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!