CaringInfo, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, provides free resources to educate and empower patients and caregivers to make decisions about serious illness and end-of-life care and services.

The site provides guides and resources about topics including advance directives, palliative care, caregiving and hospice care.

CaringInfo provides free advance directives and instructions for each state that can be opened as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file.

If you are having difficulty affording your utility bills during the pandemic, there is money available for lower-income families.

Visit the Citizens Utility Board’s Help Center for more information.

Verizon COVID-19 response, following the FCC agreement to waive late fees, no cutoff service, etc.

To be able to care for the people you love, you must first take care of yourself. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) provides tips, tools and resources to help caregivers take care of themselves.

The Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission maintains a directory of sign language interpreters. You can search the directory by an interpreter’s name or by region/county.

The Secretary of State’s Office offers an Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) Communication Wallet Card to help notify law enforcement that a person may have difficulty communicating. Applicant’s may request the wallet card at any Illinois Secretary of State Driver’s License Facility.

The wallet card is available to notify law enforcement in advance that a person may require alternative methods of communication in order to respond to and communicate with an officer.

The Institute for Parents of Preschool Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing is a one-week program for parents of children ages 5 and under who have a significant hearing loss. It takes place on the campus of the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville each June.

Participating parents attend daily lectures by experts in the field to learn about raising a child with hearing loss. Lecture topics include the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), advocacy, communication options, language, assistive listening devices, literacy and amplification.

UIC’s Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC), a supporter of the Institute, has made these presentations available online so they can benefit more families of children with hearing loss.

Transition not only includes vocational goals and community involvement but also health care transition. This includes discussing and planning for maximizing the potential for self-management of health care, along with age-appropriate health care as they transition to adulthood.

In this short video, one of the regional managers with UIC’s Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC) explains the importance of healthcare transition and how DSCC is here to help youth and their families prepare for what lies ahead.

As youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are making plans to attend college, it is more important than ever that families become fully informed about guardianship as well as less-limiting alternatives. This brief, written by Think College partners at PACER Center, defines some of the options and possible ramifications. It also suggests ways to promote self-determination no matter which option is chosen.