From the Desk of Dr. Stephen Hall

Good people working on behalf of others,

After 25 months of hard daily work, we now have in hand written confirmation that CMS, Federal Medicaid, has approved Georgia's New DD Waivers. These new waivers, the first significant change in waiver services for persons with developmental disabilities in Georgia history, promise increased self-detemination and customer control of resources. Similar waivers implemented in other states have resulted in increased providers, higher quality services, and efficiencies not atainable with the old waivers.

I want to thank Mark Trail, Judy Hageback, and their great staff at DCH for the hard work they have done to help make this happen. While there is plenty of work ahead for us to do together, this is definitely a great new beginning.

While many will attempt to give me a lot of the credit for bringing modern new waivers to Georgia, that is simply not where credit is due. Instead, credit must be given to people with disabilities themselves and their families and those who advocate on their behalf for their tireless commitment and support to make these long needed changes a reality. Many staff in the Office of DD and the Division of MHDDAD deserve some credit, among the DD Office staff certainly Dr. Darlene Meador would top everyone's list as she kept them moving forward when at times they seemed buried in a bog of bureaucracy and history of resistance to change.

But the person who has done the most to make this possible is a woman that most people simply know as L.C. who changed her own life and in the process forever changed Georgia and a nation in its care and treatment of citizens with developmental disabilities in L.C. v. Olmstead before the United States Supreme Court. Everyone of us doing good work in Georgia stand on the shoulders of this great woman.

Respectfully yours,

Steve Hall
Director Georgia Office of Developmental Disabilities
September 17, 2007