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Bob Kafka 512-431-4085
Janine Bertram 503-504-9787
Nashville – Over 400 disability activists from around the country will take to the streets of Nashville on March 20th, following an unprecedented day of testimony sponsored by ADAPT, in which roughly 100 people spoke directly to national officials about abuse and neglect they suffered in nursing homes.
Today’s rally and press conference come one day after a national panel sponsored by ADAPT in which officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), the National Council on Disability (NCD), ADA Watch, the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) heard firsthand testimony documenting the institutional bias in America's long-term care system.
LaTonya Reeves, a wheelchair user, lived in a Tennessee nursing home, enduring 18 mos. of abuse. “I had an accident and they made me wash my face in feces and urine. The nurse put me in the tub and threw ice-cold water on my face. She told me if I didn’t stop screaming she would drown me,” stated Ms. Reeves.
Because there were no services in Tennessee that would allow her to live in her own home, she was the first on the Survival Project that, like the Underground Railroad, transports disabled people to other states where they can receive community based long-term care. Reeves moved to Colorado.
“Now I have my own apartment and work five days a week,” stated La Tonya.
Reeves story was typical of that told by nearly 100 people from across the nation, many who described nursing homes and other institutions as prisons.
“Thank you for telling your stories,” said Dr. Margaret Giannini, Director of the Office on Disability for HHS. “I believe you will help to change the system and end this institutional bias,” she continued.
400 ADAPT members will remain in Nashville for several days of actions highlighting Tennessee’s abysmal record on long-term care
“Sadly, Tennessee’s Senator Frist as well as our Governor Bredesen do not support long term care policies that save money and keep families together. We want to help change their minds,” said Randy Alexander, Tennessee ADAPT organizer and former nursing home resident. “Despite the fact that on average it costs one-third less than nursing homes and institutions, Tennessee allots a miniscule percentage of its Medicaid long term care funds for community based care. But there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel,” added Alexander. "Here in Tennessee there is a bill called the Community Choices Act of 2006 just introduced in our state legislature. When passed, that bill, like the new national Money Follows the Person, will let people take the money that would have paid for them to be in a nursing home, and use it to receive services to stay in their own home with their own families."
