Monday, December 24, 2012

VOR Statement on Sandy Hook

"This must end":
Disability Policy & Mental Health Reform NOW

VOR joins the chorus of heartfelt sympathy expressed for the families and friends of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

With so much “politics” (you name the issue) dividing our country, VOR prays that this tragedy finally unites parents, families, advocates, professionals, organizations, and policymakers in a way never before experienced.

There can be no real justice for the senseless killings in Connecticut and elsewhere, but uniting as a nation will get as close to healing as possible and will help prevent such senseless tragedy in the future.

As the President stated,
“’We can't tolerate this anymore,’ he added. ‘These tragedies must end, and to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and it is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.’”

VOR agrees and central to necessary change is disability policy and mental health reform. Too many people who need help have nowhere to go, are turned away, are displaced from specialized care, or are not adequately treated and monitored. Patient’s rights have trumped almost completely safety – to self and others -- in the name of "deinstitutionalization" and "integration." As stated by the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) (Dec. 14, 2012): 

“‘Our mental health system has completely failed individuals with severe mental illness and their communities,’ said Doris A. Fuller, [TAC] executive director. ‘We have emptied the nation's hospitals, gutted state and local mental health programs, and turned involuntary treatment into a debate point instead of using it as a viable option to prevent tragedy involving those too ill to help themselves.’”

The Washington Post  (Dec. 17, 2012), also quoting TAC added - 
“By treating the rest in the least-restrictive settings possible, the thinking went [in 1963], we would protect the civil liberties of the mentally ill and hasten their recoveries . . . But in the decades since, the sickest patients have begun turning up in jails and homeless shelters with a frequency that mirrors that of the late 1800s. ‘We’re protecting civil liberties at the expense of health and safety,’ says Doris A. Fuller, the executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that lobbies for broader involuntary commitment standards. ‘Deinstitutionalization has gone way too far.’” (emphasis added).

A mother of a young man with serious mental illness agreed, writing this in her blog: 
“With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill—Rikers Island, the LA County Jail, and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011”
“We can’t tolerate this anymore”

For 30 years, VOR has been calling on Congress to support specialized treatment options for people with profound intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Decades of deinstitutionalization has resulted in the depletion of an adequate safety net for people who need our help.

Tragedies will continue to befall people with I/DD, children, adults, and citizens if our laws and policies continue to support deinstitutionalization, depriving people with disabilities of needed specialized, residential care and treatment.

This concern is a real and present one. Just last month (Nov. 2012), the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency, released a 300 page policy document and toolkit recklessly calling for the closure of all specialized homes of four or more residents for people with disabilities. For several years, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has pursued more than 30 legal actions which at their core aim to displace individuals from specialize care options. In 2010, the Justice Department and the State of Georgia entered a federal settlement agreement which will displace 9,000 people with mental illness from psychiatric facilities by 2015; and nearly 1,000 people with I/DD by 2015.

VOR urges the President to use “whatever power this office holds,” to address senseless tragedies with meaningful disability policy and mental health reform and re-think the purported virtues of “deinstitutionalization,” beginning with the actions of his own federal agencies.

“This must end.”

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To view this message from VOR in its original form with associated links to supporting documents, click on this link.

Also, if you are not already a current VOR member, Mary O'Riordan urges PHA members and supporters to join VOR in speaking out for people with disabilities at the national level.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Roundup of News on SDC Licensing Woes

There has been a flurry of news coverage surrounding Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) over the past few weeks beginning with a new report from California Watch on client safety at the state developental centers. PHA President Kathleen Miller responed to the Cal Watch report with an op-ed piece in the Sonoma Index-Tribune. (See: A broader perspective on abuse at SDC.)

These articles were followed by the announcement that federal licensing has given notice that they will go forward with proceedings to terminate certification of the Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) side of SDC, and that the California Department of Public Health will go forward with proceedings to terminate the license for SDC's ICF. (The ICF is the behavioral units at SDC.)

News outlets around the Bay Area picked up the stories. Below is a selection:

State seeks to close care unit in Sonoma Developmental Center over abuse
KTVU San Francisco
The California Department of Public Health said Wednesday it is taking enforcement action against the Sonoma Developmental Center where there were allegations of physical abuse of 12 patients last year. The CDPH said it is moving to revoke the license ...

Abuse reports spark overhaul at Sonoma Developmental Center
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
California public health officials on Wednesday announced that they have decertified an intermediate care facility at the Sonoma Developmental Center in Eldridge in the Sonoma Valley in response to patients being harmed. The agency said it was taking ...

State Threatens to Shut Down Disability Center Amid Patient Abuse ...
KQED News Staff and Wires
State regulators cited the Sonoma Developmental Center, which houses more than 500 patients, for dozens of caseswhere patients were put at risk of injury or death. In issuing the citations, the state moved to shut down a major portion of the ...

CDPH Takes Enforcement Action Against Sonoma Developmental ...
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today took enforcement action against Sonoma Developmental Center's Intermediate Care Facility. Date: 12/12/2012.

Sonoma Developmental Center - Disability Rights California
Disability Rights California troubled by Sonoma Developmental Center's loss of federal funds for care of 290 residents; urges support for their move to ...

Assemblymember Marc Levine Comments on Today's Enforcement ...
... today's significant action by the California Department of Public Health to protect the health and safety of residents at the Sonoma Developmental Center.

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For continuing updates on developments at Sonoma Developmental Center, check the PHA website and blog, watch for the next edition of The Eldridge Gazette, or consider attending the next general membership meeting on January 12th.

Caring for the Disabled - as Old as Humanity

Man Bac archaeoloy site, Vietnam
(NY Times)
It's the Season of Caring, when sentiments turn towards thankfulness for what we have and generosity towards others.

Unfortunately, this year the season has been tainted somewhat by concerns over the status and funding of Sonoma Developmental Center, and the tragic news from Connecticut -- news that may make us doubt the existence of that caring and magnanimous spirit in our society and fellow humans.

An article in the New York Times this week offers a bright reminder, however, that we humans do have it in us to selflessly care for the disabled and support the caregivers among us -- and have for a long, long time. (See: Ancient Bones That Tell a Story of Compassion in the New York Times.)

The article reports on the findings of an archaelogical investigation that uncovered evidence of a group of people living 4,000 years ago in Vietnam who cared for one completely disabled member of their group for many years. It's a fascinating story.

The culture of the group was what we would consider 'Stone Age', and the disabilities of the young man were significant. According to the article, he became paralyzed from the waist down before adolescence as a result of a congenital disease and "had little, if any, use of his arms and could not have fed himself or kept himself clean. But he lived another 10 years or so."

Our material culture has changed a lot over the past few thousand years. It seems it should be easier now for us as a group to support those who may not be able to support themselves -- or even contribute to the group. You could even say to do so is only human.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Call to Renew Your VOR Membership

The following is an open letter from Mary O'Riordan -- Member and Past President of PHA and VOR Development Committee Member -- urging PHA supporters to renew their VOR membership (or become a member if you haven't already).


Dear Members and Friends:

Happy Holidays to all and best wishes for a joyful 2013. I haven’t been in touch for a while and due to health issues I have not been able to attend the PHA meetings. However, I do keep up with important issues, including what is happening on the national level and the importance of supporting VOR, our national advocacy organization.

We all need to be aware that VOR is the only national organization that is in support of family decision-making rights and a full continuum of care options. During the last 30 years VOR has made significant progress due to the support of loyal members like you. We now desperately need your continued support. I served for six years on the VOR board and I have seen the organization grow stronger each year – we are finally being listened to in Washington and can continue to make important decisions especially along the lines of continuing the important services such as we have at Sonoma Developmental Center.

Your membership provides you with VOR’s Weekly E-Mail Update, VOR’s newsletter – The Voice, regular Action Alerts, the Annual Membership Conference and Initiative, individual advocacy assistance, legislative and legal advocacy, an informative website www.vor.net, access to speakers and direct support from the VOR Board of Directors and VOR staff.
  • VOR secured introduction of federal legislation (H.R. 2032), which would restore individual and family decision-making in certain federally funded deinstitutionalization lawsuits, such as the awful Coffelt Lawsuit that happened years ago here in California that destroyed so many lives and families.
  • VOR has urged Congress to call for a moratorium on federal deinstitutionalization lawsuits citing well-publicized “community-based” tragedies. We called the response by federal agencies to these tragedies “woefully inadequate and incomplete.” In other words, agencies such as Protection and Advocacy did nothing to deal with the high mortality rates following the placements out of the DC’s to community board and care homes or group homes.
  • VOR’s Legislative Committee launched its “DD Act Advocacy Project” to help propel forward our multi-year initiative aimed at reforming the law that funds Protection & Advocacy (P&A) agencies and DD Councils, groups that routinely disregard choice and family decision-making.
  • VOR petitioned the White House to reform the system of care serving people with intellectual disabilities, pointing to program cuts, abuse and neglect, and long waiting lists as symptoms of a crisis that is harming people.
  • VOR has provided legal advocacy to families in several states as they challenge federal actions to close centers.
The VOR mission is to protect our developmentally disabled loved ones wherever they live!

For your convenience, below is a membership form along with a self-addressed envelope. You may also renew your membership at www.vor.net/join-now, whichever method is most convenient for you, but please do renew your membership – it is super important! I am aware of how difficult it is at this time of the year when you are being asked so often to contribute to different areas of the system, but again, we need your support to strengthen our family advocacy in Washington, D.C., enhance our grassroots leadership and support the legislation that VOR has sponsored to put an end to the closure of facilities that offer centralized, specialized services like SDC. My sincere thanks to all of you and again enjoy the Holidays.

Sincerely,
Mary C. O’Riordan
PHA Past President; VOR Past Board Member; VOR Development Committee Member

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(You can also download a copy (pdf) of the form below by clicking here.)

VOR-membership
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