a

consultant with the Pass It On Center, will be there; Liz

Persaud and Trish Redmon. So we've got a whole group

that's going to be there working with us on this.

The quality indicators is the foundation for a lot

of what we're going to be covering and -- when it comes to

improving reuse programs or getting one started.

And this slide, which I really like, is a creative

way of showing how the different pieces would fit together.

We are going to be covering organizational structure;

finance and accounting and showing how that plays a part;

sustainability; marketing; user services; program

operations, management; and also human services, human

resources.

So that's just one way to show how we're going to

be covering the information that we're covering.

The sessions -- what we're going to do is apply the

indicators of quality to the program planning. So it will

be laying that foundation.

If you're either starting your program or improving

your program's specific areas, then what we're going to do

is walk you through reviewing the indicators, looking at

tasks and how to make a decision, and then determine how

this applies directly to your program.

And then we're going to discuss strategies, and

we're going to have Sara and Cathy and Dorothy and Sam and

Lindsey and other folks weigh in on different strategies

and discussing these with us.

And then we're going to draft a preliminary plan --

your plan, policies and/or procedures. We're going to

identify the best fit for your program and then give you

take-home tools so you can complete the plan.

So that's a little flowchart, if you will, of how

these things are going to flow together.

And once again, excellent job on that slide, Trish.

Thank you. I like the visual.

The organizational structure. A few people asked

us, "Well, what exactly are y'all going to cover?"

We're going to talk about legal status. And

thankfully we have Jessica Brodey working with us on these

policies.

And so we're going to also be talking about

governing and advisory body, staffing model. We'll just

spend a little bit of time on the advisory body and

governing and all of that but just enough to make sure that

folks realize that, you know, if they do have a red flag,

what the red flag areas might be and how to kind of work

with those.

Also the importance of involving people with

disabilities. We're finding that not all of the programs

that we're working with actually do that. And so we'll

talk a little bit about the philosophy there but also the

benefits and the true practice of doing this.

And some of the participant activities will be to

identify reuse activities, identify appropriate structures,

and then also determine the mix of employees, contractors

and/or volunteers and all the liability issues within all

of that. All right.

Finance and accounting. Once again, this applies

to all of it, no matter what size, if you have a very large

program or a very small . . . (audio skipped). And this

goes hand in hand with sustainability and some of the other

structure issues.

So looking at your operational and capital budgets.

What do you have? What do you need to be successful?

Contingency planning. What do you need to keep --

so that you can keep things going if you have to start off

running from a contingency plan or situation.

Accounting operations. And then also looking at

return on investment. This was a very successful session

that was at our last conference.

And we appreciated, Sara, you and Chris weighing in

on this. And so, once again, we'd like you to share your

expertise here.

Some of the activities that you can expect if

you're going to be a participant in this is to determine

the complexity of program accounting needs with a budget

workbook, and you'll be actually receiving some of those

tools; organize accounting operations; and then also learn

ways to compute your return on investment. And, once

again, that plays into marketing and sustainability.

So sustainability actually follows next. Planning

for sustainability. And we've been talking about this for

years, but actually it's new to some folks that have joined

the community.

And there are a lot of people contacting us about

helping them develop sustainability plans and what does

that really mean.

So looking at data collection and how that actually

plays into your sustainability plan. What's the role there

and how you use that program data.

And then looking at our third-party relationships

and collaborations and how to shake hands with other

organizations, which is actually something that Sara Sack

is working on with the Pass It On Center team as a team

member. So we're glad that she'll be there and giving some

input.

Some of the activities here will be to identify

diverse sources of funding. We've talked a lot about at

the conference the different legs of a stool. Barclay

actually showed us that image, and we've been working with

that image ever since. So how do you diversify your

funding?

And then how do you draft policies and procedures

for data collection and use? Kind of doing -- building it

right from the start, if you will.

And Jessica, you've got your hand raised, so I'm

going to release the mic. I'm glad you're on with us,

Jessica.

Okay. All right. So it looks like it was just a

mysterious hand. Sorry about that, Jessica. So we'll move

forward.

So the next area that we're going to be covering

during our preconference is program operations. And so

we're going to be looking specifically at accessibility,

space, storage within your facility.

We're also going to look at what is your

sanitization plan? Whether you're reusing CCTVs or PDAs,

you know, little devices; or wheelchairs, walkers, hospital

beds or computers. And what are some of your plans around

that? And then also looking at refurbishing your donated

devices.

So some of the activities that are going to take

place during this will be analyzing space needs by the

function and activity and identify staff training needs

depending on what reuse activity you're going to be

participating in or your program is going to be doing.

The other thing that I want to point out at this

point is we're going to be talking about some of these

things really in depth, and then other ones we're going to

be just pointing you to direct resources.

The sessions that are going to follow the

ten-session strands that we've set up actually complements

the preconference. You don't have to necessarily go to the

preconference to understand what's going on in the rest of

the strands, obviously -- sessions. But they do go hand in

hand where we're going to go much more in depth.

So we're looking at seven and a half hours for the

preconference, and then we've got an additional ten hours

of information that we're going to be giving throughout the

rest of the conference.

So the next area is user services. And Liz will

cover this part.

LIZ PERSAUD: So with user services, some of the

things that we're going to take a look at is customer

intake. So what is your profit when a customer comes in,

when they call, your forms, your paperwork? How do you go

about handling their requests?

Matching the device to customer. Obviously that's

an important thing. We've gotten lots of questions and

requests on how do we handle matching that device to the

customer to ensure their safety and to make sure that

they're getting the quality that they definitely need.

And then customer follow-up. So once they get the

equipment and then they go out in their community and, when

they're out there using it, just to make sure that it's

working properly for them and to keep that interaction --

that interaction prevalent.

So some of the activities that you'll discover

during that particular talk of the reuse conference is --

I'm sorry -- the preconference is determining eligibility

requirements, getting a draft application for services, and

then having draft policy and procedures for matching and

also for follow-up as well, too. So those are some of the

tools you'll be able to take away.

Management and human resources. This is the other

topic that we'll be discussing as well too.

So management, the expertise needed. Who are the

people that you have on your staff, and what is it that

they need to know?

The mission statement of your program. Because

that's important. That actually says what it is that your

program focuses on and what brings people in.

And then job descriptions . . . (audio skip) . . .

well too. Obviously making sure that, you know, your staff

on hand know exactly what it is that they're going to

cover, making sure that's clear for consumers that are

coming in as well, too.

So again, some of the things that folks will be

able to take away is identifying management skills, those

skills that are needed; getting a draft mission statement,

which is very important; and then using a tool to draft job

descriptions that morph into actual performance evaluations

for your program.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: We're especially excited about

that last aspect, you know, just in working smarter, not

harder and making things really flow.

Liz, here's another area for you.

LIZ PERSAUD: Marketing and community relations.

So the things that we'll be covering is marketing analysis

and actually getting a marketing plan. So not just saying,

"Okay. I need PSAs. I need brochures."

How do you actually go about getting that out

there, building a budget? Who do you contact? What are

some brainstorming ideas of those to contact?

So learn how to define your market that you're

going to be serving and then also drafting a marketing plan

for year one of your program.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: So we're going to pack all that

into one day, seven one-hour sessions. And there will be a

lunch break. So quite a bit going on there.

We're going to send you home -- if you participate

in the preconference, we'll send you home with resources:

names of AT resources, the workbook from the sessions, a

flash drive with more tools, and obviously some cool tools

that will be -- you can also find them on the online

knowledge base with more models and examples. But you'll

be able to walk away with those in your hand.

And all this will go towards meeting the goals and

objectives that we talked about before, the learning

objectives of developing your AT reuse program and planning

it. So you'll be ready -- definitely be ready to plan.

We're going to convene the team of interested

parties and review what you've learned. We found,

obviously, those who have studied learning -- an adult

learning process, we know that reviewing this and talking

about it and all of that is what really makes it stick. So

we'll be doing that.

We're going to identify project tasks that apply

directly to your program and set priorities and then get

moving, which is our favorite part. Right, Liz? We like

to "get moving."

So how to register for ATIA? You can actually go

directly to their website, and you can follow the links.

I'm going to show you a page in just a minute.

ATIA conference discounts are available through

November 13th. And preconference registration is $275

until December 18th. And we're going to make sure this is

worth the money. We know everybody's funds are tight.

As I said earlier, our preconference is going to

blend naturally and mold naturally into our strand

sessions. We've got ten of those.

The first one is going to be getting started.

Where to begin and how to build an AT reuse program. And

these actually will be going throughout the rest of the

conference, woven throughout those. We're calling these

building blocks. So they're program building blocks.

Looking specifically and in depth at evaluating and

sanitization. The second one is matching persons to

equipment. And then the third building block will be

tracking inventory and providing data. The fourth one will

be refurbishment, recycling and e-waste. And the fifth one

we'll be looking at policies, procedures, and regulations.

The sixth one will be partnerships: local,

regional, and national. Who do you need to have? Who do

you need to be shaking hands with? And then we'll also be

covering strategies, including budgets, cost analysis, and

management of return on investment where we'll just dive

even deeper into that topic.

And another program strategy will be

community-level activities, looking specifically at

emergency preparedness and assistive technology.

And then we're going to have a general AT reuse

session that's going to look at the research of AT reuse

outcomes and their effectiveness.

So we're very excited about this session and -- the

preconference session and all the ten sessions that are

going to follow.

Here's just a screen shot of what the ATIA website

looks like and where you would get to the registration.

It's pretty intuitive. You would actually just go to the

ATIA website, go to "ATIA Conference," and then go down to

Orlando, and then you can scroll down to the bottom of the

page, and it will be there.

Do y'all have any questions for us about the

preconference or the ATIA sessions?

And I can release the mic while y'all think about

what questions you might have.

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz. We're

actually working on pulling up the second part of our

presentation just to give y'all a quick review of what we

did back in December at the National AT Reuse Conference

here in September. We had a wonderful time.

I know that many of you who are on the webinar

today joined us, and we certainly appreciate y'all being

there, and hopefully y'all learned a lot and took away a

lot and had a wonderful time as we did.

One thing that I wanted to mention -- and we'll

actually show a screen shot of it, I believe, once we pull

up the presentation -- is Trish Redmon and I have worked --

and the rest of the Pass It On Center team have worked to

get the presentations and the handouts and all of the

information that was presented at the conference up on the

Pass It On Center website.

So when you actually go to the Pass It On Center

website, it is currently on the home page. And you can

also go to our section that says "Home." And once you

click on "Home," you can click on "Events." And under the

"Events" tab it says "National AT Reuse Conference."

And we actually have a grid -- we actually have a

grid that has the speakers, the presentation, the handouts,

and all the information that you need for the conference as

well, too. So hopefully you all can jump on there and be

sure to grab that information as well, too.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: All right. Excellent.

The next piece that we were going to cover with

y'all today is our recap of the conference. We were very

excited to do this in collaboration with our partners --

national partners, NATTAP.

Nancy and her team were so helpful, Lisa and Rick.

And so thank y'all for joining us with that effort. It

definitely paid off.

The evaluations were outstanding. And I think

indeed we are shaping a national collaborative, which is

what we were hoping to do. So we're just going to give you

a little information about what was covered there and how

you can benefit from what was covered there. You can

access the information that was gained.

This is the slide that Liz was talking about that

she and Trish worked so hard on with Alan and Sharon and

her team. I really appreciate y'all doing that. There are

over 50 different presentations, maybe 60 -- over 60

different presentations that are posted. So thank you very

much.

The goals were pretty simple and kind of broad,

actually, and in some ways really detailed.

So we wanted to recognize the accomplishments of

our programs and our partners in the AT reuse community; we

wanted to share innovative strategies, which I think we

did; and identify new skill areas and specific needs; and

then also expand and strengthen the AT reuse programs as

they relate to many areas but especially emergency

preparedness and program sustainability.

The national AT reuse scene. We're just going to

cover a few of the presentations and just give you a little

summary of what we gleaned from those.

There are 174 programs listed in our database --

the Pass It On Center database that actually we worked on

with NATTAP to get that started.

56 state programs and territories have reuse

programs. So that means everybody's doing it. 43 device

exchange programs are within that 56. Of the 56 states and

territories, 40 of them are doing refurbishing programs, so

that's quite a few. And 28 are open-ended loan programs.

This was a very interesting fact -- and we

appreciated Deborah sharing this with us -- that the number

of the devices reused in 2008 was six times greater than in

2006. And that's huge. That's a lot of activity in just a

few short years.

The main thing is focusing on appropriate reuse and

looking at is it safe -- and we've already stated these --

is it safe for consumers and users; does it result in

positive outcomes for consumers; and is it friendly to the

environment.

Also looking at effective reuse. Does it meet the

needs of the consumers; produce cost savings; and who does

that cost savings -- who actually benefits from the cost

savings; and is it sustainable; and does it have a positive

or negative effect on the AT field. So we covered all

those things.

We did also talk about how every model could be

better, that there's no magic solution for sustainability.

There's -- no two programs are alike, but they all have

very much in common. No evidence that one model is

necessarily better than the others. And we definitely

respect that and see that ourselves.

And we just want to help everyone improve and get

some good strategies. And I think we were able to do that

at the conference.

We also found that hands-on reuse programs

outperform device exchange. Several of you have talked to

us about that and ways to improve your, you know, exchange

networks. And so we're looking at that in more depth, but

we did find that the hands-on reuse programs outperform.

Good news for reuse. Focus on the environment and

technology. The economy pressure from the recession and

unemployment has actually increased visibility of our

programs and also the need for our programs.

Some of the negative factors for reuse include some

of the foreign conflicts. Health care reform, I think

we're still out on whether that's a positive or not. We'll

see. Hopefully we'll know shortly.

Recession and unemployment. You'll see that it

also pops up there as not necessarily a great factor for

reuse.

And then the fear of liability. We continue to

hear some of those fears. And Jessica and the rest of us

keep working on looking at liability.

So the Pass It On Center team, we've provided

technical assistance and training; we've networked with

those involved in AT reuse; we've created a website home

for reuse information, and I hope all of you have visited

us there; we've created a knowledge base that actually has

gathered hundreds of articles and forms and videos; we've

standardized definitions for AT reuse activities; and

developed indicators of quality for AT reuse.

And I would encourage all of you that have a reuse

program out there to go through and look at those

indicators of quality. Take the survey, and let us know

how it works for you; what you think about it; did it give

you information that's really going to help you.

We also did a lot of roundtable discussions and

learned even more about what folks are doing. There's an

image here of Deborah Buck leading a roundtable. As you

can see, it was pretty crowded.

That was a great activity that Joy came up with,

and she did an outstanding job with that.

We learned to collaborate in regional efforts. We

initiated partnerships amongst government agencies,

independent living centers, vocational rehabilitation,

veterans' groups, suppliers, manufacturers, private

industry. And that's a lot of what we've accomplished by

stretching that hand and reaching across to other folks.

We're also using data to further the programs.

Because data definitely tells our story. I've said it time

and time again. Our team gives me a hard time about this

because I say, if I don't see the data, then it didn't

happen. And I really believe it.

So I'm especially excited about that we finally

have some data for AT reuse that we can show folks.

So collecting outcome data to show therapeutic and

financial impact can have a positive effect on equipment

donors, grantors and financial contributors. We definitely

know that's the case.

Staffing solutions and being really creative with

that. We got some good ideas with this. And one group was

talking about partnering with AARP senior employment

programs, partnering with college work study programs.

Another one was doing that, which is wonderful. Seeking

volunteers from community service organizations and online

matching services.

Also seeking pro bono legal assistance from the

legal bar associations. And Jessica has told us about that

in the past, and it definitely has helped several folks,

which is great.

Partnering with prison internal work programs for

refurbishing resources has also been successful. We've

also seen that successful in Wisconsin specifically. So we

appreciated them sharing that with us.

We want to talk a little bit about the session with

veterans' programs. This was a great program and a great

session.

And there are lots of folks out there that are

seeking out to help groups that support veterans. If

you're doing that, we want to know about it because we've

made some strides in that area recently.

Joy's been working on this with the National

Cristina Foundation and some of our other partners. So let

us know if you are working with veterans. And also how we

can join the effort to provide devices to veterans in a

more meaningful way.

Seeking the donation of devices that veterans no

longer need is another thing that we're working on. And

Jessica Brodey and I had a very exciting conversation last

week.

And Jessica, I appreciated you creating that

opportunity with CAP, which is with the Department of

Defense. It's the center that's actually buying assistive

technology from federal employees. And I'm looking forward

to the future of what could happen there with that program.

But working with veterans, very important.

We learned quite a bit about e-waste and

end-of-life disposal also. And it's important to become

even more familiar with what's going on with your own state

laws, customer laws, and disposal fees.

Also selecting qualified and responsible recyclers.

Incredibly important. And also be careful to comply with

applicable laws to avoid negative publicity for your

program.

Once again, there were four people who presented

this session, and their PowerPoints are up on our website.

So I'd encourage you to go and get information.

I'm going to turn this over to Liz to cover this

one. And we did appreciate our wonderful presenters that

helped with this one.

So, Liz.

LIZ PERSAUD: This is a great session that I had

the pleasure of moderating. And in the picture we've got

Chris Brand from FODAC and Kevin Wright from the Tennessee

Technology Access Program.

And some of the things that we discussed is

sanitization obviously is a key factor in protecting the

health of workers and the customers as well, too. That's

something that we're finding out with the emergency that

was declared with H1N1 and just really taking those

precautions as well, too.

We need to understand issues and use measures

appropriate to the device and to the potential threat.

Using device checklists. That's something that

many of our speakers on that panel obviously shared with

us, and they said that that was something that really

helped to keep everything on track.

And then just training the staff properly. That's

the big key, making sure that they're using proper

equipment and that they have the knowledge to do that as

well, too.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: One of the questions that's been

out there with computer refurbishing is, "Do people still

need computers?" And we're finding, yes, indeed they do.

So access to technology is still a very serious need.

Acquiring and refurbishing computers presents

unique challenges in removal of the personal data and

reloading legally licensed software. We've got the

resources on our website for that.

Mitigating risk was another topic that came up.

And we found that legal and regulatory issues posed serious

risks to program sustainability.

And once again, we appreciate Jessica weighing in

on this with us and helping us as we develop appropriate

policies and procedures. And that's one strategy for

mitigating risk.

Measuring outcomes. And there's an image up here

of Sara Sack, who received an award. And I think that's

actually what this picture is from.

But Aimee Duplantis from Paraquad reported on the

AT outcomes and reuse research. And Chris Brand brought

another piece into the story, explaining the creation of a

strategic plan and measurement of return on investment.

And then Sara helped bring that discussion even

further using return on investment to guide programmatic

health.

And once again, the presentations are up on the

website.

LIZ PERSAUD: So marketing reuse programs. Some of

the things that we discussed in this session is, know your

target market; network with those who share the vision of

what your program wants to accomplish; know your assets;

and know your limitations as well, too. Those will

definitely help you as you're coming up with a business

plan.

Make sure marketing materials are in accessible

formats. Because again, we want to practice what we preach

and make sure that we're able to reach all audiences out

there.

And again, there's just some pictures up here of

Dorothy Young from Mississippi and the fabulous Helen Baker

from Alabama who contributed to that wonderful session.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: And I just want to give another

shout out to Liz, who did an outstanding job with her

session, which was a user panel. And she did a great job

showing how you can tell your story and how that actually

does make the biggest difference.

Not only does the data give us the hard numbers but

also the users (inaudible) giving the story. So we've had

lots of positive feedback from that.

Once again, the evaluations for the whole

conference were outstanding, but we received specific notes

of appreciation for what you did. So thank you, Liz, and

to all of our panelists.

Emergency preparation and management and all of

that was another area that we focused on, and we continue

to focus on this. There's an image of Amy Goldman up here,

who's working with George Heake, and they're working

specifically in this area and really doing an outstanding

job.

Who knew that just a week after everybody left

Atlanta that a flood would come and really, really affect a

lot of people's lives in Atlanta.

And then right on top of that was what happened

with the tsunami in American Samoa.

So we appreciate, George, you being the point of

contact and reaching out to everybody as we continue to try

and organize and have a national presence and response -- a

national response when it comes to emergency response.

None of that will be possible without all of you who are on

with us.

So what we did in this session is we actually

explored participation in a national incident management

system -- NIMS is what we have -- that's the acronym for it

-- which offers training and certifications. We'd

encourage you to actually check that out and learn how you

can be a part of this response.

Also looking at AT reuse and how it plays a

significant role in preparing for disasters. And some of

the checkpoints here. We'd encourage you to build

relationships with key response groups, get trained in

emergency preparedness, work with community partners to

identify what the needs are, and also develop an action

plan. As we know, when it's happening is not the time to

start planning.

Another really good session was with our

manufacturer/supplier partnerships. And some of the things

that we gleaned from this were to build positive approaches

for relationships with suppliers. That's very, very

important to have that relationship.

And also pursuing relationships that benefit

vendors and exchange and rental services. So having that

relationship, but it doesn't necessarily have to be about

money, but it could be about, you know, in-kind

contributions. And then it's a mutually beneficial

relationship.

ATIA is focusing on accessibility in the workplace

as the field of devices for independent living continues to

grow. And we want to continue our relationship and grow

that with ATIA.

Sustaining reuse programs. Very, very important.

And so we talked quite a bit about this. Partnerships and

collaboration are key to sustainability models. Creative

fundraising techniques save the time and effort. And they

really do.

The National Cristina Foundation's new Cristina

Network offers an online community for everybody. And we

-- Joy and I have been in communication with Bud Rizer,

who's pictured here with Yvette Marin from the National

Cristina Foundation, to see how we can collaborate even

closer.

And national trends and issues have both positive

and negative implications for reuse. And so we want to pay

attention to that when it comes to sustainability.

I wanted to make another note real quickly about

sustainability. A lot of you actually participated in the

fundraising session that was done. It's a part of

sustainability. It's not all sustainability.

And one of our partners here in Georgia went back

and implemented what Katherine Wertheim shared. And she

let us know just a couple of days ago that, as a result of

that, she was able to get $50,000 -- that was $50,000 for

her reuse program.

In November and December we're going to be offering

webinars with Katherine Wertheim. And so we're excited

about that.

The indicators of quality, IQ-ATR, indicators of

quality for assistive technology reuse. We talked about

this specifically, and we'll be doing probably another

webinar in the near future in the spring about this as we

continue to collect data from y'all and from this tool.

We completed the development. A set of indicators

of quality have been used as benchmarks and as a basis for

planning new programs and improving your own program.

You can go to our website and actually get this

tool and walk through it. And it's -- the online program

assessment tool is based directly on the indicators of

quality and is available for you.

One of the other things we did, which I'm very

excited about, and I think that this has definitely been a

highlight, is recognizing the achievement of AT reuse

programs and those of you who have made such a big impact

on these programs.

We gave Visionary Awards. And this is a picture of

Cathy Valdez and Martha when Cathy won one of her awards.

And the Visionary Awards went out to Yvette Marin, Cathy

Valdez, Jeremy Buzzell, Chris Brand, Paul Diedrich and Ed

Zamarripa, Sara Sack, and Kim Brink.

And several of you have let us know that you

actually let other folks know about that. And that's what

we wanted to let everybody know, that y'all won those

awards. And Sara did a good job.

And I'm curious to hear, Sara, if you've done any

more with this, with getting more public awareness or

having a press release about any of the awards that y'all

received in Kansas.

The Pioneer Awards were created -- were for

creating or operating a successful AT reuse program. And

you had to have done that in the last three years. I mean

you had to have done it before the last three years. So

these are programs that have been around for quite some

time, and they are the ones who helped us in the very

beginning and continue to help us grow.

The FREE Foundation received one of those awards.

Congratulations. Touch the Future, Inc., the ReBoot

program. Project MEND, once again, in Texas. Delaware AT

Initiative, their AT exchange program, which so many people

have built on that model. And then Brenda Fankhouser from

Kansas and the program that she's been working with there.

Sooner AMBUCS, the ASK Program. And AT4ALL, the AT

Exchange Network.

We also recognized folks who had begun -- they

begun their program after 2006. And Mississippi, their

START Computer Reuse Program. The Utah AT program CReATE

received the Newbie Award. GetATstuff in New England. And

Julie Pinkerton of the Hospice of the Prairie. And DC

Shares. They all received awards.

The Partner For Positive Change Awards. These

recognize companies or foundations that contribute to

success of AT reuse. Caroline Van Howe at ATIA, American

Care Equipment, and Rita Hostak with the Sunrise Medical

Company.

And Sara, you had a comment?

LIZ PERSAUD: Sara said, "Receiving the awards has

created quite the buzz in Kansas. We will be presenting

the award to our Medicaid partner, Kim Brink, in a large

community meeting at our state capitol."

So that's wonderful to hear, Sara. We love to hear

folks just really getting that information out there and

really raising awareness for their program.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Yeah, that's very exciting.

Good job, Sara. Let us know how that goes.

The Above and Beyond Awards were given to

individuals or organizations that contributed to reuse by

sharing time, practices, policies, procedures, anything

else to assist other programs in their growth. These folks

have really made a huge difference, once again, in our

community.

So the Assistive Technology for Kansas. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Y'all received one of those awards.

Paraquad, Inc., their AT reuse program. Vanessa Merillat

from the Jayhawk Areas Agency on Aging. And Mary Jane

Dawson and Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging. So that

was very good. And sure enough, they all deserved those.

Friend of the Earth Awards recognized individuals

and organizations that designed reuse programs to be

environmentally friendly.

STAR Network, FODAC and Touch the Future with

ReBoot. They actually kept 210,000 tons of equipment out

of the landfill. That's huge. Jason Linnell has been a

national presence in looking at reuse and also recycling,

and we appreciate collaborating with him with the National

Center for Electronics Recycling. And then Jason Clements,

Cells For Cells, his program.

We want to thank all of you who work in AT reuse.

This is just a brief recap of a very exciting conference on

successful strategies and innovative partnerships, the

futures for AT reuse.

The complete conference presentations and notes

from the roundtable discussions are available for viewing

at your pleasure on the Pass It On Center website. And

basically you can go to our home page, passitoncenter.org.

And I see that Trish had a comment.

LIZ PERSAUD: Trish Redmon with the Pass It On

Center said that, "We can prepare Pass It On Center press

releases and direct them to media outlets in the home areas

of each of the recipients." And George is agreeing with

that.

So that's definitely something that the Pass It On

Center can do to help y'all get your information out there

and the news about the awards as well.

Carolyn, again, just pulled up the Pass It On

Center knowledge base that lists the grid with the

presentations and the handouts from the conference. So

again, this is accessed on the Pass It On Center home page.

And we appreciate your time and just really

appreciate everyone that works in the AT reuse community.

We couldn't have had the conference without you, your

knowledge, and your expertise. So we really appreciate

everything that y'all are doing.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Thank you all so much for

joining us, especially those of you who were able to join

us in Atlanta. We had such a good time. It was definitely

a career high for me.

I'm looking forward to ATIA in Orlando being

another career high. So we hope to see y'all in Orlando.

What questions do y'all have for us at this time?

That pretty much ends what we have to share with you.

We will have the conference report ready for y'all

and obviously all of these presentations, which really are

informative. So those of you who couldn't go to all the

sessions, here they are. And then we'll also be building

on that for ATIA.

So what questions and comments do y'all have?

LIZ PERSAUD: Are there any questions or comments

that y'all have as we start to wrap up the webinar today?

Again, we really appreciate y'all joining us and

just really finding out more about the conference that we

had in September and just really what we're looking forward

to at ATIA in Orlando in January of the new year.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: All right. Well, y'all take

care. And if you need anything, let us know. We're here

to support y'all and work with you. We're thrilled to be

your partner.

It looks like that, Rob, you have something that

you want to share.

LIZ PERSAUD: I just want to read Cathy's comment.

Cathy said, "Our press release about the awards were not

picked up in the media as they expected," but she really

likes Trish's idea of having the Pass It On Center do a

press release for your state. And she said thanks.

So definitely, Cathy, we'll work with you to get

you that information so we can really raise awareness about

the wonderful things y'all are doing.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Excellent. All right. Well,

thank you all.

The next webinar that we'll be doing -- the next

two -- we'll actually be working with Katherine Wertheim,

and they'll be in November and December.

LIZ PERSAUD: Again, Katherine Wertheim will be

doing a two-part webinar on diversified funding strategies.

The first one is coming up November 17th. And then the

second one will be December 15th. So y'all check back on

the Pass It On Center website for more information on that.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: All right. Well, y'all take

care, and keep in touch with us, and let us know if there's

anything else we can do.

Oh, Caroline is on with us, actually.

Caroline Van Howe, would you like to share any

information with us?

CAROLINE VAN HOWE: Hi, Carolyn and everybody.

Thank you. Yes, I'd be very happy to. A couple things.

I'm actually here at the beginning of the ATIA 2009

Chicago conference here in the Renaissance Schaumberg in

Illinois. And we're just getting ready for our first

Chicago conference.

I'm pleased to report that we'll have an AT reuse

presence both with speakers and also with an exhibit.

We had anticipated attendance of approximately

between 1,000 and 1,200 individuals. And I'm pleased to

report we have over 1,300 individuals already registered

and expecting more to register on-site. So we're very

pleased that already in our first year we've actually had

greater attendance than anticipated.

The representative from the mayor's office on

disabilities in Chicago will be opening the conference on

Thursday morning. And then we're hoping that we'll have --

the local ABC news has a disability reporter who'll be

visiting us on Friday morning to come and share some

information from the exhibitor. So very excited about

Chicago.

And looking ahead to the more traditional Orlando

conference in January. It will be our 11th conference in

January. And again, we have a fantastic AT reuse strand

which is very full and fleshed out with a well-balanced

program.

And for our first time we're also offering . . .

(audio skipped) . . . And Joy, Liz and Martha and the team

a preconference on starting an AT reuse program, "Beginning

With the End in Mind."

So if you haven't already heard about that, please

make sure you consult the website, and we can get you extra

information.

And the Pass It On Center is pleased to offer a

nice partner discount to anyone who is interested in

attending the main conference, which is the lowest rate of

$350.

So I just want to pass that information on but also

be happy to take any questions anybody has about either of

the conferences.

LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you, Caroline. We really

appreciate your information about Chicago -- ATIA Chicago.

I know the Pass It On Center is definitely looking

forward to being there and also what we've got coming up in

ATIA Orlando.

And just a couple more comments.

Trish Redmon said, if you didn't get a chance to

see Katherine Wertheim, to be able to check out the

webinars.

And then Paul up in New Hampshire, thank you so

much for your feedback on the conference in Atlanta. We

appreciate your hard work as well, too.

And thank you again, Caroline, for all that

information. We look forward to working with you as well,

too.

And we'll obviously have all this information up on

the website. This webinar will be ready in about three

weeks. So again, just check out the Pass It On Center

website under the "Webinars" section to grab this, the

audio transcript and the PowerPoint as well, too.

And if there aren't any more questions, then we'll

go ahead and wrap everything up.

Again, thank you guys so much for joining us today.

And be sure to get in touch with anyone at the Pass It On

Center if we can do anything for you.

So thanks again, guys. Have a wonderful day. Take

care.