Urgent Action Alert!

HB 984 needs your attention today
Please make phone calls and/or send emails by end of business day Monday!

HB 984 has already passed unanimously in the House and is in committee in the Senate today. If passed, this bill could open up the possibility of campuses that only serve children with disabilities to pop up across the state. As Partners and Voices graduates, we need to make it clear that the best place to serve individuals is in their home with adequate supports. Legislators need to hear the other side of this issue. Please educate legislators by sending an email or calling by 5:00pm on Monday.

Thank you!

HB 984 is intended to create a “transitional” nursing facility to which children who are medically fragile will be discharged from a hospital instead of to the child’s home and family with all the medical services they need being provided there. No matter how attractive the buildings or the grounds, or how well-intentioned the staff, it is still an institution. Children need real homes and all the necessary supports to allow them to grow up safe and healthy and with their families.

“Services” are not a place. Hundreds of children who are medically fragile live at home each day with appropriate supports and services in place. No child should need to go to a “transitional” nursing facility in order to receive the medical supports and services that he or she needs to go home. When the focus of our efforts is on the child and ensuring that the child gets what she needs at home, there is no need for “special” places like those created by HB 984.

If you have any questions about HB 984, please contact:
Josh Norris, Georgia Advocacy Office
(404) 885-1234
jnorris@thegao.org

Pat Nobbie, Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities
(404) 805-9741
pnobbie@dhr.state.ga.us

What you can do:
Call or email the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and ask them to oppose HB984. Below is the contact information for members of the Committee. If you would like to read HB 984, go to http://www.legis.state.ga.us/ . In the upper right-hand corner of the site, there is a place to enter the bill number.

Ask your friends, neighbors and co-workers to contact the members of the Committee to voice opposition to HB 984.

Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Chairman, Don Thomas, 54th
Phone:(404) 656-6436
Fax: (404) 651-6767
Email: don.thomas@senate.ga.gov

Vice Chair, Renee Unterman, 45th
Phone: (404) 463-1368
Fax: (404) 651-6768
Email: unterman@bellsouth.net

Secretary, Gregg Goggans, 7th
Phone: (404) 463-5263
Fax: (404) 646-6484
Email: drgg@alltel.net

David Adelman, 42nd
Phone: (404) 463-1376
Fax: (404) 651-7078
Email: david.adelman@senate.ga.gov

Don Balfour, 9th
Phone: (404) 656-0095
Fax: (404) 656-6581
Email: ss9balfour@aol.com

Gloria Butler, 55th
Phone: (404) 656-0075
Fax: (404) 657-9728
Email: gloria.butler@senate.ga.gov

Johnny Grant, 25th
Phone: (404) 656-0082
Fax: (404) 657-3248
Email: sengrant@alltel.net

Lee Hawkins, 49th
Phone: (404) 656-6578
Fax: (404) 463-1381
Email: lee.hawkins@senate.ga.gov

Steve Henson, 41st
Phone: (404) 656-0085
Fax: (404) 651-7078
Email: stevehenson@mindsPhonering.com

Judson Hill, 32nd
Phone: (404) 656-0150
Fax: (404) 463-2535
Email: judson@judsonhill.com

Preston Smith, 52nd
Phone: (404) 656-0034
Fax: (404) 463-4161
Email: preston.smith@senate.ga.gov

Horacena Tate, 38th
Phone: (404) 463-8053
Fax: (404) 463-7783
Email: horacena.tate@senate.ga.gov

John Wiles, 37th
Phone: (404) 657-0406
Fax: (404) 657-0459
Email: john@johnwiles.com

Ex-Officio Members

Joseph Carter, 13th
Phone: (404) 651-7738
Fax: (404) 651-5795
Email: joseph@josephcarter2004.com

Nan Orrock, 36th
Phone: (404) 463-8054
Fax: (404) 657-7853
Email: nan.orrock@senate.ga.gov

David Shafer, 48th
Phone: (404) 656-0048
Fax: (404) 651-6768
Email: david.shafer@senate.ga.gov