In his role as an adjunct professor and consultant and trainer for the Center for Excellence in Community and Mental Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Antoine Bailliard, PhD, MS, OTR/L is working to help more North Carolinians live independently.
Dr. Bailliard was a co-presenter at the i2i - Center for Integrated Health - Critical Connections Conference held June 12-14 in Raleigh. He joined Sam Hedrick, a senior advisor to the Secretary of NC DHHS, and members of the team to share details about the new complex care management program funded by the State of North Carolina.
Dr. Bailliard helped to develop the intervention which deploys occupational therapists and registered nurses to work with people with serious mental illness to help them transition out of dependent care homes and into independent living situations with supportive services. OTs and RNs perform the pre-assessment and interventions and post-assessment and interventions with people to optimize their independent living.
He said he’s excited about the role OT’s are taking in this project. He said he’s unaware of another large-scale project that involves OT’s being systematically deployed through managed care operation and supported by the state. He’s been working on this project since 2017.
This project stems from the Olmstead v. LC decision in 1999, one of the most important civil rights cases for people with disabilities in the United States. The decision established a framework that obligates all states to provide supportive services for people with disabilities, which includes serious mental illnesses, to live in the least restrictive environment possible. North Carolina has entered a settlement with the federal government for violating the terms set forth in the Olmstead decision.