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- ADAPT (987)
[This page continues the article from Image 987. Full text available under 988 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (986)
[This page continues the article from Image 992. Full text available under 984 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (985)
SPINAL COLUMN p.22 [Headline] On Their Own [Subheading] People with disabilities don't belong in Institutions by Alan Friedman Edwin McWilliams is considering pursuing a career in the ministry or perhaps owning an electrical supply business. Meanwhile, Linda Stinson Worley, is running for office as a candidate for state representative. Goals such as these would be considered ambitious under any circumstances. But for both Edwin and Linda, the pursuit of these goals is testimony to how the effective use of health care resources can empower people with disabilities. In 1980, 19-year-old Edwin McWilliams was severely injured when the car he was driving slammed into a telephone pole near his Macon home, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a ventilator to breathe. Linda Stinson Worley is quadriplegic as a result of a virus that struck more than 20 years ago. Edwin and Linda have been given a second chance at living independently thanks to Georgia's Medicaid lndependent Care Waiver Program (ICWP). The state's independent care legislation was established in 1992, the result of efforts by Shepherd Center and local disability rights advocates to convince law makers that Medicaid funds could be more effectively spent on helping severely disabled people live independently, rather than paying for their care in nursing homes and long-term care facilities In some cases, attendant services at home are less expensive than the same services in a nursing home. In 1991, $105,000 was approved to fund a pilot independent care project for a half-dozen people. The following year, funding for the program was expanded to $1.2 million. Today, $5.6 million in state and federal funds allow l l2 disabled Georgians to get the assistance they need at home. Presently, there are 200 people on a waiting list. The 1996-97 increase is due in large part to Governor Zell Miller's budget redirection plan; that plan requires each state agency to trim its budget by five percent, and some of the money saved is being redirected to specific state projects. Edwin's acceptance into the ICWP in July 1995, helped end a crisis for his family, and especially his sister, lune, who lives nearby. Alter his rehab at Shepherd, Edwin returned home to live with his mother who provided him with 24-hour-a~day care for 14 years. 1n 1994, she was diagnosed with cancer, and she passed away earlier this year. When his mother became too ill to care for him, Edwin moved in with lune, who assumed his care. But the full-time demands weighed heavily on her, her husband and their two young daughters now ages six and two. Photo: A woman in a flowery button up shirt sits in a wheelchair with tubes coming off the side. Her head is back and her arms extended on the armrests and she is smiling slightly. Caption reads: Linda Stinsun Wurley is running for state representative — her campaign slogan is, “Paralyzed from the neck down, not the neck up." “Medicaid paid for two-and-a-half hours a day of assistance, but I still had to be there all the time," June recalls. “And they were going to stop paying because they only cover home health when it‘s temporary, and this was a long-term situation." Eventually, though she hated the idea, June tried to find a nursing home for Edwin, but none would accept him. Her only recourse, she was told, was to formally “evict" her brother from her home, forcing the state to place him in a nursing home. “l couldn't bear the thought of that," she says. Through an article in Spinal Column, she read about the waiver program. When Edwin applied, there was a waiting list of 200 people for 40 spots. But because of his acute situation, and through the intervention of his state senator, Edwin was accepted in July, l995, and began participating three months later. “It's a blessing," his sister says. “It's the first time since his injury he's been able to live on his own." The ICWP provides funding for a variety of services, including information and referrals, ‘personal support, home modification, skilled nursing, transportation, companion services, specialized medical equipment and supplies, counseling and personal emergency response services. BOXED TEXT: Managing one's disability is a personal matter first, and medical matter second. Back to article: Edwin has moved into a house in Macon which he rents. He received surgical attention for a pressure sore that had kept him bedridden for the previous five years, and which he could not afford to have treated before. He was able to get a new wheelchair, and under the guidance of his case manager, his home was renovated to accommodate his needs. The improvements included creating one big room out of two smaller ones, modifying the bathroom and shower, widening doorways and installing a deck with ramp to enable him to get around outside. June still cares for Edwin, but only for one eight-hour shift per day as one of three personal support sen/ice individuals. Having helped care for her brother since she was 13, June is qualified to care for him under the ICWP, and she is paid to train Edwin's other caregivers. Now that he's well on the road to independence, Edwin is looking into the possibility of furthering his education. "We are checking into schools," June explains. “He has a desire toward the ministry. But my lather is a retired electrician Boxed Text: What You Can Do - Find out what your state is doing by calling your state Medicaid agency’s home and community-based services department. Call or write your state representative and find out where he or she stands on the issue. -ADAPT is meeting in Atlanta November 2 through 7. For more information, contact Mark Johnson (404) 350-7490. -You Choose, an advocacy guide for lawmakers and citizens is available for Month at (716) 442-2916. -An Overview of Long Term Care Policy, findings and recommendations on home and community based services, is available from the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia at (404) 373-5454. continued from ADAPT 985 & 984 who owned his own business, and Edwin's thinking he might like to do that. Nothing is etched in stone." Thanks to the ICWP, he has the chance to consider opportunities once considered unthinkable. While Edwin McWilliams is only recently becoming more independent, Linda Stinson Worley represents how far someone can go when they get the assistance services they need apart from a nursing home or hospital setting. Linda met her husband, fellow patient Will Worley, at Shepherd in 1978. He was killed by a drunk driver in 1994. “If not for the program, l would be in a nursing home," says Linda. “There’s no life in a nursing home." As it is, Linda Stinson Worley leads a very full life. She is up each day at 6:30 a.m. and out of the house by 8:30. She runs errands and goes shopping or to the post office. She also attends commissioners meetings in Forsyth County, where she is politically active. Other days, especially on the weekends, she spends much of her time making campaign stops. That's because she's a candidate for state representative. The campaign is personal, to an extent, because the man Linda is expected to run against, Mike Evans, opposes the ICWP. Prior to the waiver program, she spent some time in a nursing home, and was later cared for by friends who eventually found themselves burned out by the process. Linda credits the ICWP with allowing her to hire a caregiver whose expertise permitted her to end her dependence on a ventilator and around-the-clock care. “What people need to understand is that the money going toward these waivers is not new tax money, but money being redirected from nursing homes," Linda explains. “It is more cost effective for people to live in their homes, and it's more productive to have people who are independent and happy because of it." Photo of a door Boxed Text next to photo: Although most nursing home residents are over 70, some are as young as two. Not all require the services of nurses on a daily or even a weekly basis. Insert article [barely legible] The Fight to Live at Home Jenny Langley is doing just fine thank you. Jenny is a former Shepherd patient and high quadriplegic who in 1990 proved to Georgia lawmakers that people who need attendant care and financial assistance can have a lifestyle that is minimally burdensome to taxpayers and personally fulfilling. A diving injury at 14 and paralysis at the C5/6 level was followed 10 years later by an automobile accident which left Jenny paralyzed at the C1 level and dependent on a ventilator. Her parents and sister care her at home by the financial strain was too much. After 3 years her insurance was exhausted, family resources were depleted and her parents home was lost to foreclosure. Jenny was facing life in a nursing home when money from Shepherd's indigent care trust fund helped her establish a prototype self managed independent living arrangement. She rented a home in Lawrenceville when which she share with her sister and two nieces and the following year state lawmakers committed $105,000 to fund the pilot project that would eventually become the ICWP. Today Jenny lives in Jonesboro where she continues to advocate for people with disabilities. She chairs the state's advisory group on independent care. Mark Johnson and other disability rights advocates are working to make sure that program not only survives, but is available for more people who need it. Mark is Shepherd's advocacy and community support coordinator and liason with several groups, including ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) which is focusing its efforts this election year on independent living alternatives for peopel with severe disabiltiies. "ADAPT is not partisan and does not endorse candidates but it does educate folks and legislators about creating independent lving alternatives," Mark says. We need to let people know there is quality of life after disability. "Neither side (in the election) has elevated this to the level of importance we want but I'm optimistic" he adds. "I think there has been change and there will be greater change. How fast it goes depends on the outcome of the election. Boxed Text: 1.9 million Americans with disabilities have not choice but to live in nursing homes. Home and community-based services offer a choice. The end. - ADAPT (984)
[This page continues the article from Image 985. Full text available under 985 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (983)
[This page continues the article from Image 985. Full text available under 985 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (982)
A large crowd of ADAPT activists and friends are gathered in a park for a rally. In the background you cand see the Atlanta skyline. They are facing a large banner with the ADAPT Free Our People logo and, partially visable, the words "Our Homes Not Nursing Homes, Free Our People" printed beside the logo. In front of the banner is Justin Dart Jr. in his trademark grey cowboy hat and Alan Holdsworth (aka Johnny Crescendo), and in front of them, Bob Kafka with a big white beard. In the crowd you can see Danny Saenz, Joe Pitti, Diane Coleman, Alfredo Juarez among many others. Everyone has an American flag. Also in the crowd is Linda Stinson Worley, in her sip-and-puff-wheelchair, holding a huge packard that advertizes her candidacy for State Representative of the 28th District. - ADAPT (981)
[Image] [Image caption] ADAPT takes the issue of attendant services in our homes, not nursing homes, right to the door of block-grant mastermind Gov. John Engler. Photo by Carolyn Long [Headline] Lancing a Boil: ADAPT at Work ADAPT's action in Michigan's tiny Capitol Lansing began with a double header. Breaking into two groups of 175 people each, ADAPT's crack troops simultaneously hit the Waldenbooks Stores in both Lansing area malls. Marching in single file through the malls, we made a bee line from the parking lot to the book stores. We silently slipped down the stores aisles between the shelves until every inch of the store was occupied by book browsing ADAPTers. All Newt Gingrich's books were collected and passed up to the leadership team by the front check-out counter. They asked to speak to the manager who was already threading his way through the throng. [Subheading] What would Thoreau have said? C.D. at Walden! ADAPT's demands were simple. Call your corporate office and tell them to call House Speaker (and author) Newt Gingrich with our message that he should stop the double talk. Until Gingrich makes good on his promise to introduce a Community Attendant Services Act, CASA, we want no one profiting from his book sales. By backing out on his commitment to introduce this legislation, Gingrich becomes an active promoter of warehousing people with disabilities n nursing homes and other institutions. "Take the book off the shelves, give it away if you like," our spokes people told Waldenbooks' management, "but do not allow the blood money to continue to flow through your stores." Looking around their jam-packed aisles, both managers quickly agreed to call the corporate offices. The corporate pencil pushers were willing to convey our message, but would not stop their sales. As this was only the start of a busy week we agreed that if the corporate headquarters would fax our demands to the Speaker, we would leave --for now. Waldenbooks complied, and we were on our way. Three actions in one day is probably some kind of record. Moving the troops was quite a job and took several rounds of shuttling. Literally hundreds of us gathered in a church parking lot, as we waited for the rest. Yet ADAPT was still somehow ably to surprise our next target: the folks at the state Republican headquarters just next door. [Subheading] SHOW DOWN AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE Once again sheer numbers allowed us to pack all available space so that no one could get in or out of this building. This time it was so tight, however, that when the police arrived they could barely get close enough to the leadership who were at the center of this human mass. ADAPT declared the state Republican headquarters a nursing home, with no one getting in or out.without ADAPT's approval. We demanded that the Republican party call Speaker Gingrich and tell him to introduce CASA. We also wanted them to ask Michigan Governor Engler to meet with ADAPT, since he had not responded to ADAPT's previous letter requesting a meeting. Last but not least we wanted the Republicans to ask Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, a Republican and head of the National Governor's Association, to meet with ADAPT. [Image] [Image caption] ADAPT activates their wheelchair-cloaking-devices to march up to Gov. Engler's house unnoticed. photo: Carolyn Long Michigan's Governor Engler was a prime target because he is one of the masterminds of the block grant with no strings attached, which is so popular in Congress these days. In addition Engler was one of 20 Governors who wrote the Speaker asking that, in the Houston version of Medicaid reform, they not include people with disabilities among the groups whose funding would be protected from being fully block-granted (see article p.6). Engler has also been slashing at the state community supports for Michiganders with disabilities,.so it was not too hard to imagine his vision for the federal reform of long term care. The party tried contacting the Governor and soon some of his top level staff appeared on the scene. The staff hemmed and hawed, and in the meantime someone back in the Governor's office typed up a letter -- back-dated of course -- trying to pretend the Governor had already responded to r letter of request. (It was such a shoddy job though, that no one was fooled for a second.) Various state department heads were offered up for meetings, but ADAPT remained firm on the Governor. Police swarmed around, not actually doing much of anything. When one rogue cop started to go on a rampage the crowd mellowed out the scene by chanting loudly "WE'RE NON-VIOLENT!" With another couple of intense days ahead, we returned their building, having given them a taste of the medicine forced down the throats of the over seven million disabled Americans needing long term care. [Subheading] CRIPS IN HIS 'HOOD Since Engler's Republican pals could not get him to budge, we decided we had to pay him a visit at home. After all, the policies designed by Engler and promoted by his buddies in Congress not only reach people with disabilities in our homes, they reach right into through our kitchens and bedrooms and into our bathrooms. Without the community based attendant services these power-brokers were so loath to support, many of us can neither eat, nor get in or out of bed, nor relieve ourselves; the only option left is the nursing home. Bright and early Tuesday morning we loaded up our vehicles and began to shuttle our group to the. refined neighborhood the Governor calls home. Mansions dot the little lanes that curve through this 'hood. A little park just down the street offered a somewhat sheltered gathering spot. We were thankful for any shelter -- since freezing drizzle and snow whipped around us in the arctic wind. Once gathered, we set out to find the biggest surprise of the trip awaiting us. Not only did none of the neighbors notice us, the Governor's own staff drove in and then out of the gated driveway as' we approached -- and they left the gate open. Some of the ADAPT gang, not a shy bunch to begin with, took it as an invitation to come on in --so we did. In fact over a hundred of us had strolled up the driveway before Security closed and locked the open gate. [Subheading] LAST ONE IN SHUT THE GATE While the cops were securing the one gate, several of our folks were securing our wheelchairs to the other gate with kryptonite locks. We declared Engler's home a nursing home for the day. Having been caught with their pants down, security and city police decide to get tough: no one allowed out, and no food or drink allowed in. It was sad to think they thought our commitment to freeing our people was only as deep as a McDonald's 65 cent burger or a chilled cup of coffee. Our hearts knew better, and we loudly traded songs and chants with our folks outside the gates. So we kept ourselves warm and our message strong. [Image] [Image caption] show the cops two could play at that game. Photo: C. Long [Subheading] NEITHER RAIN, NOR SNOW... SHALL KEEP THESE MESSENGERS FROM THEIR APPOINTED ROUNDS... Police milled around. The media were all over this story. The Governor's staff came over from his office. They told us that the Governor refused to meet with us. They told the media we were terrorists. But mostly they just wound up looking foolish as our group sat in front of the front door waiting on the Governor to return home. After a while the police picked off a few ADAPT people Who tried jumping the fence and arrested them. At about 4:00 pm, on a signal from our leadership, the ADAPT folks inside lined up along the 301) foot driveway, doubling back when we proved to be longer than the driveway. On cue we marched off the premises. The leaders had negotiated a meet-ing with the head of the state department of health and human services, and we still had one more card up our sleeve for the finale. [Subheading] LAST BUT NOT LEAST The last day offered up perfect fall weather, bright and sunny, with a slight chill in the air. It was far from the bone numbing cold and damp of the day before. This was great because we knew we would be spending much of the day outside again. For the first time we were free of the lengthy shuttling, because our target was just two blocks up the street: the state capitol. The day before the Michigan state militia had been here to protest U.N. Day. But while their message promoted isolationism, ours promoted inclusion and mainstreaming, allowing the many different individuals to enjoy and share, together in one community. We marched up the main thorough-fare that took us directly to the main entrance to the state capitol. We had tried having Engler's political buddies make a meeting, we had tried waiting for him at his home. The only place left it seemed was his office -- so here we were. Upon arrival, we lined up to listen to our leadership talk about our goals and to hear some recent escapees talk about living in the community versus existing in a nursing home or other institution. As our press conference ended, groups set out and took a side of the building. [Image] [Image caption] They literally climbed out windows at the MI state capitol. photo: C. Long [Subheading] GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN ADAPT STYLE Within minutes every door of the Capitol was blocked. Security was dumbfounded, as were the power-suited lobbyists and legislators who had tried to ignore our presence up until then. Soon we saw suits climbing in and out of the ground floor windows as they tried in vain to go on with their business as if nothing had happened. Just before 2 pm, when the Senate was due back in session, the police made an all out attempt and pulled one door open and used themselves to hold open a small passage so that people could enter and leave the building through that door. But what could have been better for ADAPT? Now everyone entering and exiting the building had to pass through our midst, hear our chants and get one of our flyers. Engler still refused to meet and address our concerns, but he had heard us anyway. In fact we had made the Governor, the US Speaker of the House, the public and the state legislature very aware of our concerns. So we declared victory and marched back to our hotel to celebrate the end of another very successful series of national actions. Governor Engler and his minions were so freaked by ADAPT they have tried to build us into a super-funded, militaristic band of terrorists for the media and general Public. It is amazing the lengths some people will go to in order to save face. It is also interesting that within a week or so, Michigan ADAPT received an invitation to meet. - ADAPT (980)
[This page continues the article from image 981. Please refer to 981 for full text] - ADAPT (98)
Rocky Mountain News Fri., Aug. 22, 1980 Denver, Colo. PHOTO by News photographer Steve Groer: A woman (Beverly Furnice) lies in a long wheelchair with the footrests extended; she is being put down the stairs of a city bus. A man in shirt sleeves and a tie, lowering her down, is bent almost double as he stands on the top step of the bus. Beverly looks a bit freaked. Beside her, on the side of the bus, the access symbol is painted. Caption reads: Bevery Furnice is helped from an RTD bus after a snafu over whether the driver would help her or not. An RTD official finally came to the rescue. [Headline] Wheelchair-bound rider discovers RTD'5 Catch-22 By PHILIP REED, News Staff It was a little like the old song about Charlie on the MTA - a Denver woman got on a Regional Transportation District bus Thursday afternoon, but she couldn't get off for 2 1/2 hours. Unlike the song, where the rider didn't have enough money, Beverly Furnice, 43, of 1135 Josephine St., couldn't get off because the driver wouldn't help in unloading her wheelchair. Furnice, who has arthritic legs that jut straight out in front of her, boarded the bus at East Colfax Avenue and Cherry Street after leaving her job at Atlantis at 4 p.m. Thursday. She had help boarding the bus, but the driver warned her he couldn’t help her with her wheelchair when she came to her stop. Wade Blank, head of Atlantis, said her plight shows that RTD should not put "an inaccessible bus on an accessible route." Normally, Furnice rides a more modern bus that allows her to get on and off by herself. But when short of buses, RTD reverts to the use of older buses, which can't handle all types of wheelchairs. The standoff came to an end at 6:30 pm when an RTD supervisor met the bus at Furnice’s East Colfax Avenue and Josephine Street stop and helped the driver with the heavy electric wheelchair. Blank said the mess was caused by indecision over whether drivers should help the handicapped. He said there should be a policy more clearly defining if RTD is going to serve the public. When the bus neared Furnlce’s stop, two Atlantis in wheelchairs were prepared to board the bus to “ride in sympathy.” But the driver parked the bus and, with the help of the RTD supervisor, helped Furnice to get her wheelchair onto the lift at the front entrance of the bus. The bus driver, who seemed more shaken by the experience than Furnice, refused to say why he didn't offer assistance earlier. He also refused to give his name, but politely asked reporters to step back from the folding doors before the hissed shut. Larry Narey, head of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents RTD drivers, said, “It was definitely a setup. s They (Atlantis) are trying to impress on the public that the drivers are insensitive." “But for every war story they can tell, I could tell hundreds of touching stories about how the drivers help and how they feel about handicapped riders," he added. Narey said drivers are required not to leave their driver's seat. But that rule commonly is ignored at the discretion of individual drivers. "Lord, we have even had drivers helping blind people across the street. We want to move people, but there are restrictions. There comes a point where you have to draw the line. The driver in this case is really a very conscientious young man," Narey said. "He feels deeply about helping the handicapped." - ADAPT (979)
[This page continues the article from image 981. Please refer to 981 for full text] - ADAPT (978)
[This page continues the article from image 981. Please refer to 981 for full text] - ADAPT (977)
[This page continues the article from image 981. Please refer to 981 for full text] - ADAPT (976)
Thursday, October 26, 1995 The Ann Arbor News E [Headline[ Disabled keep up protests, block Capitol FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LANSING — On their third day of pro-test, a group demanding better services for the disabled got a meeting Wednesday to voice their views. But it was not with Gov. John Engler. Three members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today met with Jeff McAlvey, Engler's legislative liaison, and then ended the protest of about 300 people who had blocked some entrance ways to the Capitol building. They had requested a meeting with Engler. The protesters rallied briefly at noon in front of the Capitol steps. They broke into smaller groups to block entrances to the Capitol. One entrance remained open for 45 minutes before being blocked by protesters. Michigan State Police reopened another entrance at 1:30 p.m. Five were arrested for trespassing or dis-orderly conduct, state police Inspector Gary Post said. Three of them were booked at the Lansing city jail and released on personal recognizance bonds. The group dispersed about 3:30 p.m. after meeting with McAlvey. Verna Spayth of Ann Arbor, state coordinator of the Denver-based group that has staged sit-ins and other protests for better home care, said ADAPT was disappointed Engler did not meet with its members. "I don't think a meeting would have been too much to ask. He apparently thought he could wait us out. But our constituents are outraged and we vow to stay in his face," Spayth said. Engler spokesman John Truscott said the governor was not available. He declined to say where the Republican governor was. [Image] [Image caption] State Police prepare to move Bob Kafka, national organizer of ADAPT, from entrance to Capitol at Wednesday's protest. Photo by: ANN ARBOR NEWS BUREAU PHOTO - ADAPT (975)
Chicago Tribune, Thursday, October 26, 1995 Section 1 5 [Image] [Image caption] Michigan protest: Demonstrators in wheelchairs block the steps of the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday. They want federal laws favoring in-home care over nursing home care. - ADAPT (974)
[Headline] A CRY FOR CARE [3 Images] [Image caption for all 3 images] ABOVE Michigan State Police troopers drag Philadelphia resident Eileen "Spitfire" Sable away from the Capitol. CENTER: Topeka, Kan., resident Pepper Daniel leads a group of protesters as a young girt walks by. TOP: Jell McAlvey, a legislative liaison to Gov. John Engler, meets with three ADAPT protesters. Photos by: State News/MATT CONAHAN [Subheading] ADAPT blockades Capitol; group demands to see Engler By LEE JERNSTADT STATE NEWS STAFF WRITER LANSING--About 300 people with disabilities stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, where they attempted to prevent people from entering or leaving the building so state officials could feel what it's like to be "trapped." During the demonstration, which was organized by the group American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, hundreds of wheelchair users and other ADAPT members banded together to block every Capitol entrance. They chanted, waved signs and pre-vented many Capitol workers from entering. This is the group's fourth Lansing-area protest this week where ADAPT members decried the practice of putting people with disabilities into nursing homes instead of providing them with in-home care. They said laws trap people in nursing homes and do not give them any choice in their medical care. The protesters said they would not leave until Gov. John Engler met with them and listened to their concerns. "Putting people in nursing homes is a capital offense, so we're going to turn this Capitol into a nursing home," shouted Bob Liston, ADAPT Michigan organizer, as he lined up protesters in front of the Capitol steps. But Engler spokesman John Truscott said Engler will not meet with ADAPT members. "We will not meet with groups that resort to illegal tactics," Truscott said. ADAPT members broke through gates and approached the governor's mansion in Lansing on Tuesday during a protest. Throughout the more than four-hour demonstration, police arrested five people for trespassing and disorderly conduct because they were blocking doors, said Gary Post, an inspector in the executive division of the state police. All had disabilities. No injuries or damages were reported. As protesters chanted and tried to pull people away from doors, dismayed Capitol workers returning from lunch wandered from entrance to entrance, searching for a way in. Curious onlookers inside the building peeked out of windows to see what was going on. Many workers had to be escorted by police to get past the protesters and enter the building. "I think it's nuts," said East Lans-ing resident Chad Linzey, who works in the House Clerk's office in the Capitol. "I just want to go in and do my job." The demonstration ended peace-fully when state police Lt. Tom Ambs negotiated an agreement with protesters, Post said. The crowd dispersed after several ADAPT members entered and delivered a letter to Engler's office stating their demands. Jerry Lawler executive director of the Capitol Committee, which oversees the Capitol grounds -- said the protesters only were able to completely close off the building for about 30 minutes. Police were able to clear at least one door the rest of the time. "It's just an inconvenience," Lawler said. "Nothing's been stopped." Both the state House and Senate held session as scheduled Wednesday. Lawler said two groups of school children who were at the Capitol for field trips entered the building during the protest, and many were in tears after being rushed through the group of protesters. The rally began with speakers before the crowd moved to the doors. Charlie Buck, an ADAPT member from Nashville, Tenn., who attended the protest, said his group has asked U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, and other ranking Republicans, to change laws that require states to provide nursing home care with Medicaid dollars, but not at-home care. "We're all about community, and if they're in support of families and communities, why can't they set aside 25 percent of (Medicaid) mon-ey so those people who choose to live at home, can," he said. Engler supports ADAPT's cause but not their methods, Truscott said. "Michigan is one of the most progressive states in the country," he said. But Liston said Engler has consistently ignored his group's concerns.