March 5, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Valerie Magana,
Marketing & Development Director
Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana
4919 Coldwater Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46825
260-469-2780 (Direct line)
vmagana@esarc.org
“The Easter Seals Arc team is committed to meeting or exceeding customer expectations
and regulatory requirements through continuous improvement”
Easter Seals ARC Upgrades Health and Wellness Focus:
Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana (ESARC) has hired a nurse practitioner, Kayla Bauman, to offer better
access and coordination for ESARC’s current consumers. ESARC President and CEO, Donna Elbrecht
stated, “This demonstrates our commitment to our consumers and families. We recognize the people we serve
have complicated medical issues and often experience anxiety going to see a doctor. We know having Kayla
on-site where our consumers are comfortable will improve their access for their health care needs.” Elbrecht
said the organization has traditionally fundraised to provide more nursing oversight than what is required. She
indicated that the State of Indiana, FSSA, recently got approval from CMS to offer a new Medicaid Waiver
Health and Wellness Coordination service for consumers that qualify. The new waiver service will allow
qualified individuals to have varying levels of nursing oversight based upon their individual health care
issues. The state anticipates qualified individuals to begin this service by April 1, 2014.
Elbrecht said ESARC wanted to take this new opportunity and once again offer more than the basic
requirements. “We wanted to give our consumers and families more than the minimum required nurses, so
hiring a NP and having an on-site clinic will give our consumers and families’ additional resources for
care.” Elbrecht explained their new NP will continue to work with consumers’ current physicians and health
care providers. “We are not limiting choices; we want consumers to see the health care professional they
select. We just know many of our consumers will like to access some of their health care needs on-site, where
they are comfortable. We will also have proper lifts to ensure they can be safely transferred to an examination
area.”
Easter Seals ARC currently serves over 1,000 people, and Elbrecht indicates that the majority of these
individuals rely on Medicaid for their health care. National and state wide data show this specific population to
have higher health care costs. Elbrecht hopes to have the people they serve improve their overall health with
more preventive wellness plans. She also believes better coordination between their NP and health care
providers will over time improve overall health outcomes and costs. “We will be tracking data to see if our new
efforts make a difference.” ESARC hopes to have their on-site clinic up and running over the next few months.
###
Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana’s mission is to create solutions that change lives of children and
adults with disabilities or other special needs and their families. We provide a wide range of excellent services
that nurture independence based on each individual’s goals and choices while providing advocacy and
promoting community inclusion.