Ms Kate Jarvey:

I will give the committee a snippet of background. I am a lifelong philanthropist. It is sort of in my DNA as I hail from the Lilly pharmaceutical family and philanthropy is a strong family tradition so I suppose I am hardwired to be a philanthropist.

I came to live in Ireland in 1997 and was looking for a project that could bring value to lives, prove it was a good way to serve people and eventually provide systems change. Through personal connections I discovered that services for persons with disabilities in Ireland were fragmented and difficult to access. Stress on families was compounded by this fragmented care. That was when my ears pricked up and I thought perhaps there was a project in this area. We hired a research doctor to carry out the preliminary professional needs assessment in which the voice of the stakeholder was honoured and shone through. The project then moved forward in line with what the stakeholders needed and wanted. They told us that, like the rest of us, they do not live in silos and asked that their care not be delivered in silos. They said that their clinical care should not be separated from their health and well-being because that is not how they, I or anyone lives. They have disabilities and complex medical needs demanding clinical care but these are all interwoven into people's health and well-being. That is when the two-generation model came to my attention and I was fortunate to have Ascend take me under its wing and mentor Crann to adapt the two-generation model for disability, and here we are today.