PATF NEWSLETTER
Independence is Priceless...We Help Make It Affordable
December 2014
Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation
                    
In This Issue
Annual Appeal Update
Loans That Make a Difference
A New Name for DPW
New Resource Manual
Meet PATF's Board President
 

 Learn about PATF
 
Help us offer independence today
 
 
Like us on Facebook
 
 
PA Assistive Technology Foundation
1004 West 9th Ave.
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406
patf@patf.us
888.744.1938 toll-free
 
Thank you

 

Everyone at PATF would sincerely like to thank our generous donors.

 

The funds are being utilized to help ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to get the assistive technology they want.  We are able to continue offering low and 0% interest loans, Information & Assistance, and Financial Education. 

 

None of this is possible without your support and assistance. Once again, we thank you, and wish you a happy and healthy new year. 

Providing Financial & Life Skills: One Local Solution
The Money Club 


 

Like most Americans, Michael values work.  He has a community college degree and an inquisitive mind. He wants to work, but he isn't working.  While Michael isn't alone in being involuntarily unemployed, he faces hurdles that others don't. He has cerebral palsy. He is a wheelchair user and he needs attendant care. He's very social, has a great recall for facts and is a good communicator.  He has an attitude and education that many employers complain they're unable to find in young workers.  But right now, Michael doesn't have a job.  He'd like to change that and as a society that values work, we should want to change that too. 

 

Read More 

A Unique Piece of Assistive Technology 

 

Here, at PATF, we receive many requests for loans so that people can purchase the assistive technology they need. The following is a good example of how our loans can help.


Tess applied for a PATF loan to purchase a

Color Tester II: Talking Color Analyzer. She is a repeat borrower and is diagnosed with low vision. Tess is employed as an Instructor. She depends heavily on using a color identifier to match her wardrobe/outfits for work and other professional activities and events. She also finds this device helpful when sorting and doing her laundry. 

 

Tess mentioned on her application that she has tried other color identification applications available on her iOS but found them to be very inaccurate. 


We were happy to help Tess by offering a 0% mini-loan. She wanted to keep her monthly loan payment around $32 
which we were able to do.

Department of Public Welfare (DPW) Has a New Name

 

Effective November 24, 2014 the PA Department of Welfare began using its new name: the Department of Human Services. The Department's new website
is www.dhs.state.pa.us. Anyone who visits the previous website will be directed to the new one.
GREAT Resource! Medical Assistance Eligibility Manual

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project (PHLP) has expanded and updated its  
Medical Assistance Eligibility Manual.
Intended for health care advocates and the general public, this manual describes eligibility for Pennsylvania's Medicaid Assistance (or Medicaid) program in plain language. Readers will learn Medicaid coverage "categories" as well as the program's income and resource counting rules. 
Meet Derek Baker  
PATF's Board President

 

Derek Baker joined PATF's Board of Directors in 2010, and became Board President in July 2014. He is a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, Philadelphia and specializes in commercial restructuring and bankruptcy law. Derek is a former steering committee Chair of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference and a member of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Derek, his wife (a certified speech language pathologist) and their three children live in Elkins Park, PA. 

 

The Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF) is a non-profit organization that provides low-interest loans to people with disabilities and older adults so that they can buy the assistive technology devices and services they need. 

 

Assistive technology is any device that helps a person with a disability achieve a more independent and productive life. Devices may include such items as: adapted vehicles, i-Pads, accessible home modifications (including ramps, roll-in showers, lowered counter tops), computers with special software and/or hardware, hearing aids, flashing doorbells, scooters and wheelchairs, seat lift chairs, closed circuit televisions (CCTVs).