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VOR is the only national organization advocating for a full range of
residential and support options for people with mental retardation,
including Medicaid-certified Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally
Retarded (ICFs/MR) and home and community-based care. VOR supports choice.
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VOR Weekly E-Mail Update
November 3, 2006
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1. VOTE ON NOVEMBER 7!! Voting/Election Resources
2. Missouri: Panel wants more oversight of state-run homes
3. California: Lawmaker claims quotas for moving disabled exist
4. Nebraska: Put heads together for best mental-health solutions
5. Texas: State settles with advocacy group on services for people with
disabilities
6. CAST YOUR VOTE IN SUPPORT OF VOR . . . with a contribution today. See
membership/contribution form at the end of this update. THANK YOU!!
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1. VOTE ON NOVEMBER 7!! Voting/Election Resources
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Source: United Cerebral Palsy
League of Women Voters: http://www.VOTE411.org, is an easy-to-use,
nonpartisan national Web site that provides essential information for
voters on the upcoming elections. The information is state-by-state,
organized by zip code, and covers every aspect of voting as well as local
races and ballot measures.
The nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition has launched its national
866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) voter assistance hotline and a poll location web
site, http://www.MyPollingPlace.com. Trained volunteers will staff the
Hotline, providing immediate, state-specific assistance to callers on
issues such as disability rights and
access, voter identification requirements, voting machine malfunctions,
problems at the polling place and voter intimidation.
Call the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Hotline at 800-253-3931 before, on
or after election day to report any problems voters with disabilities
experience during the voting process. http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting will
serve as a place to post voter problems or complaints. Additionally, DOJ
has a comprehensive voting
place accessibility checklist at
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/votingchecklist.htm.
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2. Missouri: Panel wants more oversight of state-run homes
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Thursday, October 26, 2006
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A state government task force has released a draft report
of 20 ways to better protect Missouris mentally disabled residents in state
and private homes.
The Missouri Mental Health Task Force's draft report yesterday recommends
stricter laws, more oversight and less secrecy to ensure their safety.
The group's chairman, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, said the final report will be
voted on Nov. 6 and will include "a comprehensive list of needed reforms
that reflect the best practices in other states."
The final report will go to Gov. Matt Blunt, who formed the task force in
June in response to a St. Louis Post- Dispatch investigation that found
failures in a system that was supposed to ensure proper investigations of
suspected mistreatment of the 11,000 mentally retarded and mentally ill
residents in full-time care overseen by the state.
The investigation revealed 21 deaths, 323 injuries and almost 2,000 other
incidents tied to abuse or neglect by caregivers from 2000 through 2005. It
also revealed that the state didn't follow its policies and state law in
response.
The task force immediately ordered state agencies to help the Department of
Mental Health do internal investigations, and it required the department to
notify the State Highway Patrol of any deaths or alleged assaults.
The state has hired more investigators to reduce a backlog of cases.
Among the task force recommendations:
* Tougher criminal penalties for abusers
* Fewer, but more focused, internal reviews
* Outside reviews of state-run centers
* Fines for poorly run private facilities
* More training and pay for caregivers
The draft report also calls for a toll-free phone number for reporting
suspected abuse and for the public to have access to completed
investigative reports as long as patients' biographical information is not
revealed.
The fate of Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in north St. Louis County
remains unknown. Blunt has said he plans to close it, but he later said he
would reconsider it if the task force said so.
The draft report doesn't specifically mention Bellefontaine, but it does
say the state should keep open centers for mentally retarded residents so
long as there's a need for them. The report said the state should pursue
outside accreditation for such centers.
The draft report also calls for more reviews by state inspectors and
tougher sanctions for privately run facilities that break the rules.
Private facilities house most residents needing full-time care. State
auditors have found that the state hasn't properly logged abuse in group
homes.
The draft report also suggests the Department of Mental Health follow 23
recommendations made by a separate state body - the Mental Health
Commission - two months ago.
"We need to improve our services every day," the department's interim
director, Ron Dittemore, told the Post-Dispatch.
"And we are working hard to do that."
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3. California: Lawmaker claims quotas for moving disabled exist
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State officials who oversee agencies deny charges
By Michele R. Marcucci
Inside Bay Area
Oakland Tribune
The nonprofit agencies charged with overseeing the care of the
developmentally disabled have illegal quotas for moving them from the state
institutions homes many have known for decades into community care, a
state legislator has charged.
But the state officials responsible for overseeing those agencies denied
the charge.
Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, said she may hold hearings to
further investigate and has asked state Senate President pro tem Don
Perata, D-Oakland, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to get involved.
In a letter, she also threatened state audits and budget sanctions. And she
said she could testify at Terri Delgadillo's confirmation hearing as
interim Department of Developmental Services director if improvements
weren't made.
"I couldn't believe it, because they were denying for months that there
were quotas," Evans said. "The response was, this is standard operating
procedure. Which in and of itself worries me, because I think it is
completely inappropriate and very likely illegal."
But state officials said they've tried their best to explain that what
they're doing is legal, and they said they believe it's Evans who is being
inappropriate.
"I don't think I have encountered such an irresponsible, baseless and
inappropriate set of accusations by a member of the legislature," said Kim
Belshe, state Secretary of Health and Human Services. "I find it
appalling."
In a letter dated Monday, Evans asked them to modify its contract with
North Bay Regional Center in Napa, one of the 21 nonprofits set up to
manage care for developmentally disabled Californians. But they said in
response that the proposed modifications would force them to break the law.
At the center of the controversy is the contract between the state
Department of Developmental Services and North Bay. The contract calls on
the regional center to move eight people from Sonoma Developmental Center
in Eldridge into community care by Jan. 1, 2007. And Evans said she
believes that all the state's regional centers may observe the same
practice.
Evans called the number a quota, and said the regional centers could be
penalized if they don't meet it. And she said it's against the law, because
the regional centers are supposed to develop individual care plans for the
people they serve.
But Belshe and Delgadillo said the numbers are set by the individual
regional centers for budgetary reasons. The regional centers figure out how
many people should be placed in the community from state institutions, and
then ask for funding to facilitate the moves.
They said the process is specifically laid out in state law.
Ellen Goldblatt of Protection and Advocacy Inc., a nonprofit legal advocacy
group that helps people with disabilities, said the state is legally
required to move people from institutions into community care. Her agency
is suing the state for not moving people out of state institutions quickly
enough.
"Protection and Advocacy disagrees that there is any quota system in place.
There are systems of planning and making performance goals so there is
something to plan for," said Goldblatt, who is based in Oakland.
But Evans disputed those assertions. "That's a pretty typical bureaucratic
response," she said. "The contract language is very clear."
North Bay staff did not return a call seeking comment.
Family groups have long suspected the quotas were in place and were being
used to remove their loved ones from state institutions against their will.
And their leaders say they want to see the process stopped.
"(The state) told us to go to the legislators, and it's in their hands now.
Whatever they need to do to fix this, we are behind them," said Mary
O'Riordan, president of the Parent Hospital Association at Sonoma
Developmental Center.
The family of one Sonoma resident, Roy Whitley, was sued by North Bay when
Whitley's sister, Belle Maldonado, challenged the regional center's plan to
move him out of Sonoma and into a community-care home. The suit is pending,
though Delgadillo wrote to Evans that mediation of Whitley's case may be
pursued.
Families whose loved ones live in institutions have said they don't believe
the care available in the community is as good as what they receive in the
state institution.
A recent investigative series by this newspaper detailed lapses in care in
licensed care homes, which provide much of the care available to
developmentally disabled people who live in the community care system. But
state inspection documents also detail problems in the institutions.
And they said their loved ones, many of whom have lived at the state
institutions for decades, call those places home.
Evans said she wants to repair the relationship between people living at
state institutions, their families and the state institution ultimately
responsible for their loved ones' care.
"I desperately want the Department of Developmental Services to repair its
relationship with this community," she said.
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4. Nebraska: Put heads together for best mental-health solutions
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Opinion-Editorial
BY Mary Hepburn O'Shea
Sunday, Oct 22, 2006
Lincoln Journal Star
It is amazing to me that people are always touting community programs as an
answer for everyone. The same claim is made in the mental health system
everyone should be in their own apartment in spite of the fact that those
with serious mental and physical challenges are not safe in their own
apartment.
You need different strokes for different folks, and each situation has to
be evaluated individually. Also, consider the preferences of the people
getting the services.
I have operated community programs for more than 40 years for people with
various physical and mental challenges. I also have experienced having my
profoundly retarded multiply handicapped daughter in a community program
when we could no longer care for her at home. She had her hair pulled out
by the roots, was bruised to the point she had to be taken to the hospital
and could not walk without pain for a couple of weeks. She had to be taken
to the emergency room frequently because of asthma attacks.
There were only three young ladies in the home, and they had 72 different
people taking care of them in one year's time because they had difficulty
keeping staff. It became painfully clear to me that my daughter's need
would be better met at Beatrice State Developmental Center because they had
medical staff on grounds plus a small hospital.
They had physicians, neurologists, dentists, nurses who knew how to
communicate with nonverbal clients, many who are in wheelchairs, have to be
spoon fed and need consistent staff to know what is going on with them.
At BSDC, she has beautiful grounds where she can walk with others and not
fear she is going to break loose and get in front of cars in the community
as she did for me.
The point is that for some people, the institution is the least restrictive
environment. My daughter has more freedom at BSDC than she ever had in the
community. I pick her up for a couple of hours every weekend. She is always
clean, as are all the other people in her cottage of 16 people. If she has
a bruise, they can tell me what happened.
When she was bruised in the community program, staff would not or could not
tell me what happened. Bruises were about equal in both programs, except
severe injuries have not occurred to my daughter at BSDC. She is safe, she
is healthy, and she is happy. There will be accidents and there will be
staff who are not suited to deal with the behaviors that may occur, but
when you have nonverbal adults, it is more likely to be observed by other
staff who can report what is happening.
ARC is to be respected for their good intentions, but please be aware that
the people functioning as advocates in the ARC do not get the whole
picture. They picture institutions as bad, but in fact BSDC is in the
community. They employ many people in Beatrice, and residents go to some of
the community activities. The fact that they need more staff is very
evident, and that needs to be addressed, but to think the community is
better for everyone is simply not true.
Things will happen and do in both community and institutional programs, but
there needs to be a continuum of service that includes some who live in
their own homes or apartments, small group homes, larger group homes.
intermediate and skilled care facilities and institutions. A college campus
is an institution. Nursing homes are institutions in the community.
Retirement centers and assisted living apartments are in fact institutions
where people live for services and friendships with people with similar
needs.
There are ways we could use some of the BSDC more effectively and include
the community, such as a training center for teachers, nurses, physicians,
etc., while they are in college and as a day center for people who do live
in the community, and a vocational center. We have a beautiful large
campus. Let's put it to good use and all work together.
Everyone is so busy trying to address the day-to-day stresses that we don't
take the time to use our creativity constructively. Stop the nonsense and
pull together. Great things can be accomplished that much better serve the
needs of people if we evaluate what we have and realize there is not an
infinite supply of money. We must look at people's needs and put our
facilities to best use. BSDC is a part of the continuum needed.
Mary Hepburn O'Shea is a licensed mental health practitioner and is
provider of community homes for around 300 people in Lincoln with a variety
of mental and developmental handicaps.
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5. Texas: State settles with advocacy group on services for people with
disabilities
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Summary: Pursuant to a settlement between the State and the Arc, State
officials will ask lawmakers for money to reduce waiting lists for
programs that provide at-home services. VOR will be studying the specifics
of this settlement to determine what impact it may have on developmental
center residents.
By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
As part of a lawsuit settlement, state officials will ask for more money to
stop the growth of waiting lists for state services for people with mental
retardation and other disabilities and reduce the number of people on the
lists 5 percent to 10 percent a year.
Advocates say the settlement could lead to as many as 60,000 more people
getting care at home or in group homes, rather than in institutions: those
now on waiting lists plus those who are added to the lists in the next few
years.
"This is a real issue of civil rights for individuals with disabilities,"
said Geoffrey Courtney, general counsel for the Arc of Texas, which is an
advocate for people with mental retardation and developmental
disabilities. "It enables them to live where they want to live."
But state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, a member of the House Human
Services Committee and a supporter of reducing the waiting lists, said the
settlement might not mean the issue is resolved.
"I'm hopeful that the leadership in the Legislature will do the right
thing, but I'm not convinced that it will happen," he said.
If it doesn't, Naishtat said, he expects advocates to file another lawsuit.
Ted Hughes, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission,
said his agency has "long been concerned about the (waiting) lists as is
evidenced by our ongoing efforts to reduce, and eventually eliminate,
them."
The settlement involves a 2002 lawsuit by the Arc of Texas that said the
state violated federal law granting options to people with mental
retardation and other disabilities to remain at home or in group homes.
The lawsuit involved two programs that provide home-based nursing care,
physical therapy, respite care and other services for people with
disabilities. There were about 15,000 people on the waiting lists for those
programs when the lawsuit was filed in 2002. There are now about 45,000.
"This is an issue that could potentially bring tremendous benefit to
thousands of families across the state," said Mike Bright, executive
director of the Arc of Texas. "Families can have hope that the state of
Texas is going to be responding to a critical need as a result of this
settlement."
But the people won't get the services if the Legislature, which convenes in
January, doesn't approve $254.7 million in state dollars, which will be
requested by the Health and Human Services Commission.
Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was Jamie Travis, whose daughter,
Christy, 27, has severe physical and mental disabilities and requires
around-the-clock supervision. Travis, who lives in West Columbia, near
Houston, spent nine years on a waiting list for the state program that
provides the services.
Now, she has a chance to take a break from full-time caregiving and
volunteer at her other children's school.
"It's been pretty awesome," said Travis, whose daughter is one of 12,000
Texans moving off of state waiting lists as part of a plan approved by
legislators in 2005 that is not directly related to the lawsuit.
But 85,000 elderly Texans and those with disabilities are still on waiting
lists for programs that allow them to live at home or in group homes. The
lawsuit aimed to reduce the waiting lists for two of the programs, both of
which involved people with disabilities.
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Tamie Hopp
REFERRAL/MEMBERSHIP/CONTRIBUTION FORM
THREE EASY WAYS TO SUPPORT VOR > REFER, CONTRIBUTE OR JOIN
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
TO JOIN OR CONTRIBUTE: $25 per individual, $150 per family organization, or
$200 per provider/professional organization. Extra donations are welcome!
You may pay by credit card or check.
TO REFER SOMEONE TO VOR: Use the form below, including the additional
sections for referrals.
Mail the completed form (if joining or contributing) with payment to:
Voice of the Retarded
5005 Newport Drive, Suite 108
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
847-253-6054 fax (for referrals or credit card payments)
vor@compuserve.com (for referrals or credit card payments)
FOR REFERRALS: ____ The contact information provided is for someone I
think would consider membership with VOR.
FOR REFERRALS: _____ You may use my name in any correspondence with this
individual. My name is ________________________.
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