The human side [Spring 2001]

um

2001 GEORGIA DEPARTMENT or H uMAN RESOURCES 0 SPRING
The mission of the Georgia Department of Human Resources is to assist Georgians in achieving healthy, independent and self-sufficient lives.

Fostering a better future

Richard Dunne, a financial consultant and vice president for the Athens office of

BECEIVED
JUN 172003

Merrill Lynch, the New York-based

financial services company, left his

native South Africa 16 years ago

because of his opposition to

apartheid. That sense of responsi-

bility, shared by his wife, Scarlett,

led the couple to become foster

parents two years ago. Since then ,

they have taken in and lovingly

cared for 10 children , including a

newborn who had been found

abandoned in a cardboard box.

"This is something I had been wanting to do for a long time because there's such a need out

Foster parents Charlotte and Richard Dunn e with their family. Photograph by Barry Mobely, coiirtesy of Merrill Lynch & Co. '.s Employee Co mmuni.cations Group.

there," said Dunne, who with

Casey happily replied, "A mom and Scarlett, who is an assistant princi-

Scarlett was nominated this fall for dad who love me."

pal at a local elementary school,

the Athens 2000 Family of the Year

The Dunne family was one of remain honored by the nomination.

award. "It's a way to give back to

four nominated for the Family of

"While it looked like we were

the community. "

the Year award, sponsored annually doing a lot, " he said with character-

The Dunnes, who have been

by the Athens-based Family

istic humility, "the single mother

married for 13 years and have two Counseling Services, Inc. Lisa

who won was doing two or three

sons - Ian, 10, and Alex , 6 - are Lariscy , a social services adminis- times as much as what we're doing.

in the process of adopting the three trator for the Division of Family and foster children , aged 5 and 6 years Children Services who works with

continued on page 3

and 10 months, who are living with the Dunnes, nominated the family. them now. "All that foster children "They are a wonderful resource for

In this issue

are looking for is love and atten-

us and the children," she said.

Commissioner's corner. ... .... .pg. 2

tion ; you give them that and they will fit in very quickly. "

"What makes Richard and Scarlett so special is that they genuinely

Newborn hearing screening.. pg. 4

And the return on Richard and Scarlett's love for the children is high yield. For instance, when 5-

care for their fellow people, particularly children who are so vulnerable and can't take care of them-

C hild abuse sleuths .......... ....pg. 5 Preparing for bioterrorists.... pg. 6

year-old Casey's preschool teacher asked each pupil what th ey were

selves." Although the award went to

What's news.........................pg. 7

thankful for this Thanksgiving,

another family, Dunne said he and

Who's news ............... .... ......pg. 8

The Human Side Spring 2001 1

C omm1.ss1. oner's corner

I 'm very pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself to you and to share a few of my goals for DHR and the issues I've been focusing on since I arrived in January.
First, let me say I'm proud to be your acting commissioner. I value the contributions of every DHR employee. Regardless of your individual duties or position title, each of you has a very important job: serving the public. We must all keep in mind that we are in the service business and put the public's interest first.
Serving the people of Georgia means that we have to see beyond our divisions and offices to the department as a whole. What each program does affects everything else that is going on. For this reason I am working with our management team on a strategic plan aimed at helping us all think globally about how best to serve people across division and office lines. We will build in performance measures based on how the various populations we serve are doing, not how the programs are doing, so we can set objectives for improvement. The plan will be finished by June 30.
Since I arrived in January I've also been working with the General Assembly as they considered the Governor's FY 2002 budget proposal for DHR. The result has been very satisfactory. We received increases in several key areas.
When people ask me my priorities I have to say that all our services are important, but clearly protecting children and the frail elderly are at the top of the list. We were granted funding to raise salaries for many Child Protective Services workers, hire additional staff to reduce case-

loads, and train staff. We will soon unveil an improved system for tracking families with child abuse cases across county lines. Through the MATCH program, we will be able to place 134 more children with severe emotional problems in treatment, a recommendation of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force.
Another goal of the Blue Ribbon Task Force was to serve more frail elderly people at risk of institutional-

ization. In FY 2002 we will be able to provide home- and communitybased services to 2000 more Medicaid-eligible consumers and 2000 more who are not Medicaideligible.
The FY 2002 budget requires DHR to increase our billing of Medicaid and other federal programs for many services in order to draw down $85.5 million more in federal dollars (part of the Governor's "revenue maximization" project). The divisions of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse, Public Health, and Family and Children Services will be required to enroll more consumers in Medicaid and change billing practices. This may prove a challenge for some programs, but it will increase the department's resources in the long run.
We will continue to stress prevention in all our programs. We will play an important part in the
continued next page

Acting Commissioner Gary B. Redding
G ary B. Redding became acting Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources in January. He has more than 20 years of experience in health care planningj, management, and administration in both the public and private sectors, including over 12 years in state government. He was most recently director of the Division of Medical Assistance for the Georgia Department of Community Health.
Redding earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting from Auburn University. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the Georgia Society of CPA's as well as many other professional and community boards and organizations, including the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, the State Employees' Credit Union Board, the Auburn Alumni Association, Leadership Atlanta Class of '95 and The Atlanta Exchange. He has participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and volunteered for the Board of the South Atlanta Land Trust. An Atlanta native, Redding is married with two adult children, and is a member of the deacon ministry at his church.

2 The Human Side Spring 2001

Commissioner's corner continued

Governor's Cancer Initiative, which funding. We will also be able to

is building a network of providers improve our systems for keeping

and experts to strengthen cancer

track of child support payments and

research, prevention, detection, and getting them to the custodial parents.

treatment, using some of Georgia's

I am encouraged that we are

tobacco settlement funds.

moving in the right direction. We

We will also continue to

will continue to improve our service

strengthen families. We are helping to the people of Georgia , with the

people at the end of their 48-month support of the Governor and the leg-

lifetime limit for Temporary

islature and with the commitment

Assistance for Needy Families, so

and dedication of all our employees.

they can work and support them-

I look forward to working with all of

selves. The Family Connection,

you .

which works with communities to

improve services for at-risk families

and children, has received increased

Gary Redding, acting DHR commiss ioner

(L), and Marti Padgett, director, Senior

Better .future continuedfrom page .I

Community Servi.ce Employment Program , Division of Aging Services (R), lal?e a breah

Clearly, she deserved the award. " Dunne, also a member of the local Kiwanis Club , said the nomination has given him and his wife an additional platform to publicize the widespread need for qualified foster parents.

largely circumstantial, fade away, it is an incredible joy."
(Adapted with permission from We the People, by Merrill Ly nch & Co. '.s Emp loyee Communications Group.)

al lhe Na tional Older Worh ers Co nference held in ]anua 1y in Atlanta. Redding welcomed parti cipants al lh e plenary sess ion. The con[erences theme was "The new worhf orce system: pL1lting lh e pieces togelher for malure and older worhers."

"It's a nationwide problem," said Dunne , who has taken in as many as fiv e foster children at one time. "just in the county in which I live,

Become a foster parent
.oster parents are needed for children of all ages, socio-economic levF. els and ethnic groups. The greatest need is for school-aged children,

there are 200 or more children in

brothers and sisters who need a home together, children with special

foster care at any given time. We're medical needs, and teenagers.

fortunate because we have 40 or 50

To become a foster parent, one must meet the following requirements:

families in the program. But even

Completion of a 30-hour preparation program offered by local county

after you spread that out, you're

Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) offices. This will

ta lking four to five children in each help you decide if fostering is right for you.

of those homes.

Medical examinations, including drug screenings, for all adults and chil-

"We need more peop le to step

dren living in the home.

forward to help these kids , and not A criminal records check on any adult living in the home.

just here but across the whole coun- A home assessment and safety inspection.

try," said Dunne, who encourages

A valid Georgia driver's license and social security card.

Merrill Lynch colleagues interested Proof of U.S. citizenship.

in learning more about foster parent At least three references .

programs to contact their local

You can be married, divorced or single.

social services department.

You do not have to own your home.

"It's so rewarding," Dunne said.

To apply or to learn more about becoming a foster parent, call your

"When you see the tremendous change in the children , when you

county DFCS office.

- Edna]achson

see their problems, which were

The Human Side Spring 2001 3

Newborn hearing screening now available to all Georgia babies

S tarting this year, all babies born in Georgia h ospitals will be screen ed

s upplied h ospitals with state-ofthe-art screening equipment and training and developed a

for h earing loss b efore th ey are

sys tem to track the program's

discharged . This will allow for

su ccess. The program is

early trea tmen t that can give a

required by legislation passed

child the best possible opportu-

by the Gen eral Assembly and

nity to learn and communicate.

sign ed by Goven or Barnes in

At least 300 babies are born

1999 .

with h earin g loss in Georgia
each year. Funded by $2 million from

"It's exciting that babies in Geo rgia who h ave h earing loss are n ow mu ch m ore likely to

the tobacco lawsuit settlement,

ge t h elp early, when it does the

plus federal and state funds and

m os t good ," says Kathleen E.

a gran t from the Appalachian Regional Co mmission , the Division of Public Health has

Governo r Roy Barnes addresses a press conf erence at I<ennestone hospital announcing uni versal newborn hearin g screening in Georgia.

Toomey, M.D., M.P.H. , PH director. "Eighty percent of a child's langu age ability is es tablish ed by th e age of 18 m onths.

Computer abuse

Hearing usually plays an important role in that learning process, so

l

ike a fingerprint, w hat you enter on the computer can be traced back to you . During the past few months, the Office

of Fraud and Abuse has inves tigated several

complaints of employees misusing computers.

Som e of these cases in volved:

using a state computer to operate a busi-

n ess over the Internet during business h ours;

visiting po rnographic or sexually explicit

web sites and/or downloading pictures of sexually oriented material onto a

state computer;

the unauthorized use of a state computer to obtain or examine per-

sonal info rmation about an other person ; or

crea ting, altering or forging documents to commit a crime.

"Everyone should be aware that a record remains on the computer of

all data entered , and can be retrieved along with the time and date it was

created , even if the operator has deleted the record or actio n," says Ken Bramlett, director of OFA. "Permanent records may also be stored on a

main frame or server after they have been deleted from the n etwork com -

puter. OFA has investiga tors specially trained to retrieve this type of infor-

1nation ."

Even if a person misrepresents his or her identity online, his computer

activities can be traced . Th ere are numerous law enfo rcem ent agen cies

that actively investiga te sites o n the Internet, including chat rooms and web

sites. So regardless of the complex m ethods people may use to disguise

continued on page 7

finding and treating a problem right

away can m ake a big difference.

Children with early h earing loss

that goes undetec ted may later n eed

long-term, expensive, special edu ca-

tion ser vices. "

A state advisory committee

guided the program's implemen ta-

tion and will m onitor its su ccess.

The committee includes pediatri-

cians, audiologists, a h os pital

administrator, adults wh o are dea f

or h ea ring impai red , parents with

children who are deaf or h earing

impaired , and legislators.

A brochure, "Have you hea rd? "

explaining the impor tance of th e

screening is b eing distributed to

parents of newborns.

For m ore info rmation about

n ewborn h earing screening in

Georgia, see http ://health .state.ga .us

/programs/U NHS or contact Leslie

Poole, coo rdinator, Newborn

Hearing Screening Program ,

404/ 4 63 -2 19 2 .

- Barbara j oye

4 The Human Side Spring 2001

Child abuse sleuths

A new state unit to investigate suspicio ~1s deaths and injuries of children whose

families are being seen by child

protective services workers has

begun operating statewide. The

Special Investiga tions Unit is part

of the Division of Family and

Children Services (DFCS).

Sixteen specially trained child

abuse and neglect investigators are

now available around the clock to county DFCS offic es. They review the case records on the family, inter-

The special In vestigation unit (front row 1-r) Glenda We lborn, Celia Jordan , Gwendoly n_Lee, Ann Kreuger, Peggy Woodward, Glenda Culpepper, Genie No lan. (bach ro w l-r) Giana White, Kri sta Kendricli, Cathy Bitterman, D'A nna Liber, iini t chief ; Julie Slater, and

view fa mily members and anyone Christine Copley. Not pictured, Te ri Amendola, Deborah Smith, Paulette Sybbles-Jones,

else with knowledge of the child or Ca rla Si.ms and Tammy Jiles.

the incident, including physicians and school personnel. They also

write a chronology of the case and testify in court, if necessary.

"Having an experienced, specially trained investiga tor on hand

when a death or serious injury

Who's watching the kids? ORS!

occurs is a grea t help to county staff, " says special inves tigations

A family day care provider left childre n stranded _during a complaint inves tigation and the Office of Regulato ry ServKes (ORS) had to take over, according to Kathy Becker, statewide family day care

regional director for ORS' Child Care Licensing Section . .

.

Child Care Licensing rece ived allegations that the provider was kee pmg

12 children instead of the six that ORS allows. On the Monday before

Christmas Toni Brown, a Child Care Licensing surveyor, tried to visit bu t

the provider would not answer the door. ORS called the police. Eight chil-

dren were found in the home, in unsa fe conditions. When Brown asked for

the home's records, the provider offered to give up her license instead.

While Brown was calling Becker, her supervisor, the provider walked out

and did not return . Brown had go ne to the home at 11 a. m. lt was now 1

p.m. and the children hadn't eaten.

"The children couldn't identify themselves. We didn't k now which bot-

tle belonged to which child. The provider didn't put the bottles in the

refrigerator, so the milk was spoiled. 1 asked Toni to look for somethmg to

feed the childre n like meat or cheese but not to cook anything," says Becker.

Becker joined Brown at the house. The police asked her and Bro wn to

stay with the children , accompanied by police, until the parents came to

pick them up.

.

,,

"It was a good thing we were there. They were left on their own , says

Becker. "I don't think anybody else has walked out while a surveyo r was

there." ORS immediately revoked the home's license.

DHR's child care regulations define family day care as a priva te home

where three to six children are cared fo r by a perso n who is not related to

the children . DHR has registered 7,243 family day care homes.

- Edna )achson

unit chief D'Anna Uber . Each in vestiga tor is assigned to
a specific area, and is within two hours driving distance of an y of the area's counties.
"Serious injury and fatality cases have a lot of urge ncy to them and take a lot of time to inves tiga te thoroughly, " commen ts Uber. "With our unit involved the county can continue to handle its other cases at the level required by policy. "
As part of his package of budge t recommendations this year, Governor Barnes called for hi.ring 12 additional inves tiga tors.
"Our long-range goal is to have 48, so that each judicial circuit would have its own special investiga tor," says U ber.
The investigations unit wo rks closely with th e state Child Protective Services unit, which will continue to set policy and p rocedures and supervise the training of new pro tecti ve services staff.
- Renee Hui e

The Human Side Spring 2001 5

Preparing for bioterrorists

At DHR we've responded to our share of disasters in recent ...,. ,_.,years - floods, hurricanes

appropriately to early signs of a health emergency, such as a patient with unusual symptoms or a terror-

test for infectious agents that might be used by bioterrorists. "We have really geared up for this," says

and tornadoes - and we've learned ist threat. Regina Blissett runs a

Laboratory Director Elizabeth

a valuable lesson: Be prepared. Now similar program in Columbus.

Franko, Dr. P.H.

we're getting ready to help protect

Atlanta and Columbus both

The DeKalb County Board of

the public in case an extremist group received federal area grants, award- Health has its own CDC grant to

or agent of a hostile country uses

ed nationwide for work in specific develop a Center for Public Health

biological weapons somewhere in

cities and communities.

Preparedness to improve their com-

Georgia. Federal experts

munications, training

say it could happen. Since 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and

Unthinkable as it sounds, biological weapons and preparation for

have been used in the United States

"unusual events. " They are also under contract

Prevention (CDC) has

with the U.S.

given the Division of Public Health

Smith's unit is developing a

Department of Health and Human

(PH) approximately $3 million for

Health Alert Network - a comput- Services to develop a bioterrorism

bioterrorism response planning,

erized "system of systems" to allow response plan for DeKalb and Ful-

training and capacity building

instant communication with anyone ton Counties, with assistance from

throughout DHR.
Unthinkable as it sounds, biological weapons have been used in the United States - once by a cult that contaminated restaurant food so people would be too sick to vote in a local election. No one was permanently harmed, but it took a while for public health investigators to figure out what caused the unusual outbreak. A more deadly agent could spark an epidemic, overwhelm hospitals and cause panic.
Although PH is the first line of defense in medical emergencies, other DHR agencies would be involved, such as mental health counselors; Division of Family and Children Services staff who set up

who might be involved in responding to a health emergency, including local, state and federal agencies and private medical providers. One important goal is to make sure that all these groups can work together smoothly under pressure.
Epidemiologists Cherie L Drenzek and Laurel Morrow, and an analyst, Valerie Asberry, with special focus on bioterrorism response, serve on DHR's Health Emergency Alert Team. They also train PH staff throughout the state.
The state PH Laboratory has already been upgraded, with state funding, so it can safely analyze large quantities of specimens and

PH. DeKalb has been holding pre-
paredness training exercises with area hospitals and other healthcare providers, in part to strengthen relationships between the private sector and public health. They will sponsor a media relations training exercise in May that will include PH and other DHR staff, and they are developing a risk communication primer for public health agencies.
For more information about DHR's bioterrorism preparations , contact Lee Smith at leesmith@dhr.state.ga.us or Charlotte Duggan al 404/463-2741 or cduggan@dhr.state.ga.us.
- Barbara Joye

shelters for evacuees; and health

care facility inspectors at the Office

of Regulatory Services.

PH's new Office of Emergency

Preparedness is headed by Lee

Smith, the division's emergency pre-

paredness officer. Charlotte Duggan

manages workforce development so

DHR staff throughout the state will

be prepared to detect and react

6 The Human Side Spring 2001

What's news

T he Division of Aging Services' Georgia Mobile Day Care Program was featured

in the March issue of Rural Clini-

cian's Quarterly, a newsletter sent nationwide to over 6,000 physicians by the National Rural Health Administration.
Mobile Day Care provides

Plan your baby on hi.s back to sleep at night and at naptimt
to red1,1ce the. tbk of Sudden fnfant Death Syndrome/Crib O~ath,
1 80tMill.:'U 39

respite for caregivers of persons

with dementia and enables rural

communities to have their own day

care programs by sharing staff. The

staff travel with their materials and supplies among a group of centers that are each open for five or six hours per day, one to three days a

Th e Division of Public Health's Family Health Branch is raising awareness of Sudden Infant Death Sy ndrome rish reduction by disp lay ing 660 cards in Atlanta MARTA buses and 21 3 billboards throu.ghout Georgia.

week. The program was initially an Alzheimer's demonstration project developed by the Augusta Area

Aging and the Brookdale Foundation. Currently, programs are available in McDuffie, Burke, Elbert,

New training center in Macon

Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and funded by the

Greene, Butts, and Upson Counties. For more information , contact your

N eed to hold a conference, meeting, or training session in

United States Administration on

area agency on aging.

a location that is centrally located

and free of charge? The Office of

Computer abuse continued from page 4
their identity on the Internet, identities are traceable by law enforcement personnel, explains Bramlett.
Violations can also occur if passwords or computers are not protected from unauthorized use. That's why DHR employees should never give their password to anyone else or leave their computers on while unattended.
It is also very important for employees to know what constitutes a violation of DHR policy as well as Georgia's law on use of computers:
E-mail, Internet and other computer searches and communications should be professional and used for work-related reasons only. The display or transmission of sexually oriented material is prohibited. Other misuse includes, but is not limited to, ethnic slurs, racial comments, off-color jokes, or anything that may be considered harassment. (DHR Policy 1201, Standards of Conduct and Ethics in Government, Us e of State Property, Section 2.2)
Any person convicted of computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, or computer forgery shall be fined not more than
$50,000 or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both. (O .C.G.A. ft 16-9-
93 (I)) Individual DHR divisions may have policies that are more restrictive and
specific than DHR Policy 1201. Employees who are not sure if an ac tivity is in violation of policy should check with their supervisor. OFA is also available to answer questions about policies and laws on computer use.
- Ednajachson

Human Resource and Organization Development (HROD) opened the DHR Middle Georgia Training Center in Macon last spring for just that purpose. HROD manages the facility, which is leased from Aetna.
The center has three large state-of-the-art meeting rooms divided by partitions that can be adapted to fit your needs. Services include audiovisual equipment for use at no charge and a small break room with drink and snack machines. Several local caterers will serve food at the site.
HROD accepts reservations from any state government organization on a first-come-first-served basis, but DHR agencies have priority. If you are interested, call 478-757-2525 or 404-463-6252 or e-mail: drtoma@dhr.state.ga.us, or visit the HROD website at: www.hrod .state.ga.us.
- Lo la Wilhinson

The Human Side Spring 2001 7

Who's news,

Andy Boisseau has been appointed acting director of the Office of Communications, A New Orleans native who made Atlanta his home 11 years ago, Boisseau has an ex tensive customer service, public relations and media relations background. From 1996 -1 998 he worked on the AT&T management team that helped to deregulate the telephone industry in the Southeast. Later, he was appointed Eastern U.S. media relations manager for AT&T Consumer Services. Boisseau retired from AT&T after 25 years. He is married, with three adult children and two grandchildren.
T ~;~or
~ecame direc-
tor of the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) on December 1, 2000. Defoor began his career with Vocational Rehabilitation (now DRS) in 1969 as a rehabilitation intern and worked in almost every position in the division. He is a former board member, vice-president and president of the Georgia Rehabilitation Association and has served as president of the Georgia Rehabilitation Counseling Association. DeFoor and his wife, Aurena, have three adult children.

Kate Pfirman was appointed acting deputy commi ss ion er for DHR on January 1st. Kate has been with DHR since 1995, She has also been the chief accountant for the City of Macon and worked for a defense contracting firm in Washington, D.C. , and for Arthur Andersen, one of the top fiv e accounting firms in the country. She is a certified public accountant and a member of the board of the Human Services Employees Credit Union . Pfirman is married and has a 13 year old daughter.
Yvonne Johnson, former deputy commissioner for DHR, died on January 31, 2001. She was 56 years old. Johnson rose through the ranks at the Division of Rehabilitation Services for more than 20 years and became its director in 1991. The National Rehabilitation Association, of which she was the former president, sent out a national alert on the day of her passing. ln their tribute, NRA memorialized her as "a dynamic individual full of great energy, bursting with ideas, and always full of caring. "

Weave your web
Y our supervisor tells you she would like you to put together a web site for your office. You don't know how to do it, so "who do you call?" No, not webbusters, but the DHR webmasters .
Help is available to plan , design and post your site on th e World Wide Web. Any division , office or program interested in a site should contact the Office of Communications Multimedia Services Unit at 404-657-5165, or email Webmaster Galvan Haun at ighaun@dhr.state.ga,us. Anoth er source for help is the Office of Information Technology. Ask for Andrea Mccarter (amccarte@ dhr.state.ga .us) at 404-657-0618. Division of Public Health employees should contact Cathie McCabe (cmccabe@dhr.state.ga.us) at 404651-9612.
Information is also available on the DHR web site at www,dhr.state.ga.us. When you visit the DHR home page, click on "Web Site Resources. "
- Angel Rodrigu ez
The purpose of The Human Side is to provide interesting and important information related to DHR employees and their jobs.
Published by the DHR Office of Communications -
Supervising editor - Andy Boissea u Managing editor - Barbara Joye Graphic designer - Eddie Reddick Editorial and production staff Dianne Phillips; Renee Huie; Barbara Joye; Angel Rodriguez; Edna Jackson; Lola Russell Wilkinson; Iris Mcilvaine; Galvan Haun and Bill Gwynn. Please send your letters and ideas to: The Human Side, 2 Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 29-426, Atl anta, GA 30303 404/ 656-4937 FAX 404/ 651-6815 DHR GroupWise e-mail - brjoye Internet: brjoye@dhr.state.ga.us.

8 The Human Side Spring 2001