Category Archives: Recent News

Christian Opportunity Center Associate Director John Eilers (left) with U.S. Congressman Dave Loebsack (right) at Wednesday’s meeting

United States Congressman Dave Loebsack visited Pella’s Christian Opportunity Center on Wednesday for a guided tour of the facilities and a discussion of issues.

Congressman Loebsack previously visited COC in October of 2014.

COC Program Manager Christian Ray and Associate Manager Shalee Vandeboe provided a guided tour of COC’s Facility-Based Employment program. Congressman Loebsack discussed the work being done in COC’s plant with staff and people supported.

COC Associate Director John Eilers presented COC’s state and federal legislative priorities, including: sheltered employment, Managed Care, CMS rules for Medicaid Waiver homes, H.R.5902, and potential for a federal block grant of Medicaid to the states.

Sheltered employment is scheduled to end in May of 2018. The state decision was driven by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) positions on sheltered employment. Congressman Loebsack has not signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R.188, The Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act (TIME Act). The end of sheltered employment would deny many of the people COC serves the opportunity to earn a paycheck.

Managed Care began in April of 2016 and has been full of serious problems in getting timely payments from the three Managed Care Organizations.  Eilers asked Congressman Loebsack to be an advocate for Iowa providers of disability services funded by Medicaid.

CMS rules for Medicaid Waiver homes state that said homes need to be integrated into the community. If state officials rule that COC homes need to be relocated, it will cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars without improving the quality of life of the people living in the homes.

A federal block grant of Medicaid to the states would threaten the quality of COC’s supports and services. The Title XIX Block Grant would mean cost shifting to the states and local government, and COC’s perspective is that the federal government funds people with disabilities better than state or local governments.

The afternoon session concluded with a question-and-answer session with Congressman Loebsack.

Founded in 1969, COC provides residential and vocational support and services to more than 300 people with disabilities in Mahaska, Marion, Polk and Warren counties. For more information visit https://christianopportunity.org/.

Christian Opportunity Center Board President Mark Becker (left), Congressman David Young (center) and COC Executive Director Rod Braun (right) at Friday’s meeting in Indianola

A little more than one week after the Nov. 8 general election, United States Congressman David Young visited Indianola’s Christian Opportunity Center on Friday for a guided tour of the facilities and a discussion of issues.

Congressman Young is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa’s 3rd district.

COC Executive Director Rod Braun opened with a brief history of COC and updated Congressman Young on COC’s current services. Braun also presented COC’s federal legislative priorities, including H.R. 5902 (The Disability Community Act of 2016) and the potential for a federal block grant of Medicaid to the states.

The Disability Community Act of 2016 would provide a three-year targeted and temporary Medicaid funding increase to providers of disability services to comply with new Department of Labor rules in regards to overtime exempt employees effective Dec. 1, 2016. The temporary funding bill would provide states with the time to come up with additional funding to cover the costs of compliance with the new standards.

Braun asked Congressman Young to consider being a co-sponsor of H.R. 5902.

A federal block grant of Medicaid to the states would threaten the quality of COC’s supports and services. The Title XIX Block Grant would mean cost shifting to the states and local government. COC’s perspective is that strong federal government funding keeps services uniform from state to state, and that federal funding has been more dependable than state or local funding.

More than 20 COC staff, board members and parents of people supported attended the morning session, which ended with a time of question-and-answer and open forum.

The visit concluded with a guided tour from Regional Director Kim Koellner and Program Manager Bailey Eckerson, which enabled Congressman Young to interact with the people COC supports.

Founded in 1969, COC provides residential, spiritual and vocational support and services to more than 300 people with disabilities in Mahaska, Marion, Polk and Warren counties. For more information visit https://christianopportunity.org/ or connect with Christian Opportunity Center on Facebook.

Travis Eisenbarth (left) and Joe Lickteig (right) presented COC Executive Director Rod Braun (center) with a check on behalf of the Pella Knights of Columbus

The Pella Knights of Columbus added a business donation and telethon component to this year’s campaign for persons with intellectual disabilities, resulting in the group’s largest donation ever to Christian Opportunity Center.

Travis Eisenbarth and Joe Lickteig presented COC Executive Director Rod Braun with a check for $5,962.97, topping last year’s record donation by more than $500.

Mark Wiskus and the Wiskus Group, an estate and retirement income planning company, were instrumental in the business donation approach and inspired the Knights to expand the fundraiser.

This year’s fundraiser once again featured a competition between local Pella students’ teams and groups. The annual trophy will remain in the Pella Community High School trophy case, as the Dutch cross country team raised the most money, followed closely by the Pella Christian High School football team.

Rod Braun, Bob Fessler, Derek Sparks, Nicole Van Wyk, Lorri Grubb, and Dave and Bella Van Gorp were interviewed by Joe Lickteig and KNIA KRLS Pella News Director Andrew Schneider as part of the campaign, which raised money for both Pella Community High School and Pella Christian High School Special Education Programs, Iowa Special Olympics, and COC.

The campaign ran the final full week of August and was coordinated by Art Halstead, Travis Eisenbarth and Mike Linde, who managed 50 Knights, friends and families for seven days, resulting in 200 volunteer hours.

Since 1999, Pella Knights of Columbus donations total more than $50,000 in support of COC. Its 2015 donation of $5,413.30 was the largest prior to Thursday’s presentation. Last year, Pella Knights of Columbus were in the top 3% for dollars raised per Knight.

The Pella Knights of Columbus are part of the larger Iowa Knights of Columbus, whose tagline is “Go Make a Difference!” For more information visit http://iowakofc.org/ or connect with Pella Knights of Columbus #12334 on Facebook.

Founded in 1969, COC provides residential and vocational support and services to more than 300 people with disabilities in Marion, Mahaska, Polk, and Warren counties. For more information visit https://christianopportunity.org/ or connect with Christian Opportunity Center on Facebook.

(left to right) Barb’s son Tad and his wife Hannah, her husband Tom and her brother Jim Foreman

Christian Opportunity Center hosted a dedication ceremony in memory of Barb Driscoll in Indianola on Friday. Barb passed away July 5, 2015 due to complications from cancer.

Barb began her employment with COC as Vocational Services Manager in Oskaloosa in December 1988, one month before the vocational services program began. After some organizational restructuring in 1994, Barb was named Regional Team Leader for Indianola/Des Moines and witnessed considerable growth over the next two decades, including new services in Des Moines and the acquisition of Winifred Law Opportunity Center and Total Living Centers, Inc. in Indianola. She left COC for a little more than one year in 1998, but returned as Regional Director for Indianola/Des Moines.

COC Executive Director Rod Braun and Associate Director John Eilers shared memories of Barb at the dedication, as did her brother Jim Foreman, co-workers, and people supported. The tree planted in memory of Barb was described by her daughter-in-law Hannah Driscoll as “perfect” because it is a “mighty oak.”

Founded in 1969, COC provides residential and vocational support and services to more than 300 people with disabilities in Mahaska, Marion, Polk and Warren counties. COC’s mission is to integrate Christian values in teaching skills for life. For more information on COC and its services visit https://christianopportunity.org/.

Several significant changes are impacting the way in which Christian Opportunity Center (COC) provides residential and vocational services for adults with disabilities and the organization is already taking steps to address these changes.

The biggest change is the privatization of Medicaid, or managed care. Beginning April 1, 2016, the State contracted with three Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to handle the funding of services for people who are Medicaid eligible, which is the majority of people currently served by COC. COC has contracts in place with all three MCOs: AmeriGroup, AmeriHealth Caritas, and UnitedHealthcare. The biggest challenge with managed care has been getting the MCOs to understand who COC is and what COC does, because most of their experience has been in the physical health arena.

The second challenge has been learning their complex billing system so that COC can be reimbursed for services provided in a timely manner. For the first two years, all provider organizations like COC are automatically in the provider panel. Then, beginning April 1, 2018, the MCOs can decide which providers they want in their provider panels.  COC is optimistic about its future success with MCOs because data recently obtained from the State clearly demonstrates that COC’s rates are very competitive relative to other organizations providing disability services.

Another significant change is the phase out of sheltered employment with new State rules being implemented on May 4, 2016. For decades, advocacy groups have fought to eliminate sheltered employment, believing that every person with a disability should be working in a community business via the supported employment program. Supported employment is where a trained COC employee goes into a community business and works with the person with a disability to learn their job, and then gradually fades those supports as the job skills are learned. COC has been doing supported employment since 1987 and has many success stories of people who have become long-tenured, dependable employees in community businesses.

By May 2018, those people not in community jobs will have the option of a non-work oriented day program known as Day Habilitation (also known as Life Skills), but they will no longer have the opportunity to earn a paycheck in COC-Pella’s plant. This change is about ideology and the premise that no one with a disability should be in a segregated work setting like sheltered employment. The Department of Justice has ruled in several states that sheltered employment is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Consequently, over the next two years, COC will increase efforts to place as many people as possible in community businesses.

In conjunction with the phase out of sheltered employment are requirements that Day Habilitation services be integrated into the community. COC-Pella has already taken steps to relocate the Life Skills program to a site in the community.  COC-Oskaloosa plans to use the current sheltered employment site for Life Skills due to the planned phase-out of sheltered employment and the fact that the current location is just one block from the town square.  COC-Indianola plans to relocate the Life Skills program from its current location in the industrial park to a location close to downtown.

Finally, there are new regulations from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that require small group residences funded under the Medicaid Waiver program to be integrated into the community. There is a five-year window for full compliance.

COC-Pella’s issue is whether or not the two Medicaid Waiver homes on North Broadway across from the Pella Main Building are integrated into the community.  COC has made the case that they are integrated into the community, but there is the possibility that the four people living in each home may have to be relocated to homes in residential neighborhoods.

These are just some of the unique challenges, but after 47 years of service, COC is optimistic that it has plans in place to address all of the challenges and continue to provide the quality supports and services the people with disabilities and their families have come to expect. Much of COC’s optimism is related to the incredible support it has received from various communities over the many years.

Founded in 1969, COC provides residential and vocational support and services to more than 300 people with disabilities in Dallas, Mahaska, Marion, Polk and Warren counties. COC’s mission is to integrate Christian values in teaching skills for life. For more information on COC and its services visit https://christianopportunity.org/.