Donna Sablan
Director of Appeals & Eligibility
Donna Sablan is a widow with three birth children and five stepchildren. She is CCDC’s Director of Appeals & Eligibility. She came to CCDC in 2000 because she was referred by another agency for help. Donna then started doing advocacy for CCDC in education with a mental health focus for children. She worked with behavioral health organizations, family advisory councils, and CCDC to help people in the community. When funding for the Family Advisory Councils was discontinued, Donna attempted to involve other agencies in children’s mental health issues, but she was met with some resistance. According to Donna, “No one wanted to share and work with the kids as a whole. Kids with multiple disabilities were falling through the cracks because of funding streams.” Donna was determined to help children and continued to work with CCDC and took educational advocacy training through Cerebral Palsy of Colorado, mental health training through Behavioral Healthcare Inc., and Project Bloom for younger children’s mental health.
After training, Donna continued to work with CCDC specifically on education, with a focus on youth. In late 2006, Donna had a significant stroke and had to step back from helping others to take care of herself and do rehab. She still mentored new advocates and took a light caseload. In 2008, Donna had another big stroke and had to have major heart surgery. She came back to CCDC in 2010 where she resumed her caseload and began a job coaching internally within the organization. Since that time, her giving back has grown. Due to a restructuring, Donna became the Director of Appeals & Eligibility. She accomplishes her job with assistance in the areas of writing and organization. Donna is able to contribute because of the community supports she receives so that she can help others to succeed. According to Donna, “You only should take help when you need it and you should always give back when you can.”