Center for Disability Services Cuts 10 Jobs

2010-09-17 17:37:14

ALBANY – The not-for-profit Center for Disability Services is eliminating ten jobs, forcing remaining service coordinators to double their caseload from 25 to as many as 50, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Each consumer will only receive about three yearly visits instead of 12, she said.

“We remain committed to providing the best program possible,” Anne Scheider Costigan said in a statement. “We are doing everything possible to make this a smooth transition."

The Center will attempt to find another position for the affected employees, as it did in 2009 when 50 jobs were eliminated by the termination of daycare and pre-school programs.

Scheinder Costigan blamed the layoffs on a reduction in Medicaid Service Coordination funding mandated by Gov. David Paterson at the height of New York’s fiscal crisis.

For more see http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/services-1278479-albany-center.html.

Attendant Speaks Out on Monroe County Crisis

http://spillingofthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/07/unwarranted-attack-on-health-care.html

Unwarranted Attack on health care

Today I learned from the Monroe County, NY government that I will no longer have a job as of August 1. I am a attendant with the program Consumer directed health care of New York State. The County pulled the contract from 4 "so called" reports of abuse/neglect. They stated 12 cases of abuse or neglect, but found 4.

One case was reported that a young man was left alone, those attendants were fired, case closed. One man who is the director of a committee was not in attendance, seems to me that he may well be the mole that caused the cancerous attack that led to the downfall of the agency. The County never really tried to work out the issues, they just handed us our walking papers.
It seems that politics in New York State have gone from the hand shake, baby cooing to let's see how much mud we can throw at people. It is deplorable that you can't close nursing homes, but you can throw 3 hundred people onto a hot bed of issues that disabled people get all the time; the shaft. The real losers aren't the attendants from Center for Disability Rights, but the consumers who have their aides in place and now have to scramble for a new agency.

The other agencies are like what I used to have to deal with in the assisted living places. They pay jack squat, give no medical insurance, 3 days per year for sick time, and NO VACATION. By the time I make my money most of it has gone to a roof over my head, electric & gas, food, car/car insurance. Not much money left after that for medical or dental. It is hard work to lift, push, pull all day long; but I want to be treated like I matter. The Center for Disability Rights even gave me a bonus for Christmas!!! I was floored, a bonus? I usually get a lousy bottle of wine, but from Emeritus; one year I received NOTHING !!! But, my boss' all received gifts and bonus'. I am the foundation of an agency, I can make or break your agency; so please treat me well and I will try really hard to please you.

Rochester Disability Community Under Attack

The Center for Disability Rights is under attack - Tell Maggie Brooks to Restore the CDPAS Contract by phone and in person!

The Center for Disability Rights is under attack by the Monroe County Executive, Maggie Brooks. Without warning, on July 22nd, CDR received a terse, 5 sentence letter informing us of the contract termination with no explanation included. All of our CDPAS consumers received a letter the same day telling them that the county is terminating its contract with CDR and that they have until just August 1st to choose from one of five for-profit agencies for their Consumer Directed Personal Assistance.

The next day, we received from a friend in the local media, a copy of a three page letter from the County Executive to the media. The letter was filled with blatant falsehoods mixed with misunderstandings of the roles of CDR and the county in the CDPAS program. Here is CDR's letter to Maggie Brooks debunking her allegations against CDR:
http://www.whec.com/whecimages/cdr_letter-to-county.pdf. Videos of consumers refuting the county's charges are here: http://www.youtube.com/user/cdrnys. Share these; make them go viral as meanwhile, Brooks continues to use the media as a buffer to not have to talk with us. Many more documents available on CDR's website at www.cdrnys.org.

Our consumers and their attendants have been thrown into chaos and Ms.
Brooks refuses to talk to them. Nearly 300 consumers are in danger of losing their attendants and possibly their services outright.

Currently consumers, supporters and staff have camped out in front of the County Building on Main Street in Rochester. We have been out there 24/7 since Monday and will continue until this is over.

We need your help!

TAKE ACTION: CALL MAGGIE BROOKS!

Call Maggie Brooks and urge her to restore CDR's contract for the sake of the hundreds of people who like their services and want to continue them.

Then ask at least two friends to do the same.

Be respectful, but be firm. Her phone should not stop ringing!

County Executive Maggie Brooks: (585) 753-1000

TAKE ACTION: JOIN US FOR A RALLY!

The Center for Disability Rights and Rochester ADAPT will be having a rally on Monday, August 2, 2010

11:00 AM at 39 West Main Street, Rochester, NY

Although this has been mentioned in the media, key issues are not being raised or addressed:

- Monroe County is not explaining why CDR's program is still being shut down when most of the people who were investigated are actively refuting claims that they were neglected.

- Monroe County is not explaining why a successful program run by a disability-led, consumer controlled organization is being dismantled and given to for-profit entities.

- Monroe County is not explaining why it continues to refuse to acknowledge the voices of the people with disabilities who want to stay and let them make their own choices.

Monroe County folks are the same people who used the R-word.

Now they are talking ABOUT us, and refuse to talk WITH us.

Please come and help us make our voices heard!

39 West Main Street, Rochester, NY

Monday, August 2, 2010

11:00 AM

We will be continuing our vigil throughout the weekend.

People can feel free to come and join us!

Defending Our Freedom in Rochester, NY: Call Maggie Brooks and Tell Her Don't Take Away Our Choice!

By The Roving Activist

For three days, I have been on the sidewalk with the folks from the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) as we fight for the freedom of our sisters and brothers who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Services (CDPAS) program through CDR.

On July 22, 2010, CDR, and each of its 300 CDPAS consumers received a letter from the Monroe County Department of Human Services stating that CDR's contract with the county had been terminated, and that consumers had until August 1, 2010 to find another agency. No reason was given for the termination of the contract.

A list of five agencies was provided for consumers to transfer to in order to receive services. All are for-profit, and two have central offices that are located out of state. In a separate letter to the media, the county made several allegations which were either patently false, or misrepresentations of CDR responsibilities. CDR responded to this letter with facts and documentation so that the truth would be known.

On Monday, July 26, 2010, the 20th anniversary of the signing of the ADA, over 300 people packed a forum originally organized to celebrate the ADA, but it quickly became a venue to express their outrage over what had happened, and how it would have a devastating impact on their lives.

After the forum, 100 activists and CDPAS consumers and attendants, along with CDR staff and ADAPT members marched to the Monroe County Building to demand the restoration of the CDPAS contract to CDR. Over 30 people, including myself, held vigil through the night in front of the building. Today, Wednesday, is day three of our vigil at the County Building. Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive, has dug in her heels and is refusing to meet with CDR, or restore the CDPAS contract.

I am appalled at the actions of Ms. Brooks and Kelly Reed, Commissioner of the Monroe County Department of Human Services. They are well aware of the fact that their decision has done three things: It has taken away our people's ability to direct their own attendant services (something unheard of in traditional home care agencies), it has endangered their lives because traditional home health agencies will not accept or cover those with complex needs, and those who need 24-hour care, leading to health deterioration, and it has put people at risk of placement in nursing facilities, where neglect and substandard care is common. They simply don't care!

The county also doesn't seem to mind that due to it's actions, it is potentially in violation of Olmstead, and lawsuits from consumers and their families are a likely result, as well.

I am sure that the county knows the status of the agencies that it is referring CDPAS consumers to transition to. According to one worker who called each agency, one of the agencies is closed, another is not accepting new clients, and the others are saying that they don't have the human resources to deal with the influx of clients with complex needs.

These machinations by the county are in my opinion, nothing more than politics in action. It is a ploy to silence the advocacy, activism, and voice of CDR and it's consumers. I can't help but believe that when I hear stories of people dying of neglect in the county jail, yet that contractor still has a contract. It is my understanding that children have died in the care of the Monroe County Department of Human Services, yet, Kelly Reed, it's Commissioner, still has a job.

CDR has not neglected CDPAS consumers, and no one has died, yet CDR's contract has been terminated without due process. When the County tolerates long-standing abuse and neglect of clients in other programs that it oversees, but terminates the contract of an agency well-known in the community as outspoken disability rights activists and advocates, it is a clear sign that big government is attempting to silence the voices of downtrodden people.

Call Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive, at 585-753-1000, and tell her don't take away our choice. Restore the CDPAS contract to CDR!

No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!

From Anita Cameron:

Disabled Activists Travel to Albany to Protest Proposed Budget Cap on Personal Care

38 activists from the Center for Disability Rights joined over 50 other people with disabilities from around the state, converging on Albany on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, to protest Governor Paterson’s proposed budget caps on personal care for people needing more than 12 hours of care per day.

Upon arrival, we broke up into teams of 10 – 15 people and visited the office of every member of the state legislature. Decked out in bright orange t-shirts and baseball caps that read, “No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap”, we were very noticeable as we scoured the Legislative Office Building. Armed with fliers and baseball caps, our members spoke to staffers and sometimes, the legislators, themselves, putting a human face on the issue by telling how these caps on personal care will send us into costly institutions. At the end of each visit, the legislator, or their staff were presented with a beautiful pledge sheet that they were asked to sign. It stated that the legislator would pledge to reject the Governor’s budget cuts to personal care. While most expressed support, three legislators – Senator Bonacic, Senator Huntley, and Assembly Member Towns signed the pledge on the spot. The rest will need follow up back home in their districts.

Each office was also left a bright orange baseball cap with our message on it, so that they would not forget why we were there.

After our visits, we gathered for our traditional lunch from McDonald’s, then headed upstairs to the Senate Chambers, where state senators were preparing to enter into a session to address the budget. The time had come for the senators to get a real lesson on how the caps would affect our community!

Activists formed a gauntlet down the hall and the entrance leading to the Senate Chambers. Huge banners mysteriously appeared, made from shower curtains reading, “Personal Care Is a Civil Right”, “Care, NOT Caps”, “Don’t CAP My Freedom”, among others. At the end of the hall was a banner cut to resemble a jail, with the words, “Nursing Facility” at the top. This banner would figure prominently in what happened next.

Loud chanting that reverberated throughout the entire floor greeted senators and their staffers as they entered the chambers. “No Cuts, No Caps!’ we chanted as we handed out fliers and baseball caps. “No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!” filled the ears of the senators as they began their session. At times, an announcement would ring out, “Let us show you what we mean”, and people with disabilities would line up before three individuals with placards with the acronym for three different programs that the state is suggesting that they go to once their services are capped. These programs, Long Term Home Health Care Program (LTHHCP, also known as Lombardi), Managed Long Term Care plans (MLTC), and Nursing Home Transition and Diversion waiver (NHTD) have built-in hourly caps or, due to administrative constraints, are inappropriate for those needing more than twelve hours of care per day.

As each advocate went before the person with the placards and asked for service, they were told, “Sorry, you’re capped” or “Denied!” and sent to the next person with a placard until they were directed to the nursing facility “jail” at the end of the line. After several rounds of this theatre, a gentleman in a business suit (he looked like a legislator, but was actually the Executive Director of Action Toward Independence in Middletown) approached the nursing facility “jail”, signed our Pledge, signifying that the legislature had rejected the budget cap on personal care, and freed the captive activists.

Toward the end of the day, after the senators had been in session for some time, the Sergeant-at-Arms came out to ask that we stop the chanting or he would have to have us removed. He said that we could continue to pass out fliers and hats, so we agreed to his request. In an interesting turn of events, word reached us that some of the senators were asking if we had any more of our caps to hand out. It appeared that at least some of them had gotten our message: No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!

http://cdrnys.org/wordpress/?p=432

Activist Reports From New York State

New York State Budget Cuts Town Hall

Today, Gov. Paterson from New York held a Town Hall meeting in Brooklyn which I attended. Despite the room being filled with folks with many questions, I was able to get recognized by the moderator. As a response to the fiscal problems in New York State, the Department of Health is proposing a cap on community-based services which will have the effect of pushing people into nursing homes. I explained to the governor that 11 years ago I attended the arguments to the Olmstead case before the US Supreme Court and that this was really a matter of civil rights or people with disabilities.

Below is a link to the video of the entire event. If someone can download the entire clip you can extract my question and his response, which occurs approximately 70% into the event.
http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/114854/-i-ny1-online---i--paterson-discusses-budget-in-brooklyn
FREE OUR PEOPLE
T.K. Small

New York State Builds Coalition

From New York State: BROAD AD HOC COALITION URGES REJECTION OF 12-HOUR CAP ON PERSONAL CARE

The 2010-11 Executive Budget would require seniors and people with disabilities who need more than 12 hours of Medicaid personal care services per day to switch to other programs that are not designed to meet round-the-clock needs caused by quadriplegia, Parkinson’s, stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. By limiting access to services for the most disabled – 4,268 of the 67,937 people receiving personal care services - the cap will cause unnecessary nursing home placement of people who can and do live in the community, violating the 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead decision and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Activists in New York State are seeking your help! You can send a quick online letter to help stop the caps at http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14698626. Click today!

The New York State Coalition includes the following groups:

ADAPT – NYS; Alzheimer's Association, New York City Chapter; Alzheimer's and Aging Resource Center of Brooklyn; Bronx Independent Living Services; Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled; Catskill Center for Independence serving Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, and Chenango Counties; Center for Disability Rights, Rochester; Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York (CIDNY); Cerebral Palsy Associations of NYS; Cerebral Palsy of the North Country - St. Lawrence, Franklin, & Jefferson Counties; The Children's Aid Society; CLC Foundation, Inc., Trustee For The CLC Pooled Trusts Iⅈ Consumer Directed Choices, Inc.; Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State, Incl Disability Advocates, Inc. (serving Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Dutchess, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Ulster, Warren and Washington counties); Disabled in Action of Greater Syracuse Inc.; DOROT, Inc.; Empire Justice Center (all NYS outside of NYC); Enable, Syracuse; F.E.G.S Health and Human Services System; Options/CDPAS, Newburgh -- Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan & Ulster Counties; JASA/Queens Legal Services for the Elderly; The Legal Aid Society, New York City; Legal Services for the Elderly and Disabled, Buffalo; Lenox Hill Neighborhood House; Main Street Legal Services, Inc., CUNY School of Law; Medicaid Matters NY (140-member statewide coalition); Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty
MFY Legal Services, Inc.; Morningside Retirement and Health Services (MRHS); National Center for Law and Economic Justice; New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; New York Legal Assistance Group, New York City; PHI (Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute); Regional Center for Independent Living, Rochester; Resource Center for Independent Living, Utica; Self-Advocacy Association of New York State, Inc.; Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.; United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg; United Spinal Association; UJA-Federation New York; Westchester Disabled on the Move, Inc.; Westchester Jewish Community Services.

Contact:
Valerie Bogart, Selfhelp Community Services, Inc , vbogart@selfhelp.net 212.971.7693
Chris Hilderbrant, Center for Disability Rights, childerbrant@cdrnys.org 585.546.7510

New York State Deals With Governor Paterson

Check out this video on the state budget fight in New York: http://www.cdrnys.org/video/proposedbudgetYNN.html. The video is captioned.

On Monday, February 1st, a group of New York disability rights advocates met with the Governor Paterson and key staff regarding his budget proposal to cap personal care at 12 hours per day.

After delays with security, we started the meeting with quick introductions and a brief context for the meeting. At about that point, the Governor walked in; we did a quick round of re-introductions and got back to business.

Throughout the meeting, the Governor played a calming role as his staff and the advocates argued. He expressed a willingness to admit that their proposal might have negative consequences that they had not intended. The advocates poked holes in the administration's proposal, but the Governor would intervene and say that they had already admitted that the proposal might not be perfect, suggesting the group "move forward"... then his staff would start defending the proposal again.

Michelle, who is directly affected by the cut, explained the effect that this proposal would have on her. She explained that just days before giving birth to her daughter, she got her spinal cord injury and became a quad. She left the hospital to live with her mother who was now taking care of both her and her newborn daughter. She wasn't ever able to get the personal care she needed in Seneca County so she moved into a less accessible apartment in Ontario County where she could finally get services. She pointed out that she now must take a 45-minute drive to take a shower, but that's how important her independence was to her. She emphasized that people who get this level of service really need it, and it clearly wasn't that easy to get. She spoke about how she was finally able to raise her own daughter and be a mom. And she spoke about how she feared that losing the services would mean she would lose her freedom... and her family.

So we asked the administration why they hadn't used the cost-savings proposals that we had developed in November, long before any of these cuts were proposed. Our proposals didn't eliminate community-based services. Instead, they actually promoted the independence of people with disabilities by maximizing community-based approaches and cost-effective consumer-directed services. We acknowledged that our original proposals may have been aggressive, so we had ratcheted them down. Even so, we still projected $30 million to $90 million in savings for the first year, easily covering the saving the administration expected from capping personal care.

In a nutshell, our proposals said that the state could save money by moving people from nursing facilities to the Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion Waiver. The staffers felt that our target of 1,300 people statewide was unrealistically aggressive, but never explained how they felt nearly 5,000 people could be enrolled in NYC alone under their proposal. They also argued that daily savings rate we used was too high, even though our revised version was taken straight from the DOH's TBI Waiver report to CMS.

The staff also complained that our proposal assumed that we would close nursing facility beds, but there isn't the political will to make that happen. We argued that the state, particularly in such difficult fiscal times, shouldn't prioritize the institutions over people. At this point the Governor stepped in and said that they wanted some time to review our proposals. We urged them to eliminate the 12-hour cap in their 21 day amendments.

The pessimistic side is that the staff seemed committed to the cap.

The optimistic side is that they agreed to look more closely at our revised proposal. The Governor has clearly made this something they have to address. They know that they are going to be flambéed every step of the way with the 12-hour cap.

We don't know what will happen, but whatever happens, this is only the start of the process!

To learn more about CDR, see http://www.cdrnys.org/.

From New York State: Equal Rights Are Not a Budget Item

Bigotry never trumps freedom and freedom is not possible without equal rights.

And so it is that people with disabilities are being given the message that their equal rights are depend on the state of the economy and thus relegated to a budget item. ADAPT, the country’s most prestigious disability rights organization in this writer's view, has launched what is calls a Defending Our Freedom campaign to address the carnage being inflicted on the lives of people with disabilities. Across this country state budget cuts are forcing people with disabilities, as well as seniors, back into nursing homes, all this in direct violation of the 11-year-old United States Supreme Court Olmstead Decision which says Americans with disabilities have the right to live in the most integrated settings.

For more, see http://thekahrmannblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/equal-rights-are-not-budget-item.html.

The Center for Disability Rights Visits Governor Patterson

To see the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLBLwx5b9DQ&feature=player_embedded. Governor Paterson visited Rochester for an interview on WXXI, CDR was there protesting the NY state budget. Governor Paterson met with Bruce Darling and also agreed to further talks on Monday 02/01/2010.