ADAPT Secures More Meetings with Major Policy Makers
Federal officers take a decidedly non-civil approach to dealing with ADAPT, but learn that we are not intimidated.
Anyone who has read any history of the civil rights movement, complete with pictures of snarling police dogs being set loose or water cannons being trained on civil rights marchers can tell you that the police forces have not always bought into the concept of non-violence from their end. Similarly, any such student of history can tell you that the fight for any civil right is not for the faint of heart. Finally, all who have yearned for a full granting of civil rights can tell you that an unenforced right is an oxymoron—if it isn’t enforced it doesn’t exist.
Accordingly, today ADAPT took the fight for implementation of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision to the Office of Civil Rights, which under Health and Human Services is charged with enforcement of civil rights. ADAPT demanded to know why our rights aren’t being enforced and when they will be enforced.
It was clear from the outset that yesterday’s drenching had not dampened our spirits. On arrival at the Regional Federal Health and Human Services Building, we began a charge for all entrances. Several of our members made it inside and over the barricade without waiting for proper screening. As quickly as security guards could be amassed they began throwing our members back over the barricades. When that didn’t deter anyone, they began using their batons to hit at people’s legs. One security guard hit one of our members in the mouth, sending her to the hospital for treatment. Kyle Nash, of Denver had his head slammed into a wall.
Josie Jones had four officers take her to the ground and handcuff her for getting too close to a stairwell. Of this experience, Ms. Jones stated “It took four security guards to take me down. Do they really think they can take all of ADAPT down?”
Apparently not—at about this time the federal government brought in negotiators and local civil rights attorneys showed up, both of which seemed to have a decided calming effect. In return, we gave them a door. They then got to looking at our demands, which asked that the US Department of Health and Human Services:
- Announce its public support for S683 HR 1670, the Community Choice Act, legislation which would eliminate the institutional bias in the systems that provide long term services and supports;
- Establish a process that individuals who respond to MDS (Master Data Set) Q1a (which asks if any individual in a nursing home wants to move out) who want to return to the community are then referred to community based organizations that can provide the assistance and supports needed by the person to allow them to live in the most integrated setting;
- Modify the Medicaid rules to allow states to develop cross-disability 1915c waivers which would help break down the segregated funding system; and
- Develop rules, regulations and procedures that mandate consumer direction as a part of all home and community service programs, including Medicaid and Medicare Home Health;
- Develop accountability measures and benchmarks for how states must implement the Olmstead decision;
- Systematically review the level of state compliance with the Olmstead decision and publish all results of these reviews on the HHS website;
- Accept, review and resolve individual as well as systemic complaints against a state and withhold Medicaid payments to states for non-compliance with the Olmstead decision; and
- Exercise its authority to hold states accountable for implementing the Olmstead decision with referrals to the Department of Justice for legal action when necessary.
As negotiations proceeded our detained members were unhandcuffed and released. Finally, the OCR regional director, Roosevelt Freeman, along with Regional Health and Human Services attorneys and Regional Centers for Medicare and Medicaid agreed to meet with our leadership tomorrow to review each of these demands. It was good enough. We pulled back, heard the promise for a meeting directly from Mr. Freeman and enjoyed a quick lunch before heading off to the regional HUD offices with a wonderful police copter for company.
Once again, we filed into a government building, but this time the reception was much more welcoming. After another round of negotiations, HUD agreed to restart monthly national meetings with ADAPT, to have the regional office work with local housing authorities to support vouchers for individuals who want to move out of nursing homes, and to have the regional provide training on fair housing compliance.
Just to round the day out, the Governor’s Chief of Staff and head of Medicaid promised to look into Olmstead and compliance and find out why and where they are falling short. Life is good! As Ginny Wilson, one of our members who were wounded after being thrown back while attempting to scale the OCR barricades said “It was damn well worth it. I would do it again.”