Personal Assistance Services at the Workplace

Learning Objectives

After completing this seminar, participants should be able to:

1. Describe what Workplace Personal Assistance Services (PAS) are and how they differ from personal attendant care.
2. Identify historical events which have lead to the increasing use of PAS as a workplace support.
3. Describe how the Americans with Disability Act protects the use of workplace PAS as a reasonable accommodation.
4. Describe at least two ways in which workplace PAS may be used in combination with assistive technology at a work site.
5. Identify at least 3 sources of funding for PAS at the workplace that would potentially be available in the participant’s home state.
6. Describe how WPAS may be used in self-employment situations.

We hope you enjoy this web-based seminar and that it provides you with useful information about workplace personal assistance services.

How to Navigate the Course

If you have never participated in any training provided over the internet, you may be a little concerned about how it all works. We have designed this seminar to make certain that even beginners will be able to successfully navigate the information, activities and assignments. All it will take is a few minutes looking through the various topics to acquaint yourself with the course format and you will be ready to start!

There are 10 separate topics related to Workplace Personal Assistance Services covered in this seminar. You will see these topics listed in the Course Outline which runs down the left side of this screen. These topics are designed to be accessed sequentially, but you are free to work through the subject areas in any order you choose. To access a topic, simply click on the title in the column to the left. Each topic area includes the following:

• A brief narrative explanation of the specific subject area
• A short activity to participate in or a simple assignment to complete (only in some sections)
• Resources or additional readings you may access to learn more about the topic

What Tasks Need to be Completed

The Alabama PAS course is a self-paced online training course where you can access the information and complete assignments at your leisure within the timeframe of July 19, 2010 – September 24, 2010. Ten weeks are allotted to complete ten separate topic areas.

Course Requirements & Credits:

• Course timeframe: July 19, 2010 – September 24, 2010
• Participants must complete all 5 activities (found in Topics 2, 3, 4, 9, & 10) by September 24, 2010
• Participants must take the cumulative seminar quiz and pass it with a score of 80% or higher by September 24, 2010. Participants are permitted to re-take the quiz once if a score of 80% is not attained on the first try.
• Credits: After completion of all above requirements in the timeframe specified, participants will receive a certificate of completion and 15 hours of CRC Continuing Education Credit. Credits will not be given if course assignments are not completed.

You will receive a weekly email from the course instructor, who will be checking in with you to see if you have any questions or concerns as well as keeping you up to date with the deadlines for completion.

Course Technical Support

The course uses printed narrative for the much of the seminar content, but there are numerous places where links to audio or video clips are provided. To access these clips you will need a program called RealPlayer (free softward) installed on your computer. Many new computers have this already but if not, this is a free program that you download from the Internet. To download RealPlayer go to: http://www.real.com/

You will also need a program called Adobe Flash Player (free software) installed on your computer. To test your system and learn more about installing Adobe Flash Player, go to: http://www.worksupport.com/flash/install.cfm

If you are unfamiliar with downloading and installing a program on your computer, we are here to assist you. Doug Erickson is the technical support faculty and can be reached by e-mail at doerickson@vcu.edu.

If you have questions or comments about the seminar content or activities, you may contact the course instructor Cameron Carter by email at ccarter4@vcu.edu or by calling 804-827-0743.

You may begin the seminar by clicking on any of the topics listed in the column to the left.

This is a Publication of the State of Alabama Medicaid Infrastructure Grant funded under a grant form the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (CMS), a Federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Grant/Contract #1QACMS030229/02, Grant/Contract # 1QACMSO30229/03. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantee/contractor and do not necessarily reflect those of the CMS.