'We Have to Be Willing to Change'

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Maureen Brown has recently found herself asking the same question – “Why did you do that?” – when conversing with co-workers.

“All of us have to take ownership of what we do,” said Brown, director of purchasing at Baker Victory Services (BVS) in Lackawanna. “Are we doing the right thing, and for the right reason?”

Brown and 13 other professionals from BVS, Community Services for the Developmentally Disabled (CSDD) in Buffalo and People Inc. in Williamsville are taking a fresh look at service delivery through a different lens: the Lean methodology of decreasing waste.

Report Examines NY's Justice Center

NEW YORK -- The Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs was created in 2013 to ensure the health and safety of New Yorkers with disabilities. But according to an Associated Press report, of more than 25,000 claims of abuse and neglect the center has received since the start of 2014, just 169 have led to criminal charges.
Experts say cases such as these can be hard to prove, in part because they often rely on victims with disabilities who are viewed as poor witnesses. Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, said a shift in this thinking could lead to more prosecutions. 

Editorial: NYS Should Pay Up Now

Of the 126,000 New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, about 110,000 of them are serviced by nonprofit organizations, most of which depend on state funding.

That's just one reason why a recent audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is so troubling. Of the 5,946 contracts the state has with not-for-profit entities, state payments were late 87 percent of the time in 2013. That's an increase from 78 percent in 2012.

New Yorkers Continue Lobbying for Funds

ALBANY -- One of the areas of disagreement in the state budget centers on funding for services for New Yorkers with developmental disabilities.

Governor Cuomo in his budget plan cuts $120 million in funding for groups that provide services to people with developmental disabilities. The cuts come after Congress determined that New York had been overbilling the federal government for Medicaid services for state-run developmental disability service centers. Providers of group homes, day programs, and vocational services say it's unfair to make up for the federal cuts at their expense. Some of the groups brought clients and their families to the Capitol for a silent vigil to protest the cuts.

Comments By OPWDD's Burke About Developmental Centers Misunderstood

TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. - Sunmount DDSO is not scheduled for closure.
"It's totally false," village Mayor Mickey Desmarais said Wednesday. "They're not going to close Sunmount down."
Courtney Burke, head of the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, caused a wave of panic in this town of 6,000 people when she appeared on the WCNY radio show "Capitol Pressroom" Monday.
Host Susan Arbetter asked if the OPWDD plans to close Sunmount, and Burke answered her, "We are seeking to close all of our developmental centers by the end of 2014."
But Burke's spokesman Travis Proulx said Wednesday that the whole thing is a misunderstanding. He said there is a plan to close down all of the state's developmental centers, but that Sunmount is a "developmental disabilities services office," not a developmental center, so her answer didn't apply to it.

Editorial: State Must Make Case for Facilities

The timing is impeccable: Just as national "Sunshine Week" is about to get under way, calling attention to the undeniable need to pry open the workings of government, the state has been ordered to turn over records of developmentally disabled residents at a local facility that long has been the subject of concern in the community.
For years, state officials have resisted efforts to obtain confidential records from two institutions for the developmentally disabled that legal advocates say will prove residents have languished there. And one of those facilities is the Wassaic campus of the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Service Organization.