Trainings, Workshops, Conferences

Advocacy Voices Together

The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD), the Wisconsin Direct Caregiver Alliance (WIDCA), and the Direct Care Alliance Voices Institute are proud to announce Advocacy Voices Together.  This is a unique training program for people who want to improve the lives of direct support workers and the people they support.

Advocacy Voices Together is the first program of its kind.  Direct support workers and people who receive long term care services will work together as teams to build support for better wages, benefits and working conditions.  There will be 3, 2-day meetings over a 3-month period, with community action projects between meetings.  We know this is a large commitment but that’s what is needed to reach our goals.

The meetings are scheduled for March 26-27, May 7-8, and May 21-22 at the Best Western Grand Seasons hotel in Waupaca.  All travel, meals, and lodging expenses will be covered by the sponsoring organizations. In addition, a daily stipend will be paid to all attendees who qualify. 

Click here for more information and for an application form.

April 30 Annual Caregiver Conference

SAVE THE DATE!
Please check back for continuing updates.

The second Annual Statewide Caregiver Conference will be Friday, April 30, 2010, at the Wintergreen Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells.

This year's keynote speaker will be Terry Lynch.

For more information on this conference, send an e-mail to info@wicaregivers.com.  

We look forward to seeing you!

Keynote Speaker Bio

Terry Lynch specializes in helping older people remain as self-reliant and involved in community life as possible, and helping caregiving family members maintain the quality of their own lives.

Terry has been advancing the independent living cause since 1977, when he served as assistant to the Director of the White House Conference on individuals with disabilities. He then managed a federal disability rights program  and had a key role in developing what is now the National Disability Rights Network.

Terry left Washington, D.C. in 1985 to establish his speaking and consulting business in Racine, Wisconsin. He soon began living his work. Terry helped his mother remain at home for the next ten years, in spite of significant medical problems and a memory disorder that stole her ability to manage daily life.

Through this illuminating personal experience and his work with other families, Terry learned that we have more control over the quality of our lives as we age than we realize, and how we can maintain this control.

Terry’s book, “But I Don’t Want Eldercare!” - Helping Your Parents Stay as Strong as They Can as Long as They Can, will be published during the fall of 2008 by The Legal Center, Denver, Colorado. His essay on making informed long-term care decisions is featured on the web site of the PBS documentary, “Almost Home”.

Terry is actively involved in state and national efforts to reshape long-term care and expand self-directed services.  He is a member of the Racine County Commission on Aging and a state alliance dedicated to elevating the status, wages, and benefits of direct care workers.

Terry currently serves on the Executive Council of AARP-Wisconsin.  In 2006, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle appointed Terry to the state Board on Aging and Long Term Care.