Discover the impact of the recent visit of high-ranking federal and state officials to Paraquad STL Center for Independent Living.
(ST. LOUIS, MO)……Alison Barkoff, who leads the Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, visited Paraquad, a St. Louis center for independent living, on Monday, May 20, to speak directly with the people Paraquad supports and learn about the work Paraquad is doing to help people with disabilities and older adults live and fully participate in their community.
“I was so pleased to see firsthand the work Paraquad does to help people maintain their independence” said Alison Barkoff, who leads the Administration for Community Living. “Centers for independent living, like Paraquad, provide a variety of services to support people with disabilities and older adults who want to live in their own homes and communities. Without such supports people can end up − unnecessarily and at a greater cost − living in institutions such as nursing homes.”
The Administration for Community Living provides funds that help support hundreds of centers of independent living nationwide, including Paraquad. Barkoff visited Paraquad with Health and Human Services Regional Director Joseph Palm, ACL Regional Administrator Cynthia Brammeier, and Melanie Highland Director of Missouri’s Division of Senior and Disability Services, Missouri Department of Health.
About ACL
The Administration for Community Living (ACL), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, oversees programs and funding that support older adults and people of all ages with disabilities to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to participate fully in their communities.
ACL funds services and supports that are provided primarily by networks of community-based organizations and also invests in research, education, and innovation that helps make community living a reality for millions of Americans. Learn more at ACL.gov.
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Photo description: From left: Chudi Njoku and Terrance Tate, participants at Paraquad’s Stephen A. Orthwein Gym, converse with Joseph Palm, Regional Director of the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, and Alison Barkoff, leader of the Administration for Community Living. (Additional photographs available upon request.)
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