With rare bipartisan support, Kevin and Avonte’s Law was introduced in November of 2017. Named for two children with Autism who died by drowning, Kevin Curtis Wills, who died in 2008 at the age of nine in Jefferson, Iowa; and Avonte Oquendo who was a high school student who drowned in the East River in New York in 2014. Both boys had been diagnosed with autism and drowned after wandering away from supervised settings.
The bill passed the Senate by voice vote and provides nearly two million dollars in funding to train law enforcement, schools, families, and community organizations on ways they can prevent and address wandering among people who have developmental disabilities and conditions, like Alzheimer’s disease, in which wandering is common. It was passed as part of the Omnibus Spending Act of 2018 and the legislation itself can be found on page 1937.
Led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa the bill was also sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) of Minnesota, Senator Thom Tillis (R) of North Carolina, and Senator Chuck Schumer (D) of New York and signed into law by President Trump.
November is National Family Caregivers Month
22 Nov 2018
November is a month that has been set aside to recognize the contribution of family caregivers across the county and the sacrifices they make to provide dedicated care for their loved ones. In the U.S. there are nearly 90 million family caregivers that play pivotal roles in the health and well-being of loved ones.
Researchers from Michigan State University have joined forces with the state’s Department of Natural Resources to conduct an ongoing study on the state’s population of deer. The project is being conducted around the Crockett Quantitative Wildlife Center and MSU’s Boone areas.
Researchers hope to learn more about the 1.75 million white-tailed deer that live in Michigan. They want to learn more about chronic wasting disease and how the disease spreads.
