Don Schanche wrote a piece on October 14th entitled, "Leaders say Central State closings would harm clients, workers" on the proposed transition of person currently living in Central State to community based supports in the Macon Telegraph.
He writes, "the proposal to close three units of Central State Hospital would cut as many as 500 jobs, throw mentally disabled clients to the mercy of the streets and add to the jail and prison population, a group of state and local leaders said Thursday...The state Department of Human Resources has proposed closing the Craig Nursing Home and the Allen and Freeman buildings in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July. Clients would be moved to "appropriate community settings," according to the proposal. DHR officials say it is more cost-effective and often more appropriate to serve mentally disabled people in their home communities...
The points the article raises include:
- There aren't enough community supports.
- These persons will end up in our state's jails.
- Closing these facilities will be economically devastating for Milledgeville.
- No one else wants to serve these individuals.
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8 comments:
Dave:
The profound level cannot live successfully in the community. Ask me.
The reasons given by Dr. Shanche in your article are flimsy at best. After all these years of disability decisions by our federal government, the state of Georgia still doesn\'t get it. These people are segregated through no fault of their own and are discriminated against. If they are released to their communities, those communities will provide appropriate housing and supervision. Try it!
Saralyn
http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/12934922.htm
Group homes
We are in great need in the Northeast Georgia mountain area for community support and group homes. We do not need our handicapped family members in institutions. We need to have our family member in an integrated setting.
My son is developmentally challenged and I am sure that he would like to live in a group home with others like himself.
Sherrie Cramer
Demorest
http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/12926598.htm
Close institutions
My first experience visiting a state-run institution happened during an assignment for my Partners in Policymaking class some 6 or 7 years ago. Yes, this place looked clean, in a rural environment, well landscaped, but the people in the place were doing little to nothing. It was a warehouse. People need to be able to live in the community.
Those now living in the institution will need supports (hence those 500 people can have other jobs). People need choices. I have a 16-year-old daughter. We support her in three part-time jobs. She currently lives at home. Someday we hope she lives in a home of her own or an apartment with a support person. State monies can be used in this way instead of paying for an institutionalized setting.
Don't forget the Olmstead decision. Remember, it happened in Georgia. We need to move forward. Why not look into the 10 states that have closed their state-run institutions and see what creative ways they are using to make things work? Let's start there to do what's right for the dignity of people. I would suggest doing a follow-up article on the pros of closing the institutions after you've investigated other states and have talked to families who have loved ones living in the community.
Sharon O'Prey
Woodstock
http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/12926598.htm
Quality of life
In response to the article concerning the closing of Central State. It boils down to a quality of life issue, and yes, the residents of Central State have the right to the best quality of life they can achieve under the law. This means a transistion to community living.
The community-based support that many of the people residing at Central State need is cost effective. In addition each dollar spent is matched by a federal dollar in Medicaid support or waiver. Lastly many of the employees at Central State will be needed to provide services in the community.
Matthew Muller
Thomson
http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/12926598.htm
Unlock the list
There are over 6,000 people who live in the community on the waiting list for home and community-based services. Georgia needs to continue to address the waiting list for those who want to move out of institutions and nursing homes and for those individuals already living in the community who are waiting for services.
These closures support the decision by the United States Supreme Court when it issued the Olmstead v. L.C. decision on June 22, 1999, holding that unnecessary segregation of individuals in institutions may constitute discrimination based on disability. Allowing people to have the choice of living in the community rather than in a nursing home or an institution, supports the values of freedom, dignity and equal treatment under the law.
The waiting lists needs to be unlocked in order to provide services for all who are waiting.
Rose Allen
Waycross
http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/12926598.htm
Central State closing
The article about Central State speaks about the difficulties to be faced by the residents being released into society. Please conider the benefits to our society and our communities if we address this situation pro-actively.
Every individual has the right to live in the most integrated setting in the community with the supports necessary to be an independent and productive citizen. These income-producing, taxpaying individuals who with the correct supports could be great contributors to our society.
This is not a jobs issue; it is an issue of dignity and equal treatment under the law for those with disabilities. However, for those who work in facilities, those employees will be needed in the community as well. These 500 individuals can be available to enhance the resources available to help individuals gain their independence from institutions.
With assistance, these people can get an opportunity at the life and experiences that they so richly deserve. Please help us to take the steps needed to make this a positve change. It can be accomplished if we are willing to work together.
Lisa Hoff
Lilburn
As a mental health professional who has gone into the nursing units at Central State Hospital and have met the people who reside there (some for greater part of their lives; it's not uncommon to meet folks who have lived in units such as the Craig Nursing Center for 30-40 years), I highly doubt that these are the type of people who will wind up in jails as the Telegraph article suggests. Most of these people are not even ambulatory! Many have cerebral palsy and other crippling conditions that confine them to specially-built wheelchairs. The truth is that the hospital does not want to turn loose of the funding! Most people do not know that it cost 10 TIMES the amount of money to support a person in the hospital than it does in the community.
Millions of dollars per year could be saved and the lives of those incarcerated at the hospitals could be made better by moving dollars to the community so that these people can be supported in private homes and other nursing facilities. Those who cry out that it will fill up our jails to close the Craig Nursing Unit (and others) are merely crying, "Wolf"! No judge is going to put a wheelchair-bound, mentally handicapped person (who requires total care and feeding) in a jail; that's idiocy! What the Macon Telegraph needs to do is go to the source; go see the units that are proposed to be closed!
Bottom line is this: The State of Georgia is failing to comply with the Supreme Court's Olmsted Decision that says that people cannot be segregated or incarcerated because of having a disability. Instead of moving funds from the hospitals to the community, they cry that there are no NEW monies, so people continue to live their lives in institutions merely because they were born with a handicapping condition. It's not right and those making the decisions need to be held responsible and put someone in charge who can get something done!
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