From the President . . .

We have a great Board of Directors that provide very effective leadership for ProAct, and I am pleased to announce the addition of Pat Jones as our newest board member.

Pat is a parent of one of our participants at New Options in Shakopee, and the Founder and CEO of Superior Home Care. She adds an important combination of experience and perspective to a talented board, and will add to our effectiveness as we work together to fulfill our mission.

It has been rewarding to expand our service area, enhance existing services, and add new ones that allow us to have a positive impact on more people while increasing options. Providing more options supports choice.

One such addition is in Transition Services at our Hudson, Wis. site. We are now serving more than a dozen individuals who are under 18 and need assistance with skills training and job coaching.

On the western front, we are starting to provide job placement services at our New Options location in Shakopee, which happens to be the oldest service provider to join the ProAct family. ProAct’s predecessor in Dakota County, Owobopte, began in 1972, and our Red Wing location, formerly Interstate Rehabilitation Center, started in 1969.
New Options first opened in 1968, and a 50th Anniversary celebration will mark this milestone on October 23 with the location to be announced.

Some of you are aware of a federal judge’s decision to deny the lawsuit that was filed to stop the 7 percent cut to rates paid for our services. Our state association, the Minnesota Organization for Habilitation and Rehabilitation (MOHR), was one of the plaintiffs, as were some individuals served by other providers, and the ARRM group, which represents the residential side of disability services.

The system is complicated, but essentially what we have are banded and unbanded rates that are paid to providers. Banding limits the amount a rate can change over time. The intention of banding was to reduce the impact of large rate changes which could be extremely disruptive for an individual receiving services and the service provider. ProAct is negatively impacted by rate reductions.

We are hopeful that the next legislative session will bring about a solution.

Thanks for all you do to support ProAct and its mission.

Steven Ditschler