News - LIFTT

Transportation Inclusion: Getting Out & About

In 2024, LIFTT will promote disability inclusion by advocating for a more inclusive public transport system. There are two types of transport systems: exclusive and inclusive. On one hand, exclusive transport systems are one of the major barriers that prevent disabled people from living independently. On the other hand, inclusive transport systems and scheduled trips are ADA-accessible and allow disabled people to move within their urban environment and live independently and freely. Disabled people who have transport are engaged in their communities, attend school, work, and live life to the fullest.

Inclusive transportation includes the aging and disabled in society and contributes to its diversity. LIFTT is happy to report that all levels of our government prioritize accessibility and inclusiveness by removing barriers to walking, wheeling, cycling, planning, and public transport, benefiting disabled individuals, complying with the ADA, guaranteeing equal access and equal opportunity, and preventing injustice. Thanks to the government’s efforts, barriers are being removed, increasing accessibility and inclusiveness in LIFTT’s service area. There is a demonstrated willingness to comply with the ADA, promote political, ethical, and mobility justice, and recognize the rights of disabled individuals.

On January 31, 2024, the City of Billings MET Transit and LIFTT will hold an event entitled Bus Adventure in which citizens with different disabilities and the MET team will demonstrate how to remove barriers and overcome challenges experienced by the disabled who use public transportation. Together, the MET and LIFTT are promoting disability inclusion through public transportation. By participating in this event, LIFTT will provide a voice to the everyday lived experiences of disabled individuals and increase awareness of the factors that make transport and mobility accessible.

LIFTT also continues working with the City of Billings Planning and Community Services Department as well as the Billings-Yellowstone County Metropolitan Planning Organization and community stakeholders to provide a disability perspective as city and county transportation plans such as “Safe Routes to Schools, “Complete Streets” and the “Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan” are renewed and updated.

LIFTT is also partnering with the Montana Department of Transportation to create a special between-cities transportation service for the aging and disabled residing in Southeastern Montana. It will be a fixed route service from Sidney to Billings, with Glendive and Miles City stops. We plan to have an accessible van and be able to transport even passengers in a wheelchair.

If you are a person with disabilities in our service area facing a transportation inclusion issue, LIFTT stands ready to assist in helping you find and advocate for a solution; call us in Billings (406) 259-5181 or Glendive (406) 948-8500, or send us a message through our website at liftt.org/contact.

A “Bus Adventure” with Billings MET Transit in late January is just one of the transportation inclusion projects LIFTT will be working on in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Billings MET Transit)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Christmas Creatures bring glad tidings to LIFTT!

short haired blond woman holding a santa clause lawn ornament

LIFTT’s Ugly Santa made another visit to Glendive this holiday season, making several stops throughout town, including a visit with Becky Quinnell of MidRivers Communications.

From the desk of U.S. Claus, Senior Christmas Creature @ LIFTT

North Pole

January 2024

To my friends at LIFTT and beyond,

It has been a big year for Ugly Santa! As the holiday season was getting underway, I chanced to meet two snowmen who were looking for a good deed to help move them from the naughty to the nice list; I dispatched them to Billings, and they made the rounds in the Magic City while I once again returned to Glendive to renew old friendships and make some new ones!

All told, between Billings and Glendive, our team of Christmas Creatures visited over 50 different sites and raised just over $3000 to support LIFTT in helping people with disabilities in Southeast and Southcentral Montana become and remain independent!

On behalf of myself, the snowmen in the Christmas Creature department, and our colleagues in the Independent Living, Self-Direct Personal Care Assistance, Peer Program, and Administrative departments, we want to thank all the businesses, organizations, and individuals who donated to LIFTT when a Christmas Creature came calling.

All the best, and see you next December,

Ugly Santa

The Christmas creature family is growing! Joining Ugly Santa this year were these “Naughty Snowmen” who canvassed the Billings area.

PS: Just because the Christmas Creatures are taking their long winter’s nap doesn’t mean you can’t donate to LIFTT! Find out how at https://liftt.org/get-involved/donate-support.

Editors Note: The whole team at LIFTT is indeed grateful to those businesses and individuals in the Glendive and Billings Areas who participated in the “Christmas Creature” fundraisers. Check back in the coming days for a complete list of donors!

Mountain Made K9 and LIFTT to work on Service Dog Projects

Mountain Made K9 and Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) have signed an agreement to work together to provide LIFTT consumers and the community with resources and education relating to service dogs.

As defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service dog is “a dog that is trained to perform tasks or do work for a person with a disability.” Under the ADA, such dogs are allowed to accompany the person they are trained to assist in all areas that members of the public are permitted to go. Among the tasks that service dogs routinely perform include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack.

Under the terms of the agreement between LIFTT and Mountain Made K9, consumers who work with LIFTT to apply for outside grant funding for service dog training will be referred to Mountain Made, who will determine the type and duration of training that may be required for both the dog and handler and if grant funds are awarded, provide the needed training.

“Although not appropriate for every person or situation, a trained service dog can be a great assistance to a person with a disability in being able to achieve and maintain their independence both at home and in the community. We thank Mountain Made K9 for agreeing to work with us on this project to assist the consumers and communities we serve by providing their high-quality consultative and training services,” said LIFTT executive director Carlos Ramalho.

About Mountain Made K9 (MMK9): MMK9 is a privately owned dog training company based out of Billings, Montana. MMK9 trains pets and working service dogs, police k9s, protection dogs, scent detection k9s, and search and rescue dogs. MMK9 aims to produce high-performance dogs by providing the highest quality dog training possible.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

LIFTT Board of Directors will meet January 15

The Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) board of directors will meet on Monday, January 15, beginning at 4 p.m. The meeting will be conducted virtually using the Zoom platform. The public is invited to attend and offer comments during the public comment period.

Click here to view or download the meeting agenda and Zoom information for the January 15, 2024, LIFTT board of directors meeting. (Adobe PDF)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Happy Holidays from LIFTT!

Happy Holidays from all of us at LIFTT! So that our team members may celebrate with family and friends, LIFTT’s offices in Billings and Glendive will be closed on Christmas Day (Monday 12/25) and New Year’s Day (Monday 01/01/2024). We will be open Tuesday, December 26- Thursday, December 28, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Friday, December 30, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can contact LIFTT at any time at (406) 259-5181 (Billings), (406) 948-8500 (Glendive), and through our contact page.

Interested in supporting LIFTT as part of your year-end charitable contributions? You can do so through our website: https://liftt.org/get-involved/donate-support/ or contact Executive Director Carlos Ramalho at (406) 294-5190 or carlosr@liftt.org.

Again, Happy Holidays from LIFTT. May the season bring you tidings of comfort and joy, and we look forward to serving you in 2024!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. Please visit liftt.org or download our Apple or Google Play mobile app for more information.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Otto Bremer Trust continues supporting LIFTT

Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) is pleased to announce a grant received from the Otto Bremer Trust in the amount of $60,000.00 to support LIFTT’s ongoing operations.

The award is LIFTT’s second in recent years from the St. Paul Minnesota-based foundation. Since its founding in 1944, the Otto Bremer Trust has been committed to “investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.”

“LIFTT is very grateful to the Otto Bremer Trust for showing confidence in our stewardship of their funds by awarding us this additional grant; said LIFTT executive director Carlos Ramalho. “These dollars come at an important time for our organization as we continue to look towards an exciting future of expanding programs and services for and with the disabled community of southeastern and south-central Montana.”

If you are interested in donating to LIFTT’s work, you can do that through https://liftt.org/get-involved/donate-support/ or contact Executive Director Carlos Ramalho at (406) 294-5190 or carlosr@liftt.org.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. Please visit liftt.org or download our Apple or Google Play mobile app for more information.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Donate your myWalgreens rewards to LIFTT until 12/31

We are participating in the myWalgreens donation program! You can donate your myWalgreens rewards to LIFTT through December 31, 2023. When you register for myWalgreens rewards and shop at your neighborhood (or any) Walgreens, you’ll earn unlimited 1% Walgreens Cash rewards when you shop, and you can go online and choose how much to donate to LIFTT. It’s that easy!

Whether you’d like to contribute $1, $5, or more of your Walgreens Cash rewards, you’ll make a big difference as we provide programs and services by and for people with disabilities across southeastern & southcentral Montana. To donate your MyWalgreens rewards to LIFTT or for more information about the myWalgreens donation program, visit: walgreens.com/mywalgreens/donation.jsp. Thank you from all of us at LIFTT!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

September/October LIFTT Connection Newsletter Now Avaliable

The September/October edition of the LIFTT Connection Newsletter is now available!

Click here to download it (Adobe PDF)

In this issue of the LIFTT Connection:

You can request that we email you an electronic copy or mail you a paper copy by sending your name and address to jedb@liftt.org. Also, look for articles from the newsletter to be posted on liftt.org and our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn feeds.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

From September 15 to October 15, 2023, LIFTT joins the nation in celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month! The Hispanic community includes people who came to the US from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing racial and ethnic minority in the US and Montana. Hispanic Americans are over 63 million in the US and 50,000 in Montana.

LIFTT is proud to be an organization committed to diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility, and that includes our Hispanic neighbors. We acknowledge the importance of their contribution and their remarkable work ethics. Latino/Latina consumers will always be welcome at LIFTT. If being Latino/Latina is one of your identities, you have a disability, and you live in our service area, please allow us to serve you. At LIFTT, you will not experience racial, ethnic, or anti-immigrant prejudice. We will remove any language barriers by providing you with a translator and literature in Spanish. At LIFTT, there are no legal or illegal persons or any other form of discrimination. All are welcome to receive independent living services from our specialists.

LIFTT dará la bienvenida a todos los latinos y latinas que busquen los servicios gratuitos de vida independiente que brindamos. ¡Ven a vernos!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Director’s Corner: Vaccines are important health tools

Vaccines are important health tools!

Thanks to the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC) grant, which is an USAging initiative funded by the US Administration for Community Living (ACL), LIFTT has been able to promote and provide vaccines in the eighteen counties of its service area in association with county health departments, Pharm406, and other partners.

We want you to know that LIFTT is offering the updated COVID-19, flu, and RSV vaccines to our aging and disabled consumers.

There is a permanent clinic in Yellowstone County, at the Pharm406 located at 1410 38th St W STE A, Billings, MT 59102, telephone (406) 717-6100. You can walk in or call to schedule an appointment. If you need assistance planning the vaccine or transportation to the vaccine clinic, LIFTT is here to help you.

LIFTT and our partners will be offering the new COVID-19 vaccine in all counties of LIFTT’s service area according to the chronological calendar found on the next page of this newsletter.

Health specialists say we all should get an updated COVID-19 vaccine annually, especially those of us aging and disabled, whose immune system is compromised. By getting an immunization, we protect ourselves against the devastating effects of COVID-19 and other seasonal infections like the flu and RSV, as well as our families, neighbors, and the community. Please note that you can still be vaccinated even if you have not done it before.

Again, the COVID-19, flu, and RSV vaccines will be available in the locations listed in the schedule on the next page. Please take a moment to look at it, find your county, mark the date of the clinic, and plan to attend with all your family.

Click here to see a map and schedule of our LIFTT ADVC Vaccine Clinics (Adobe PDF)

There is no cost for the vaccines regardless of insurance status through the recently approved Bridge Access Program launched by the CDC on September 14, 2023.

The COVID-19, the flu, and RSV vaccines decrease the chances of you and your family getting sick and stop the spread of these seasonal infections. Those who are aging, disabled, and live with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to infections must seriously consider getting the vaccine because COVID-19 can become what is known as Long COVID, a deadly and debilitating disease.

In summary:

Vaccines are important health tools
Consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine every year
Consider getting the Flu and RSV vaccines every year.
LIFTT and Pham406 are making the vaccines available throughout Southeastern and South Central Montana in the coming weeks.
Please look at the calendar and map on the following pages to find the vaccine clinic closer to you.
Anyone can receive these vaccines simultaneously.
Do not get the vaccines if you are sick.
Contact LIFTT to receive free COVID-19 test kits.

We hope to see you in one of the vaccine clinics!