Flathead County Peer Advocates provided a Disability Awareness Presentation to an MSU nursing class in Kalispell on September 13; this was a first-time presentation for some of our peers and they did a great job. A Men’s Support Group is meeting the third Monday of every month at 6:30 PM in the United Way conference [...]
Summer Barbeque at Bonner Park About 150 people with disabilities, our friends and family joined us on a Wednesday night to share in a potluck, catch up on each other’s news, play games and listen to the Missoula Community Band. National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) Lorna and Jude participated in the NCIL conference with [...]
Joanne Verwolf is doing very well after having a total hip replacement and we all wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to her return to the office. The Picnic at Lake Como was a huge success. We had a total of 45 people and a good time was had by all. Even the [...]
On August 18 we had 20 people attend Summit’s second Outdoor Accessible Recreation Rendezvous at Pilgrim Creek Park in Noxon. There was a BBQ lunch and we had a demonstration of accessible fishing, wildlife viewing and other outdoor tech by Montana Access To Outdoor Recreation. There were also learning session about the services and supports [...]
We had some people travel to the Aug. 18 Rendezvous in Noxon and they had a great time. We also went to the Independent Living Symposium in Helena, where our voices got loud and proud! At the Symposium we discussed a variety of concerns, from transportation and housing to healthcare and Native American issues. Michelle [...]
Building Advocacy and Learning Leadership Skills Currently we are teaching the BALLS class at Sentinel High School in Missoula to Laura Coulter’s class. We are also planning to go into Stevensville and Hellgate High Schools later this fall. APRIL Peer to Peer Project Mary Olson (Peer Coordinator) and Michael Beers, Transition Coordinator, will be traveling [...]
Summer was a busy time for the Missoula YODA group. Most of our gatherings were spent outside in the beautiful warm weather. On July 28 we had a picnic lunch at McCormick Park with the MS Support Group. There were 12 YODA members there, including four Peer Advocates and an MS support group member. We [...]
First, I would like thank everyone. Through discussion, I received a lot of suggestions for column topics. The overwhelming favorite was to have me find accessible bars around Missoula. After much deliberation, I decided I am too old to do the research on that particular subject. However, if someone has their own list of accessible [...]
We started as a department of Community Medical Center in 1981, and have since grown to a freestanding, nonprofit corporation governed by a consumer-controlled board of directors. Summit has seen the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Road to Freedom Campaign and the implementation of the Montana Medicaid for Workers with Disabilities program [...]
Lou Hayes has been training dogs for much of her life and she’s been training service animals for the last 12 years. But it wasn’t until a year ago that she opened Service Animals For You, a non-profit organization that does one-on-one animal training, to the public. Hayes is a retired police officer who used [...]