Captiol Update:

Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Human Resources in the GA House met to hear public testimony on the closure of hospitals across the state that serves individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Twenty-two people gave testimony to legislators that lasted several hours. Kudos to Pat Nobbie from Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities for telling legislators that we need 1500 waiver services for DD when there are only 100 in the budget. Also Josh Norris from Georgia Advocacy did a great job in stressing the need for a plan of action on how Georgia needs to support folks coming out of hospitals as well as fielding difficult questions from legislators on issues such as the future of Central State hospital in Milledgeville. Linda Wilson, Partner graduate and AADD Board President also stressed the need for family support services to be funded in the budget to help families keep their loved ones at home or in the community. The common thread in most of the testimonies was the need to build up provider capacity quickly to insure smooth transition from hospital placement to the community, and provide adequate funding to support the Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities infrastructure as they change in culture and the way they provide services to individuals with Mental Health and DD.