When crisis hits people with disabilities
April 29th, 2008
Aging caregivers have limited options for support, housing
From the Wall Street Journal, a story about the impending crisis of care for adults with intellectual disabilities who live with aging caregivers. The piece leads with the story of 41-year-old Kent Dromgoole, a Texas man with Down syndrome who had been living with his 79-year-old mother. But his mother went into respiratory arrest, and he now has nowhere to go and no one to care for him. His lifeline now is Beth Lambdin, the clinical liaison for the Plano Specialty Hospital (above).
“I’m his one constant,” she says. “I’m really no one, just a stranger who met them three weeks ago.”
That Ms. Lambdin, an acquaintance of less than a month, may end up housing Mr. Dromgoole speaks to her character. But it also underscores the limitations of the nation’s programs to assist those with developmental disabilities, especially in emergencies, which promise to hit more often as the nation’s caregivers grow increasingly frail.
“We have not addressed the needs of aging caregivers,” says Susan Murphree of Advocacy Inc., a federally funded protection and advocacy system for Texans with disabilities. “One of the things we don’t have is help for people in crisis situations.”
An estimated 2.9 million people with intellectual or developmental disabilities or some significant functional limitation live with caregivers — mainly parents — who are 55 years or older.
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April 30th, 2008 at 4:01 am
The Special Gathering is a ministry within the mentally challenged community in Florida. As our parents have become older, they have faced this problem. After a great deal of research, we came upon an organization based in New York City called Life Services/Disabled and Alone. You might want to check them out.
This organization does require funding. (Usually the trust is funded upon the death of the parent.) However, it acts like a quasi-parent when the parent is dead. Allowing the adult child to still access the federal/state funding, the purpose is to be sure that the child has a personal advocate who will look out for the needs of this person. Each advocate is paid and works only for the disabled person.