The Florida Department of Health has issued a Declaration of Public Health Emergency for Hepatitis A. Please see the attached Declaration for more information.
Declaration-of-Public-Health-Emergency
News
Annual ADA Celebration 2019!
Come on out to the Senior Recreation Center on Thursday, July 25th to help us celebrate the ADA! Click on the link below for more information.
http://ADA-Celebration-Flyer
Why does the CIL continue to be involved with disaster readiness?
CIL’s are huge advocates of emergency management and preparedness, but why do we prepare our communities for emergencies to the extent that we do? Often times, people with disabilities get lost in all the commotion during disasters and they end up placed in an environment that may appear to meet their needs, but actually doesn’t, such as a nursing home or psychiatric institution. This is why it’s extremely important that everyone is prepared beforehand and aware of all their resources. The CIL does our best to make sure these resources are accessible to everyone!
If you’d like to learn more about why it’s important to prepare for disasters, and why CIL’s will always be heavily involved with disaster readiness, this article is an informative read. The Emergency Management sector of Government Technology goes into depth on this issue and explains why this happens and how best to avoid it.
For more on emergency preparedness visit the Administration for Community Living’s Emergency Preparedness blog, and stay updated with us — the CIL will always be here for you!
Public Forum on the Florida State Plan for Independent Living
Come out on Monday, June 10th and give your input on the Florida State Plan for Independent Living. All interested members of the public are welcome!
See the flyer below for more information.
HUGE thank you to our conference contributors!
On May 20th, the Center for Independent Living and The Villages Public Safety hosted an Emergency Preparedness Conference for people with disabilities, senior adults, and the community. This conference was aimed to update people on how to best prepare for emergencies and to ensure they’re exposed to all of the resources that are available to them.
We would like to thank all of the companies, vendors, and speakers for helping out with this conference. Without the support and contributions from these following organizations, we would not be able to put on conferences that address these crucial topics!
- SECO Energy
- Winn-Dixie
- Dunkin’ Donuts
- Rohan Recreation Center
- The Village Public Safety
- Sumter County Emergency Management
- Comfort Keepers
- Lake County Emergency Management
- APD
- Clear Caption
- Shine
- Lowe’s of Wildwood
- Dept. of Health
- Dept. of Health volunteers’
- Dept. of Health SNP
- Dept. of Health MRC
- Family Network on Disabilities
Speakers: - Tony Delisle (CILNCF) & Beth Meyers (Florida Independent Living Council, Inc.)
- David Casto (Sumter County Emergency Management)
- Chris Littlewood (Instructional Technology Coordinator/St. Pete College)
- Tralene Lucas (SECO Energy)
Thank you again to all of these organizations for your unwavering support and contribution!
Safety First, Thanks to CILNCF
Womber Hill, of Brooker, Florida, lived in a house with a crumbling back porch and a dangerously uneven back door frame. Womber has poor balance and lives by herself, and as a result she often fell while exiting her dangerous back door and accumulated many scrapes and scratches.
The Center for Independent Living coordinated with Amwake Home Improvement to provide Womber with accessible home modifications which were completed on March 23, 2019.
Benjamin Amwake and a student volunteer from Santa Fe College revamped Womber’s porch, cleaned her yard and built her an accessible ramp. Womber is now able to safely navigate in and out of her home, and the freezer, refrigerator and hot water heater that she kept outside are now safely braced thanks to the new porch.
“Blood, sweat and tears [put into these projects] are more valuable to us than money,” said Mark Brisbane, coordinator of the ramp program at CILNCF. “That’s just rewarding.”
Construction of ramp enables woman to live life in the sunshine again
Cynthia Khalsa, of Live Oak, Florida, had “no way in or out of her house” as a result of Stage 4 Bone cancer in her left hip- that is, until the Center for Independent Living got involved.
Before the Center built her a ramp, Cynthia relied on Alachua County Fire Rescue to physically lift her in and out of her home. She would call 911, request lift assist, and wait, she said. Fire rescue would lift her and her wheelchair out of her house, sometimes unavoidably bumping her body against the steps and causing her immense pain. She would go to a medical appointment (the only time she could use this assistance from Fire Rescue), and then have to endure the entire cumbersome process again when she came home.
On March 16, 2019 the Center for Independent Living coordinated with Custom Design Renovations to build Cynthia a ramp out of her house, empowering her to come and go as she pleased. The construction of the ramp has enabled Cynthia to live more independently and to take control over her everyday life.
“I cannot begin to tell what a blessing your organization has been to me,” she said. “This ramp will give me the freedom to even just get out in the sun for a bit.”
Introducing: the CILNCF Intercultural Latin Group!
Do you want to try delicious Brazilian snacks, enjoy live Brazilian music, and hear from guest-speaker Welson Tremura, a professor of music at the UF Brazilian Music Institute and co-director for Jacaré Brazil, a Brazilian music ensemble?
Join us at the Center for Independent Living tomorrow, April 11, at 5 p.m. as we kick off our Intercultural Latin Group at the CIL!
This new group was started to reach out to Hispanic/Latinx people with disabilities and to “create a new community,” according to Nicolli Sorice, the event organizer and Hispanic Outreach Core Specialist at the Center.
We hope to see you there!
CIL receives new craft supplies and interview clothing
The CIL, and several other organizations in the community, had the pleasure of participating in a free shopping day at the Junior League of Gainesville Thrift Shop due to its official closure.
We left with several bags of interview clothing and craft supplies that will surely benefit our consumers.
Thank you to the Junior League for your generosity and commitment to making a positive impact on the community!
Help the Center win $1,000 this month!
One small click each day could have an enormous impact on empowering those with disabilities.
Every month, the Center for Independent Living is eligible to be SunState Federal Credit Union’s “Charity of the Month” – and to receive a donation of $1,000.
All it takes is a vote on Facebook to get started. Visit https://www.facebook.com/SunStateFCU/, scroll down the page and click on the “Charity of the Month” tab, locate the CIL icon, and cast your vote.
Facebook users can cast one vote every day, each day of the month. The charity with the most votes at the end of the month will receive a $1,000 donation and be profiled in SunState Federal Credit Union’s Our Town Magazine.
Charities are also eligible for a randomly selected $500 donation. The more votes received each month, the better the chance of receiving that month’s $500 donation.
This April, remember to set an alarm, post a sticky-note reminder, and vote for the Center for Independent Living for “Charity of the Month”!