Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 16, 1994 TAG: 9401160105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In fact, inflation has been almost double the increase in the monthly stipend the state offers to help feed, clothe and care for these elderly or mentally disabled residents.
What that means is that, in effect, the state has made serious cuts in the funding it provides.
Adult-home operators and advocates for the mentally ill say the state must come up with more money to care for adult-home residents.
They say this is especially true now that social services officials are considering new, tougher regulations for the adult-home industry.
State officials are hoping the General Assembly will approve more money for destitute residents, who now get $631 a month in state and federal money.
But adult-home operators say the proposed increase - to a range between $695 to $875 a month - is not nearly enough to pay for the increased services, staffing and training the rules would require.
At a public hearing Friday in Roanoke, several adult-home operators said the proposed changes might put them out of business - or force them to put out large numbers of residents.
"I am not here to harp on money," said Ruth Ann Gasaway, who runs an adult home in Abingdon. "But when there's a chance of my doors closing and losing the very people I love and care for, I am here to fuss."
Adult homes provide the basics - room, board and supervision - to elderly or disabled residents who do not need the full-time medical care provided by nursing homes. As the state's elderly population has grown, the adult-home industry has burgeoned, and it's expected it will take on increasing importance in the long-term care system.
Some adult-home operators say they don't object to higher standards for the industry - as long as the state is willing to help pay for the changes it requires.
More than one-fourth of the state's 25,000 adult-home residents depend on monthly checks from the state to pay their way.
Adult-home owners said the new regulations would require too much paperwork and red tape. For example, one adult-home operator objected to a requirement that residents with mental illnesses be evaluated once a month by a doctor or nurse.
Everett Franklin of the Roanoke Valley Alliance for the Mentally Ill disagreed.
"To evaluate somebody with mental illness every 30 days, that's a bad idea?" Franklin asked. "Why not? Should we say, `Once crazy, always crazy'?"
He said "there's always a chance for improvement" in the condition of someone who has a mental illness.
Franklin and other advocates for the mentally ill say tougher regulations are needed to ensure that the mentally ill and other vulnerable residents aren't abused, neglected or simply warehoused in adult homes.
He believes that an adult home is generally not a good place for someone with a mental illness. But he said the reality is that more than 700 mentally disabled people live in adult homes in the Roanoke Valley, so it's important that something be done to make sure they get the support and services they need.
by CNB