DEAF-BLIND SERVICE CENTER
DBSC BULLETIN
Winter 2004
Volume 57
Table of Contents
Director's Letter
Letter from the Board
New Board Members
Program Updates
DBSC Announcements
Community Information
DBSC Office and Staff
DBSC Board of Directors
Donors
Donation Form
DBSC Newsletter Abbreviation Information
In order to save space here, we will often abbreviate "DB" for Deaf-Blind.
Director's Letter: By Gail Ploman
After 4 years of planning, DBSC moved to a new location with more office space! Special recognition and thanks
to The Seattle Foundation for grant money to help pay for moving expenses! Also, special thanks to the Elizabeth
Lynn Foundation for grant money to help pay for the new Senior Citizen's Project. Please join me in thanking all
the people who donated money to DBSC. Your support made it possible for DBSC to move and expand services. When
you read the program updates in this newsletter, know your donations made these services possible! Thank you!
Letter From The Board By Caryn Tenin,
President
We are pleased to share the exciting news with you. The Board has been active with many different events.
We have four new Board members, Lee Kelley, Jeremy Sasser, Karen Chriest, and Adam Novsam. They are so energetic
and helpful. We now have eleven members. We worked hard to recruit, and it was successful! Welcome to all our new
members!
The staff and board members hosted DBSC's Open House on December 4, 2003. Wow! The attendance was higher than we
anticipated. We gave two special recognition awards to Katherine Evans from City of Seattle and Susie Burdick the
Executive Director of the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center (HSDC). Both women worked very hard to help DBSC move
to old HSDC building (now it is called Madison Non-profit Center (MNC). Thanks to Gail for her hard work related
to the move.
The Board recently attended the workshop, "Board Roles and Responsibilities" presented by Susie Burdick.
The workshop focused on board roles and financial and fundraising responsibilities. We learned new information
and it was a great experience!
We want to recognize our wonderful Fundraising committee, Kathy Steiner, Lynn Martinez, Jeff Foster, Lee Kelley,
Gail Ploman, Trevor and Melissa Kosa (and their cute and playful son who steals the show!) and myself. We are busy
preparing for our first Annual Walk-A-Thon at Seward Park on May 23rd. We look forward to seeing you there!
New Board Members:
Adam Novsam: I am a Rhode Island Deaf native, and now live in Shoreline, WA with my Deaf partner, Eric Schier ,
and our Miniature Schnauzer dog, Salzburg. I graduated from Gallaudet University with a BA in Business Management.
Currently, I work for the Starbucks Coffee Company at the Corporate Center, as an Accounts Payable Electronic Strategic
Representative.
Karen Chriest: I am a Seattle Deaf native. I work at the Hearing, Speech and Deafness Center as the Education Program
Coordinator. Formerly, I used to work at the same agency in the Parent-Infant Program. I have been involved in
the DB Community for more than 20 years after meeting Colleen Cook (DB sister of Polly Mansfield) on a city bus
when I was a teenager when we were neighbors! I have been on the WSDBC board twice, and have been interpreting
and an SSP for a long time. I have a wonderful boyfriend, Sam and his son Michael.
Jeremy Sasser: I moved to Seattle from Oregon in 2003. I have Ushers. After attending several DB events, I was
fascinated with community. I wanted to become more involved with the DB community. I took ASL classes at Western
Oregon University before transferring to Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. I earned a BA in Information
Technology. Currently, I am an E-commerce Program Coordinator at the Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle.
Lee Kelley: (Information in next newsletter)
Washington Legislators Reception Night by Robert J. Steppler, DB Board Member
(Dictated to Dave Scotton)
I attended the Washington State Legislators Reception in Lacey, WA on January 21, 2004. I represented DBSC and
asked Senators and Representatives to continue supporting DBSC's services. They had fancy hors d'oeuvres, and I
mingled with the legislators. I explained to them about my DB experience, dog guide, SSP services. Also, I explained
DBSC's new services such as Senior Citizen's Project and State-Wide Training Program. They were fascinated and
impressed! My experience that night was great. I hope to see DB grow and expand programs to further assist DBSC
people in WA State.
Program Updates
Advocacy and Case Management Program:
By Liz Halperin
Community Training
DBSC signed another year's contract with the state 911 TTY training program. We are providing the deaf-blind training
component for King County 911, Kitsap county 911, and student training at the Renton Technical College.
In October 2003, our staff assisted with trainings given to the DVR counselors who work with deaf clients and to
the DSB (Department of Services for the Blind) counselors, teaching everyone about deaf-blindness.
Technology and Stuff
For new technology, we now have a Telesensory Olympia mini-CCTV we can show you. If you are interested in a demonstration,
contact Liz. Also, Liz will go to the Disabilities and Technology conference in Los Angeles this March. She will
learn more about various hardware and software techs to help DB people.
Ken Sting has an interesting new watch from England! It is not braille, but it vibrates the numbers. It fits in
his pocket. Ken will show it to you if you want. You can ask him or send an email to him at kstingbee@earthlink.net.
Are you looking for good reflective ribbon to sew on your clothes or backpack or dog coat? We had a hard time finding
this at affordable prices. We found it at Seattle Fabrics! They have various ribbon types made by Scotchlite. The
ribbon is fabric, with a reflective strip in the middle. It comes with different colors on the edge, and bright
white in the middle. Some ribbon is better for backpacks, another type of ribbon is better for clothes that will
go in laundry (like coats or dog coats). They sell the ribbon by the yard. You can contact them at Seattle Fabrics,
8702 Aurora Ave N (the east side of the street), (206)525-0670 V, or email at seattlefabrics@msn.com. They will
take phone and email orders. If you can, I suggest you go with an SSP to feel the different kinds of ribbon.
Great ideas from Robert Blumenau:
Robert showed me a cool way to save time with my taxi cab scrip. When you get the books, you are supposed to write
your name and ID number on each one. Robert showed me he saves time by printing them on labels. Here are the details:
Buy a pack of return address labels, Avery Ink Jet #8167. Or go to an office supply store (like Office Max and
Office Depot) they have their own brands of labels, make sure they are equal to Avery #8167. It will say on the
package. The labels are ½ inch by 1 ¾ inch, there are 80 on each page. (One page of labels will last
you over a year!) If you use your computer and type using Arial 11, your name will fit on one line with your ID
number under. Then you can just put the labels on each cab scrip book. Works great! Thanks Bob!
You can get the Qwest Dex phone book on CD-ROM now. It has a feature called EZ Viewer for enlarging the information,
so it's easier to read. You can get this for free by calling 1-800-422-8793 Voice (use Relay). If you want one
for your office, you can get one copy for free for your work. For office, call a different number: 1-888-257-4115,
press 4, Voice (use Relay).
Project Manager Update: By Jackie Engler-Morris
I manage three projects at DBSC: the Senior Citizens project, the DB Interpreting Mentorship project, and DB Statewide
Services.
Senior Citizens Project
This is a new project at DBSC. We focus on the special needs of DB Seniors. We provide services to improve quality
of life and to maintain independence.
We offer monthly educational classes about various topics related to health insurance, medication, eating healthy
foods, preparing a Will, and social gatherings etc.
We are starting to provide Senior Citizen Assistant (SCA) services for DB Seniors. An SCA is similar to an SSP
but with more responsibilities! Currently, we are only able to provide two SCA's for two DB Seniors. We hope to
expand our program and add more SCA's in the future!
DB Interpreting Mentorship Project
I want to thank former project coordinators for their hard work! We are now in our fourth year of a five year grant,
that DBSC received from Western Oregon University, Region X Interpreting Education Program. Region X covers Washington
State, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho. We have been recruiting mentor and mentee teams, for working with DB individuals.
The mentee's are interpreter's eager to improve their interpreting skills with DB people. Mentee's can be deaf
or hearing. The mentors provide support, feedback and ideas to the mentees. You can find more information on our
website:http://mytown.koz/community/dbsc.
DB Statewide Services
DBSC now has a contract with the Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ODHH). We provide training on DB culture,
how to work with DB clients and consultation on advocacy services to all the Regional Deaf Center's! For the fiscal
year 2003 - 2004 we will train the staff at TACID in Tacoma, EWCDHH in Spokane, and SEWSCDHH in Pasco.
SSP Program Update: By Nancy Sommer,
Coordinator
I now have a new, part time SSP Program Assistant! Dawn Howes works with me 10 hours a week. She is really helpful
and has lots of new ideas.
We have a new SSP Advisory Committee! Our first meeting was on March 3, 2004. Current and former SSPs gave feedback
and ideas to improve the SSP Program. We discussed issues like training, communication, SPP roles and boundaries.
If you are an SSP and want to be involved in our SSP Advisory Committee, please join the next two meetings! They
are open to all SSPs.
I am no longer doing SSP or DB Orientation training one on one. I will have larger group presentations for DB Culture
and SSP Trainings 3 or 4 times a year. I have expanded the trainings to include more role playing and group discussions.
The last training happened on February 28th at DBSC. Many people came for the all day workshop and had lots of
fun while learning! It was an exciting day!
DBSC has increased SSP hours for DB clients who had 8 hours a month to 10 hours a month starting in March. DB clients
can use the extra 2 hours for exercise or regular daily activities.
New Staff
Dawn Howes: I am hearing and sighted. I am the Executive Secretary and SSP Program Assistant at DBSC. I graduated
from ASLIS ITP in 2002. I am very excited to be a part of the DBSC team!
Deanna Donaldson (DeeLee): I am Deaf and sighted. I am the Office Manager. I have been working and socializing
with many members of the Seattle DB Community since 2001.
Salwa Rosen: I am hearing and sighted. I used to work as a temporary office assistant at DBSC, but now I am working
as the bookkeeper. I am in my second year of the ITP at SCCC and will be graduating in June 2004.
Jackie Engler-Morris: I joined the DBSC staff in August 2003. I have Usher Syndrome. I am originally from Illinois.
I majored in Accounting and graduated from NTID in 1985. I moved to Seattle in 1987. Most recently, I worked at
Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind as the DB Community Class Assistant. I provided consultation and education related
to DB culture.
DBSC Announcements
The DB Community says, "Good-Byes"
William Morris Dimick - Bill was born January 5, 1920. He died on August 1, 2003. The family had a small private
service in Vancouver, WA. The Seattle DB Community had a memorial gathering on September 28th. Over 90 people came
to share memories of Bill. Thank you to all the agencies and volunteers who helped make this afternoon possible.
Robert Terrazas - Robert was born May 11, 1952 . He died on February 17, 2004. His family buried him in Independence,
Missouri. He died from injuries related to car accident on December 22, 2003 in Arizona. The DB Community had a
memorial gathering on March 21st.
Lighthouse Seabeck Camp
This year Seabeck Camp is August 29 to September 4. If you are interested to volunteer SSP/interpret for the DB
campers, please contact Tami Berk at tberk@seattlelh.org.
DBSC 2004 Events (save these dates!)
Sunday, May 23rd - DBSC's 1st Annual Walk-a-Thon at Seward Park - 5902 Lake Washington Blvd. S. Seattle 98118
Saturday, August 7th - DBSC's 2nd Annual Picnic at Ravenna Park - 2000 NE 58th, Seattle 98105
COMMUNITY INFORMATION
The New Zealand Project: By Liz Halperin
We, the DB Community in Seattle are fortunate. Many people worked for many years to develop this community.
Now we have an opportunity to help a newly developing community: The DB Community in New Zealand. When I was at
the AADB conference in July, I met Richelle (Richie) Frantz. (Her last name used to be Hammett, but she got married.)
Richie spent the last 2 years in New Zealand on a contract to help develop the DB community there. Seattle's Cliff
Marcus was also there for many months.
Richie went back in September for another 2-year contract. I was trying to think how I could help out. I remembered
that I have several magnifiers I don't use any more. I have some spare slates and styluses. There are some Noir
sunglasses I don't use any more. I asked Richie if these things could be used-and she was so surprised. YES! And
her face glowed.
Then the dream began. "The New Zealand Project." Teaming up the established Seattle DB community with
the newly-forming New Zealand Community. To start, DBSC is happy to be the collection point for any equipment you
can donate. They prefer "low technology" items: magnifiers, slates and stylus, dark glasses, signature
cards, anything you don't use any more that's still in good condition. You can bring items to DBSC or give them
to our staff at the LH DB Community Classes or if we are meeting with you for other reasons. When we have a box
of items, we'll send it off. Then we'll start a new box!
Maybe you aren't DB and don't have old equipment but you still want to be involved. You could purchase small items
to include. Or let us know how to contact you when we are ready to send a box-the postage will be high, but maybe
several people would contribute to that.
We will be sending our newsletter to the group there and they will read about our plans. Richie Franz says they
are excited about being a "sister city."Who knows where this might lead? In a few years, there may be
delegates and SSPs from New Zealand at AADB. Or there may be another exchange trip with Seattle, who knows? Our
dreams are wide open, so let's reach out and help another group to develop. As a community, we can be mentors.
Let's all send a big Seattle DB HELLO, NEW ZEALAND!
Office of Deaf & Hard of Hearing(ODHH)
We would like to welcome the new ODHH Director, Eric
Raff! Eric is Deaf and sighted. He moved to Olympia, WA with his wife Lauren (also Deaf and sighted) and their
two children, from Kentucky.
Washington State 9-1-1/TTY Education
Program: By Donna Platt
Washington State 9-1-1/TTY Program added Newsflash box and page to its website. Newsflash includes important information
about what is happening at present. It will be changed from time to time depending on what is happening. Sometimes
it will help show you where to get information after a disaster happens, for example, how can you get financial
assistance for your home damaged from flood, fire, or others? Please check our Newsflash box www.cscdhh.org/911.
APRIL AWARENESS MONTH: WASHINGTON STATE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Disaster preparedness month is being observed in Washington State during April. There will be a statewide earthquake
drill on April 22, 2004 between 9:45 AM and 10:00 AM. More information will be announced at the later date. Please
check www.emd.gov or www.cscdhh/911 for more information. Or call the Washington State 9-1-1/TTY Education Program
at (206) 322-4996 TTY/V.
DBSC Office And Staff
DBSC Phone: (206) 323 - 9178 TTY
DBSC Fax: (206) 328 - 8497
Gail Ploman, Executive Director
Phone: (206) 325 - 7241 TTY
Email: gploman@seattledbsc.org
Dawn Howes, Executive Secretary & SSP Program Assistant
Phone: (206) 726 - 1950 V/TTY
Email: dhowes@seattledbsc.org
Deanna Donaldson, Office Manager
Phone: (206) 323 - 9178 TTY
Email: info@seattledbsc.org
SSP Program Coordinator
Phone: (206) 726-1950 TTY
Email: ssp@seattledbsc.org
Liz Halperin, Advocacy Program Manager/ Advocacy Specialist
Phone: (206) 323 - 9217 TTY
Email: lhalperin@seattledbsc.org
Dave Scotton, Advocacy Specialist
Phone: (206) 328 - 0613 TTY
Email: dscotton@seattledbsc.org
Jackie Engler-Morris, Project Manager
Phone: (206) 323-5463 TTY
Email: jengler@seattledbsc.org
Salwa Rosen, Bookkeeper and Interpreter Coordinator
Phone: (206) 726 - 1950 V/TTY
Email: srosen@seattledbsc.org
DBSC Board of Directors
| Caryn Tenin | President |
| Jeff Foster | Vice President |
| Alex Lee | Treasurer |
| Leigh Golston | Member at Large |
| Robert J. Steppler | Member |
| Lynn Martinez | Member |
| Kathy Steiner | Member |
| Lee Kelley | Member |
| Karen Chriest | Member |
| Jeremy Sasser | Member |
| Adam Novsam | Member |
Donors April 2003 to February 2004
| Anonymous Donors | Lewis Merkin |
| Virginia Bangs | Lavena Meske |
| Robert Blumenau | Hazel Morris |
| Pat Brunzell | Paul & Patricia Olmsted |
| Delores Burks | Karen Ozmun |
| Tara Carlson | Lee & Anne Ozmun |
| Robin Cashman | Anita & Patrick Parkin |
| Theodore Crane | Janet Peterson |
| Niki & Dave DeShaw | Chuck & Phyllis Pyle |
| Huynh Do | Clements Provatakis |
| Margarita Eng | Arvind & Nandini Rajendran |
| Laura Engler | Donald & Wendy Richardson |
| William & Carol Engler | Roy Rios |
| John Evans & Kathleen Evans-West | Maxine Schnebele |
| Harvey Finkle | D.D. Sidebottom |
| Jeff Foster* | Melvin & Linda Simon |
| Marlene Foster | Gregory D. Smith |
| Mildred Frankel | Catherine Sommer |
| Liz Halperin | Debbie Sommer |
| Anita Hartling | Deborah D. Stanfill & Caroline W. Sherman |
| Branden & Jennifer Huxtable | Francis Steppler |
| Sheryl Kool & Eric Kool Brown | Robert J. Steppler* |
| Larry W. Lambert | Bernadette Taylor |
| Alexander Lee* | Caryn Tenin* |
| Debbie Lee | Olga Valbuena |
| Valerie Mannucci | Dorothy Walt |
| Bob & Emily Marcus | Karee Wardrop |
| Gabriel & Lynneth Martinez* | Robert & Hilary White |
| Lawrence Mayer | Paul & Grace Wickward |
| Molly McGuire | Terri Wood |
City of Seattle
Elizabeth Lynn Foundation
Griffin Commercial Parts, Inc.
Perkins School for the Blind
Robbi Crockett & ASL Interpreter Network
Seattle Foundation
Seattle Police Employee Charity Fund
United Way of King County
DONATION FORM
The Deaf-Blind Service Center is a non-profit organization. We are funded through government contracts and individual
donations. All contributions are tax deductible within the rules and regulations set by the IRS.
Your support means a lot to us.
Yes! I would like to make a donation to DBSC. Enclosed is a contribution of:
| ____ $25.00 | ____ $50.00 | ____ $100.00 |
| ____ $250.00 | ____ $500.00 | ____ $1000.00 |
| ____ Other amount |
____ You may print my name in the newsletter.
Name: _____________________________________
Address: ___________________________________
City/State/Zip: _______________________________
Phone: _____________________________________
Email: ______________________________________
____ Yes, the company I work for has a Matching Gifts program.
Deaf-Blind Service Center
1620 18th Ave., Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98122