Waiting for help that’s not coming

‘Judge a society by how it treats its weakest?’

From the Annapolis Capital, an extended feature on people with disabilities in Maryland who qualify for services that would allow them to live more independently, but cannot receive them because the services have not been funded.

Four years ago, there were 9,697 people waiting for help. There are 17,250 today. Ninety-four percent of those on the list need help immediately, said Michelle Hart, co-director of public policy initiatives for the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council. She estimates it would take hundreds of millions of dollars to solve the problem.

“It is at a crisis stage,” said Robert T. Ireland, executive director of a group that serves about 450 people with developmental disabilities. “I turn people away every day. It’s the saddest part of my day.”

See related posts here and here and here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 5:43 am and is filed under Medicaid/Medicare, NOT2BEMISSED, advocacy, hospitals, independent living, intellectual/developmental disabilities, politics, waiting list/waivers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.