This is National Caregivers Month and, with the holiday season coming up during the next two months, a gift of respite services would certainly be welcomed by those persons caring for persons who need assistance with daily living or who are no longer able to care for themselves. <\/p>\n
The Commonwealth Respite Service Program was established by the Council on Developmental Disabilities pursuant to Public Law 14-36 (see 3 CMC \u00a7 2431-2438) in 2004, more than 12 years ago. The Commonwealth Respite Service Program Administration Rules and Regulations, NMIAC 75-60.1 et seq., have been in effect since 2014, for more than two years.<\/p>\n
However, funding has not been provided to enable Ayuda Network, Inc. (the community-based organization responsible for the Respite Care Program at this time) to provide respite care services envisioned by the drafters of the law and regulations.<\/p>\n
Now would be a good time to take immediate action to provide the needed funding to provide respite services to our caregivers in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
The Legislature will no doubt claim that there are insufficient funds; however, if that is the case, then alternatives should be considered.<\/p>\n
For example, what about a Respite Care Tax Credit? Something similar to the Education Tax Credit (see 4 CMC \u00a7 1205) with cash contributions to Ayuda Network, Inc., not for administration but for the specific limited purpose of compensating respite service providers?<\/p>\n
For more information on the Commonwealth Respite Care Program, contact Ayuda Network, Inc., (670) 322-7469 or ayudanet@ayuda-cnmi.org. For assistance or information regarding the rights of persons with disabilities, contact Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems, Inc. at (670) 235-7273 or 7274.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Rayphand<\/strong> This is National Caregivers Month and, with the holiday season coming up during the next…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1368,4722,5106,14252],"class_list":["post-240565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor","tag-ayuda-network","tag-cmc","tag-developmental-disabilities","tag-national-caregivers-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLegal counsel, NMPASI<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"