Families of Disabled Question How Cuts Save Costs

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Lynn Johnson described her 35-year-old son Anthony as blind, with cerebral palsy and functioning mentally at the age of 6 months.

"He has to do diapers, be fed; everything must be done on him," she said. "He's like taking care of a 100-pound baby," Johnson said.

For about 1,827 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, state funding cuts drove a reduction in one-on-one nursing services to 12 hours a day and limited personal assistance services to 215 hours a month. The cuts left Tennessee families with a choice between coping with personal aid services for fewer hours or transferring loved ones to some form of communal living with shared staffing.
Johnson is one of about 600 who have filed complaints with the Office of Civil Rights in Atlanta against the state of Tennessee.

She said cutting disability funding according to living style — supported living or family-provided care — is discriminatory.

But Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Jim Henry said fighting such lawsuits takes more money away from those who need it.

"Let me just remind people we spent $20 million on lawsuits," he said. "In the last 20 years, those kinds of things drive resources for people and services."

The Office of Civil Rights will investigate 45 complaints in a first round of investigations that will set a precedent for the other cases, Johnson said.

Tenn. Budget Cuts Impact Families

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Major state budget cuts will soon impact hundreds of Tennessee families who care for disabled loved ones.

Some believe that the cuts are so severe that it will greatly impact the quality of care for patients who depend on around the clock care.

The Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is cutting $47 million from its budget. These cuts will impact around 700 families.

Nursing services will be limited to 12 hours a day, and 215 hours a month is the new limit for personal assistance services.

The Tennessee Disability Coalition believes when you cut quality of care that will send more people to the hospital, or to institutionalized care which ends up costing the state more money.

On any one day, five health care professionals stop by Linda Gill's home. A brain injury as a toddler has caused lasting brain damage into her senior years.

"Initially we are going to lose one of the caregivers, for each shift," said caretaker Claudette Reed.

The 24-7 care that surrounds Linda is about to unravel because of state budget cuts; the hours that a personal assistant spends is about to change.

"Eventually we are going to be cut to 50 hours, which essentially means there will be no one to care for her, except for family, and there's not any family left," Reed said.

Tennessee Budget Cuts Mean Big Changes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With budget cuts looming, Tennessee is cutting nursing and personal assistance services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the new fiscal year, limiting aid services and placing more people in community-based homes.
As of May, about 1,827 persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities received letters that their one-on-one nursing services would be reduced to 12 hours a day and personal assistance services limited to 215 hours a month, according to a Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities news release.