By Lauren Weber and Andy Miller Matthew Southern, 35, who has intellectual and developmental disabilities, is able to stay out of an institution because health aides paid through a Medicaid program assist him and his roommate with ordinary tasks. But amid a worker shortage worsened by the pandemic, Southern’s father, Dan, has had to step in…
State officials have dropped their plan for limiting the hours of support allowed for more than 180 Georgians with severe medical or behavioral health needs. The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) had proposed the limits under a “waiver” proposal submitted to the federal government. The goal was to use those remaining funds to serve…
By Maureen O’Hagan From her Baltimore dining room, Susan Goodlaxson can see her neighbor gardening across the street. But while other neighbors stop to chat, Goodlaxson just watches from the window. She uses a wheelchair, and there isn’t a single curb ramp on her block. If the 66-year-old wanted to join, she’d have to jump…
Ernestine “Erma” Bryant likes her job, but the pay is a problem. She works in a caregiver role as a “direct support professional” in Tifton, helping people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities with basic functions such as dressing, bathing and eating. Bryant said it’s fulfilling work. “You can help people be successful — people…
The state’s Medicaid agency is setting up plans for a health insurer bidding competition that will award a new multibillion-dollar medical contract. “We’ll be looking for the best bang for the buck,’’ Frank Berry, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), said last week at an agency board meeting. The current Medicaid insurers…
Matt Gaffney had trouble living in a group home for people with disabilities like himself. He’s nonverbal and suffers from multiple conditions: severe autism, bipolar disorder, chronic gastrointestinal issues. In group homes, Matt, now 42, had his medications ‘‘raised to higher levels,’’ says Sue Gaffney, his mother. And she adds that his last group home…
For a year of her life, Linda Ferguson lived in a booth at a transit stop. She spent another year living under a bridge. Her homelessness, she says now, “was a bad situation. Nobody likes to be outside. It’s a very insecure feeling.’’ At one point Ferguson, who deals with severe anxiety attacks, lost her…
Budget cuts due to the COVID-19 economic crisis have led the state’s mental health agency to lay off 200 employees. The jobs included positions in each of the state-run hospitals, regional field offices, and central office. The layoffs are part of a $123 million budget reduction for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD)….
The five support centers for people with mental health problems provide a good financial return for Georgia, their leaders say. The centers, funded by the state, prevent hospitalizations in state facilities, which can cost $600 a day, and offer other services for thousands of Georgians, says the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. The peer support,…
“The safety net is stretched to the max.’’ Judy Fitzgerald, commissioner of the agency that oversees mental health and substance abuse services, gave that stark assessment in January to state legislators who were considering budget cuts to her department. Now, even deeper cuts are on the table. Georgia’s budget plans of just a few months…