Disabled Rights Group Protests Nursing Home Requirements
None by KCPW
Shanti Cook and Renee Baturin protest outside the State Health Department.
"I'm not going to, no matter if they want to drag, pull separate my limbs," says Baturin.
"There isn't anybody who is person with disabilities who wants to go to a nursing home," adds Disabled Rights Action Committee spokeswoman Barbara Toomer.
The group organized a protest at the State Department of Health this week urging a change in the rule that requires a nursing home stay to qualify for in-home assistance. Baturin says she's lived on her own for 23 years with the help of home aid. State Medicaid Director Michael Hales says unfortunately, federal and state funding restrictions place a priority on nursing home care. People who prefer to have home-aid must get in line - but Hales notes that it can take years to move up the waiting list.
"The 90-day stay is a way to avoid being on the waiting list," says Hales. "That's just what we have to adminster within the appropriations we have. There are a huge number of unmet needs in the state and it's a very unenviable position to be in."
In Baturin's case, she has just two options - wait and rely on friends and family to take care of her without pay, or spend 90 days in the nursing home to speed her request. Toomer says the state should change the system, since in-home care is generally cheaper and more humane. Hales says for now, his hands are tied.
State Medicaid Director Michael Hales talks with protest organizer Barbara Toomer.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Janis Gardner said:
I feel the law needs to be changed immediately. Life in an institution should always be the absolute last choice for anyone.
3. Vicki said:
Free our people! Stop making them go into nursing homes.
4. Catherine Wozab said:
I am a parent of a 30 year old young man with medical and physical disabilities. I came from the state of california where he got ALL his needs met without hesitation. Expecting to get the same things here in Utah but to no avail. My son has been on the waiting list for over a year and a half and now becuase of his medical needs and the fact that medicaid will only pay for 1 visit a day to administer meds (he gets them 3 times a day-shots) they say his only option other than having to stay at home is to go into a nursing home. Everything is about money and I am so very angry right now. My sons needs are not being put first. This state is screwed up. Something needs to change and I would like very much to be a part of those changes
2. Lopeti S. Penima'ani said:
Why would the state want to put people in institutions (even if only for a few months)when home care would be much less expensive to the state? Not only that, but who would want to give up their independance to live in a nursing home when they've had the freedom of choice as well as a control of ones own life that they must give up to the time constraints and/or whims of the staff who work at these institutions?
Utah has an opportunity to apply for matched funding that would enable people this choiuce (to live in the homes or group homes of their choice) AND save money that could go into the state coffures that could help others who are on the waiting list for home care assistance.
The state of Utah should weigh their options more carefully, take into consideration that they have peoples' lives at stake and let people have a say in these decisions they (the state) are making on behalf of these individuals!