2019 Q2 Newsletter

NADR Networking Weekend October 24-27 The Linq Las Vegas, NV

SECOND QUARTER 2019

IN THIS ISSUE:

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A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT: PHILIP LITTERAL

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CONFERENCE WRAP UP: EVA SIRMAN

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PAC UPDATE

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MEMBER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT: EARLINE D. MARCHAND

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TUTORIAL: NADR.ORG SHORTCUT

12 AL GONZALEZ AWARD RECIPIENT: KARL OSTERHOUT 13 DEB DOXEY: A NEW ADDITION TO THE TEAM

NADR NEWSLETTER SECOND QUARTER 2019

IN THIS ISSUE 3 A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT: PHILIP LITTERAL 4 CONFERENCE WRAP UP: EVA SIRMAN 6 PAC UPDATE 7 MEMBER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT: EARLINE D. MARCHAND

CONTENTS

9 TUTORIAL: NADR.ORG SHORTCUT 12 AL GONZALEZ AWARD RECIPIENT: KARL OSTERHOUT 13 DEB DOXEY: A NEW ADDITION TO THE TEAM

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT June 6, 2019

“Don’t confront me with my failures. I am aware of them” Jackson Browne

vulnerable and entitled of our society? We can dwell on the shortfalls or celebrate our accomplishments and possibilities. Our various training vehicles have attained stellar performance. Conferences, webinars, CEU’s, NADRguides, Study Sessions – if you aren’t accessing some of these, I’d bet you are missing out on some growth opportunities. Legislatively we’ve been frantically clinging to our seat on the roller coaster. But Jeanne Morin, our Public Policy Advisor, keeps us on the ride with our eyes open. It’s hard to imagine not jumping the tracks without her unwavering dedication and hard work. We’ve struggled in our relationship with SSA – the pendulum has been stuck in a wide arc away from what we perceive as our collective interests.

But SSA finally has a confirmed Commissioner now, and we look forward to carrying our (your) message to a fresh and newly directed audience.

This is my last opportunity to talk to you all in this format from my current position. If eight years on the NADR Board is a blur, two years as President are but a blink.

Two and a half years ago I was asked by one of my NADR heroes what my “agenda” would be if I were elected president. I was secretly taken aback by the question, as I hadn’t really thought of what I might want to accomplish. No worries. I quickly learned that one doesn’t “run” NADR, but rather is run by NADR. Whatever you think you will endeavor is not very close to what you find yourself working on. The challenges of representing you, as you represent your clients, are multiple and ever shifting. I look back at my floundering about with the same smile my Uncle Ray used to describe frantic and futile efforts – “like a blind man beatin’ a mule!”

Some unfinished business I hope to continue pressing during the waning weeks of my term: Bring more of you with me, more often, in our - Phone2Action campaigns, where you get to use our system to contact your elected representatives directly on issues that matter to us.

Convince you even more of the importance of - our SSA Problem Report tool (and make it easier for you to use), so that we can take your problems directly to Mr. Saul and his staff for remedy.

Increase the functionality and simplicity of our - website and forum (Talklist), including mobile-friendly access to all material and “app-like” posts and searches.

Thus, my soaring respect for those who labored before me. The likes of Cowan, Shaw, Kaufman, Morois, Whitaker, Cardillo, McDowell and Skinner, we will never see again. Without them this organization would not exist, and/or would have crashed and burned many years ago. John Bishop showed me the truth – a NADR Board Member is but a servant to the Membership.

Period. Therefore, my charge to the Board––“Be NADR.” I appreciate every single past and current Board Member and NADR volunteer, and we would certainly be rudderless without Eva Sirman and her team.

There are more, but as I said, I’ll probably end up dedicating my remaining time to issues I never saw coming, right Uncle Ray?

So where does that leave us as an organization? And you as a Member? And your clients as the most NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT continued I realized recently that nine of my ten best friends are NADRites. A sad commentary on a man’s social sphere? No. Rather a testimony to the outstanding,

supportive, dedicated, and (most of all) FUN peers of NADR. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.

Philip B. Litteral NADR President

CONFERENCE WRAP UP EVA SIRMAN Being from Texas, I always enjoy when NADR conferences are away – it gives me a chance to travel and see new places – but I have to say, there was something special about our conference this year in San Antonio, just a few hours down the road from home. Staying right on the Riverwalk was a treat! There were so many great walkable restaurants and shops with the Riverboat Tours accessible around every bend. Great Mexican food and drinks and the hospitality at the hotel was wonderful too! Above all this, I think the thing that stood out to me the most this year was the feeling of family. As we look back over the last nineteen years, that’s really what we are – a big extended family! So many of us are connected not just by

what we do for work, but by a kindred spirit. And as we remembered our past this year, and where we have been, it is amazing to me that so many of us are still here, still serving people, still fighting the good fight. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ve included a bunch for those of you who couldn’t be with us this year. As we look to our future (AKA Puerto Rico!) please mark your calendars for our 20th Anniversary Conference at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar in Puerto Rico, April 4th –8th. Book early and extend your stay on the front or back end of your trip and experience all that this island gem has to offer.

NADR Conference Attendees in the General Session

Conference attendees collaborate during the Representative Round Tables

NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

NADR CONFERENCE WRAP UP

(CONTINUED)

2019 Member of the Year Earline Marchand

San Antonio Market

Several Past Presidents of NADR met for lunch at La Margarita on the Riverwalk Back Row from Left: Current NADR President Philip Litteral, Past President and Current Legislative Chair Scot Whitaker; Front Row from Left: Past President Arthur Kaufman, NADR’s First President Dale Cowan, Past President Chris Marois NADR NEWS

Dave Chermol - need I say more?

Melissa Smith, NADR Director at Large and Networking Day Coordinator, mans the USO Book Donation desk where members of NADR donated books to the San Antonio USO 5

SECOND QUARTER 2019

PAC UPDATE

As our Political Action Committee Co-Chair, I along with Marilyn Hamilton, Art Kaufman, and Bob McDowell have the privilege of hounding our NADR members to contribute to our Political Action Committee (PAC). If you were at our amazing conference in San Antonio, you may have seen me eagerly looking for Credit Cards to swipe. To those of you who contributed for the first time: Thank You. To those of you who are repeat contributors or sustaining contributors: Thank You. For the month of April, we collected contributions over $7,000.00. THANK YOU!

should be taken for granted.

While Direct Pay is here today, it is up to us to fight for the future. I contribute to the NADR PAC because of how grateful I am every time I receive a direct deposit from SSA. It is our duty as members of this wonderful organization that continues to fight on our behalf to contribute to our PAC. We must continue to educate our lawmakers about the valuable work we do to protect our nation’s most vulnerable.

To contribute, please visit: https://bit.ly/2MfGlgN. All contributions are happily accepted and sincerely appreciated. Thank you for being an integral part of NADR and all the great work we do.

As a refresher, the NADR PAC is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to supporting candidates for federal office who advance policies to protect and preserve Social Security disability programs and the role of non-attorney representatives in the disability-determination process. NADR members are eligible by law to voluntarily participate in our PAC. A very short time ago, non-attorneys were not eligible for Direct Pay. Listening to the Past Presidents of NADR at our Conference reconfirmed to me that we must continue to fight and persevere. Nothing in our field

NADR NEWS

Cliff Berkley, NADR Director at Large

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

MEMBER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT EARLINE MARCHAND I am a proud member of the NADR organization.

After retiring from Social Security in 2009, I thought I would never work again. Thought I’d get to travel the world, relax, enjoy my family and sit around and drink my “Old Grand Dad” (head of the Bourbon family) and Coke. But that didn’t quite happen. A good friend of mine, an attorney, was extremely ill and asked me to assist her in handling her Social Security work that had been neglected for some time because of her illness. This was in 2010, and in 2011, she lost her battle. So much for my R&R days! From then on I worked out her cases and by then everyone in the community thought I was back in the game. So I decided to go into the consulting business. Not knowing anything about how to run a business, I got in touch with the business department at McNeese State University and through the SEED Center in Lake Charles, LA was able to launch my own business.

After succeeding in starting my business, I decided I needed to join an organization that does the kind of work that I do. In searching the internet, I found NADR. When I went to the website, I located the President of NADR, made a call to him and as a result joined NADR. I immediately wanted to sit on the Board or help the organization in whatever way I could, because I believe in being active in whatever organization I join. The President advised me to join a committee first, learn what NADR was all about, and then decide if I wanted to pursue more. He suggested the Membership Committee.

I joined immediately and as of today I continue to sit on the Membership Committee which I enjoy.

This committee gave me the opportunity to help in creating the NADR Mentorship Program Guide.

Through the efforts of a great subcommittee, which consisted of other very respected and knowledgeable NADR members and me, the Board NADR NEWS

of Directors approved and accepted the guide we worked so diligently on and acted to implement the Mentorship Program. Today, I am proud to say the program is working well and is ready to accept more Mentors and Mentees.

Over the years as a NADR member, I have met some of the most intelligent, kind, fun and wonderful people I have ever known. NADR has given me this opportunity. By attending the Networking Weekends, being a member of the Membership Committee, and attending our National Conferences, I am so happy I made the decision to join this great organization and am proud to be a member. I am looking forward to seeing my colleagues at our Las Vegas Networking Weekend in October 2019 and our Puerto Rico Conference in 2020.

NADR provides me with the opportunity to voice my opinion to SSA when I am not satisfied with the way they performed their job on a case. NADR gives me the opportunity to advertise my business through the TRS effort. NADR provides me with a Weekly Newsletter that keeps me abreast of what’s happening in our organization. NADR assisted in preparing me for the direct pay exam. NADR allows me to write my congressional delegates and voice my opinion in the easiest way possible - by writing the letters for me, so all I must do is sign my name. NADR concentrates on the education of its members and makes sure our ethics and other continuing education courses are done timely. NADR provides me with so much more as a member and without the support of NADR I certainly would not be as confident in this business as I am today. NADR is extremely important to me and certainly means a lot to me and that’s why I am proud to be a part of this fantastic organization.

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

MEMBER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT EARLINE MARCHAND continued Attorneys and Non-attorney representatives represent clients and keep abreast of the latest changes in the Social Security laws.

Earline D. Marchand is the sole owner of Marchand Disability Consulting, LLC

• Earline is a retired Social Security manager with over 39 years of experience with the Social Security Administration (SSA). She started her career with SSA as a student worker while attending McNeese State University.

• Earline is a member in good standing with the Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce since starting her business. She is a board member of the SWLA Sickle Cell Anemia, Inc., Small Business Majority, and many other local organizations.

• She has served the public well beyond her Social Security years by opening her own consulting business. In August 2013 she was accepted into the Southwest Louisiana Entrepreneurial and Economic Development Center (SEED Center) as an incubator and underwent extensive training as a new business owner under the direction of the Southwest Louisiana Alliance and later graduated.

• For the past two years, her business was one of fifty (50) businesses in the country selected and invited to attend the White House conference as a member of the Small Business Majority, where she and the other businesses met with congressional staff members on issues pertaining to small businesses.

• Earline joined the Stine Financial Group as a team member where she provides her Social Security and Medicare expertise to their clients. In addition, she teaches educational classes in the area of Social Security and Medicare to the Lake Charles community and surrounding areas.

Administration, Earline received numerous awards and recognition for her outstanding public information provided to the community.

• Her business specializes in handling Social

• Earline is the mother of four children and resides

Security/ Supplemental Security Income Appeals involving disability claims denied by the Disability Determinations Services. She also takes Retirement and Medicare claims.

in Lake Charles with her husband, Kenneth.

• While employed by the Social Security

V Earline can be reached at (337) 480-3853. Her business is located at 200 Ryan Street, Suite 200 in downtown Lake Charles, Louisiana 70601.

• Her business represents former National Football League (NFL) players who apply for SSA disability benefits and once approved, she aids them in applying for their NFL Permanent and Total benefits with the NFL.

• Earline is an Accredited Disability Representative (ADR) of the National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR) where she and other NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

ADDING NADR.ORG AS A SHORTCUT ON YOUR PHONE Adding NADR.org as a Shortcut on Your Phone Did you know our website is mobile-friendly? You can access the Talklist Forum, resource pages and more on the go!

We suggest saving the website as a shortcut on your phone’s home screen. Here’s how:

IPhone

2. Select “Add to Home Screen” and edit the title to NADR

1. Open your phone’s web browser (Safari, Chrome, etc) and go to www.nadr.org. At the bottom toolbar, click the box with up arrow.

3. Now you will have an icon on your phone that takes you directly to www.nadr.org. Click it and look for “sign in” at the top blue tool bar of the website. Sign in like you normally do and click “remember me” for easier future access. You can access the resources, and other website features and even go straight to the Talklist Forum since you are already signed in!

Did you know our website is mobile-friendly? You can access the Talklist Forum, resource pages and more on the go!

We suggest saving the website as a shortcut on your phone’s home screen. Here’s how:

Android 1. Open your phone’s web browser (Google, Chrome, etc) and go to www.nadr.org. In the upper right hand corner click on the three stacked dots.

NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

ADDING NADR.ORG AS A SHORTCUT ON YOUR PHONE 2. Select “Add to Home Screen”

3. Rename the title of the icon to "NADR"

3. Now you will have an icon on your phone that takes you directly to www.nadr.org. Click it and

look for “sign in” at the top blue tool bar of the website.

Sign in like you normally do and click “remember me” for easier future access.Since you are already signed in, you can go straight to the Talklist Forum without signing in again!

NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

Social Security Disability Claim Denied?   

NADR NEWS

DAVID F. CHERMOL, ESQ.

FREE CASE EVALUATION

Quality Representation Your Clients Deserve!

Nationwide Federal Court Appeals Effortless Disability Claims Review Most Importantly… STRONG WIN RATE!

888‐774‐PAID (7243) fdc@ssihelp.us www.myphiladelphiadisabilitylawyer.com

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

KARL OSTERHOUT AL GONZALEZ AWARD RECIPIENT Why is NADR so important to me:

of his long relationships with numerous NADR members who have entrusted him with these important cases where their clients have been wrongly denied benefits. Finally, OBL also represents claimants who have been denied short and long term disability benefits, either through privately purchased insurance policies or, more often, through insurance plans offered at our clients’ place of employment. This department is ably and aggressively managed by Erik Berger, his other law partner.

I am not a “joiner” by nature and, in fact, I did not initially began coming to NADR conferences with the idea that I would end up being part of it to the extent that I have. Originally, I came because someone asked me to come and do a presentation.

Honestly, I don’t remember meeting anyone the first few years that I was asked to present. However, one night at the Washington DC conference (and very much unlike me), I wandered in and made an effort to talk to someone. As it turns out, that someone was Phil Litteral. Which led to Joe Litteral.

And Art Kaufman, and Chris Marois. And Julie Phelps. Etc. Etc. And I was in love…

Karl is also the partner responsible for the creation of and general management of the federal appeals department, but for the most part day-to-day operations and planning are the responsibility of Hannalore Merritt, Managing Associate, who has ably managed the 30% growth of this department in the past 2 ½ years. In 2017 and 2018 OBL obtained new hearings because of successfully handled federal court cases for approximately 550 improperly denied Social Security claimants. The federal appeals department’s exclusive emphasis is on focused, intelligent representation of Social Security claimants in federal courts, and on maintaining excellent customer service for those attorneys and non-attorney representatives who honor us with their trust and refer their clients’ cases to us. As part of that commitment to value for referral sources, Karl frequently travels to referral sources’ offices to provide free training, particularly regarding vocational issues. He recently added the service of providing vocational memoranda and vocational reports, as needed, to federal court referral partners to assist them in resisting bad vocational testimony and creating winning issues for federal court cases.

Maybe it was just personal timing for me, maybe the perilous times Social Security practitioners live in these days, probably both. But, for whatever reason, I was really ready to be surrounded by incredibly competent, compassionate, smart and funny people who shared my commitment to our work and our clients, folks whose basic human dignity have been threatened by their inability to provide for themselves. And who, on top of that, have to hear the scorn heaped toward them by people who don’t understand, or even want to try to understand, what or who they are talking about.

Maybe partly because NADR members have such varying backgrounds, there is in my experience a connection between our members and their clients that is very real, and very inspiring to me personally. It’s personal for us. Not to mention how nice it is to be able to pick the brains of former DDS employees, vocational experts, people from medical fields, etc.! I am deeply honored and proud to work professionally with many NADR members, but also to count many of them as close personal friends. In short, NADR is home.

This year will be the ninth consecutive year Karl has presented at NADR, and he also serves on the Legislative Committee. He was honored to be named NADR’s Member of the Year in 2017.

In addition to presenting to referral sources, as above, he is also a frequent speaker in Bar Association programs and in local presentations to social service organizations and other caregiver organizations. He lives in Oakmont (three blocks away from his office) with Lindsay, and sons Rocco and Vincent.

Karl is the managing partner of Osterhout Berger Disability Law, with offices in Oakmont, PA (Pittsburgh area), and Jacksonville FLA. OBL has active administrative level practices in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, generally, as well as throughout Florida and southern Georgia, managed by Lindsay Osterhout, his wife. OBL also has a department comprised of five full-time staff and seven attorneys who represent Social Security claimants in federal courts across the USA in appeals of the unfavorable decisions of Social Security ALJs; Karl is deeply appreciative NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

DEB DOXEY A NEW ADDITION TO THE TEAM that there was a change. Our hope is that the operations of the organization continue to be seamless and you have an additional resource in Deb. Please help us welcome Deb to the NADR family and if you will be with us in Las Vegas for Networking Weekend, introduce yourself to her. As you know NADR is like my third child, so I promise you will still be a good hands.

For those of you who came to San Antonio, you likely had a chance to meet Deb Doxey. Deb is new to my team and will now serve as the day-to-day point of contact for NADR. She will be the person behind the admin@nadr.org email address and will be one of the people answering the NADR phone line. I met Deb through a friend/colleague in the Association Management industry who understands my business model and thought his sister would be a great fit should I ever need help. When I met Deb in person, I was impressed with her demeanor and admission that she is “task oriented”. If you know me, you know I’m a “10,000-foot view” kind of girl and I desperately need people on my team that are task oriented and can operate in the weeds. Deb and her husband Steve live in New Braunfels, TX and share two sons Jakob and Nicholas who are both in college.

Julie, Jane, Deb and I have been working together since January and you probably didn’t even notice

NADR NEWS

Eva Sirman, CAE NADR Association Manager

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

nADr MentorInG GUIDe (For Mento r

s and Ment

ees)

Board of Director s 2014-2015 President Robert McDowell Elizabethtown, KY Vice President Steve Skinner Redding, CA

Mentor Guide Sub-Committee, Earline

Secretary Philip Litteral Ashland, KY

Marchand, and the following folks on her

Treasurer Michael Wener Memphis, TN

Committee for their hard work on the production of the NADR Mentoring Guide.

Directors-at-Large Karen Starr Grand Rapids, MI Greg Cates Memphis, TN

Please consider signing uptio as a Mentor or a NADR Na

Patty Sexton Wauna, WA

Mentee after

Barbara Manna Pittsburgh, PA

nal Office PO Box 96503 #3 0550 Washithrough reading the guidelines. ngton, DC 2009 0-6503

We are hopeful that this will be another

NADR National Offi ce Administrators Eva Sirman 202-822-2155 eva@nadr.org Julie Phelps 202-822-2155 admin@nadr.or g

NADR PO Box 96503 Washington, DC 20090-6503 Phone: (202) 822 -2155 Fax (972) 245-67 01 Web Site: www.n adr.org

NADR NEWS

NADR would like to thank the chair of the

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invalualbe NADR member benefit.

Mentor Guide Sub-Committee Earline D. Marchand Carol Balderee Sherrell Rodgers Steven Gragg Brandy Bowdry Dedra Wood SECOND QUARTER 2019

NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019

a Sirman 2-822-2155 a@nadr.org

lie Phelps 2-822-2155 min@nadr.org

ADR

Box 96503 ashington, DC 20090-6503 one: (202) 822-2155 x (972) 245-6701 eb Site: www.nadr.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2018 - 2019

President Philip Litteral, ADR Ashland, KY

Vice President C. Greg Cates, EdD., ADR Memphis, TN

Secretary Karen Skinner, ADR Redding, CA

Treasurer Christopher Mazzulli, ADR Baltimore, MD

Director At Large Clifford Berkley, ADR Fullerton, CA

Director At Large Marilyn Hamilton, Esq. Atlanta, GA

Director At Large Michael Wener, ADR Memphis, TN

Director At Large Kelly Blad, ADR Cook, MN

Director At Large Melissa Smith, ADR St. Louis, MO

NADR News is published by NADR and is the property of the National Association of Disability Representatives. Copyright 2016, NADR. The articles appearing in the NADR News do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NADR. The accuracy and content of each article is the responsibility of the individual writer.

NADR NEWS

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SECOND QUARTER 2019