From the Rochester [NY] Democrat and Chronicle:

People with developmental disabilities are living longer and are more likely to outlive their parents, but services to help them just aren’t available.

Lifespans have been extended by medical advances and de-institutionalization. That trend means huge adjustments for families and for the professionals who provide day programs, housing and other services paid for with state and federal Medicaid dollars.

For agencies and taxpayers, the change means extra expenses to hire more staff and provide additional training about aging to manage increasingly complex needs. For families, it can mean elderly parents find themselves no longer able to care for their disabled, aging son or daughter — but there’s a shortage of solutions. More than 750 people with developmental disabilities are on waiting lists in the Rochester area for residential care.

See also related op-ed by Mike Ervin in the Houston Chronicle:
Shortsighted about long-term care; Neither presidential candidate is facing up to this important issue

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 5:36 pm and is filed under elderly, families, intellectual/developmental disabilities, parents, politics. 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.  Email This Post