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Cuts from the bottom

I work in an industry that is in serious trouble.

With budget cuts actively occurring, I've recently learned that my state is toying with the idea of closing one of the two mental hospitals in order to fulfill mandatory 'cuts'.

After working with the developmentally disabled off and on for years now, I find this recent development disturbing at the least. The people that currently receive services in those hospitals need the services that can be provided there.

I currently work in a place that offers day services and residential services for adults with severe developmental disabilities. We have limited resources and in fact, have no vacancies for the services that we can offer to those that need them.

I am a little more than concerned with what will happen to the people that receive services if one of these hospitals close. There are other agencies here in my state that offer similar services... but are they equipped to provide the services these people need?? The majority of them are not.

So what's to happen with these people!? A lot of them have NO family... nobody that cares.

It's fairly obvious to me that no one at the federal or state level really has a grasp on the needs of the developmentally disabled - otherwise, they wouldn't be considering this.

How about cutting from the TOP instead of the very bottom??

I suppose if they had a loved one that needed the kinds of services we offer, they would rethink their hasty decision to do this.

So much for our representatives representing the people.
 
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thank you, that's what i believe, cut from the top.
 
Unionize the entire industry and tell the state to **** off?
 
The conservatives/libertarians have done this before, the reason for so many homeless.
 
Well, according to most libertarians, "private charities" should be able to do this kind of job. But I don't think those libertarian theorists realize how much training and education are require of those who take care of our disabled, and that our society requires professionals to do that, and for them to do that by earning a full time wage.

Some things charities can do. There's a local charity who takes donations to give toys to kids from poor families in the winter, and in the summer they pay to operate a camp for kids with diabetes. That kind of thing is fine for charities to do, at an amateur level.

Nothing about social work is amateur, however. Those who are disable need long term care, and those who provide that care need to be paid a viable salary to do so. This is because not everyone who is disabled can "just pull themselves up from their boot straps." There are those who are born who require others to help take care of them. And if we don't provide that help, negative consequences are going to occur.

And the really scary likelihood of those who are disable will be that they will get in trouble with the law simply because they don't know better and they don't have a social worker to help them stay out of trouble with the law. So instead of paying money to social workers and social help facilities, the work load will instead be distributed to law enforcement officers, criminal courts, and the prison system.

That's what scares me the most when it comes to social welfare for our disabled. We are more willing to pay to arrest, prosecute, and imprison them than we are to look after them to help provide them a quality of life.
 
I am a libertarian, but this is an area where the LP and I part ways. But hey, earthworm.. you just keep making generalizations about libertarians and conservatives and keep assuming they are all the same.
 
One of the most important things I’ve read today. I have also worked with the mentally ill, and the same is happening in our country. I know one psychiatrist that has over 600 patients, a few others aren’t far behind. Vastly under-manned, they can’t give proper treatment.

The hospital cutbacks have had some nurses in tears, wondering what is to become of those getting lost in the shuffle, falling through the cracks. You touched on the saddest part to me; many of these people are ALONE, with nurses as their only friends. I am very disturbed by this in my country as well.

I think we had a nice round of raises, or proposed raises, for higher level government as well, not too long ago. I agree with SirPwn4lot; They have never cared about the people.

Peace
 
earthworm;bt314 said:
The conservatives/libertarians have done this before, the reason for so many homeless.
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You won't mind if I use this as a signature, would you?
 
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