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בית / אלבומים / Las Vegas, fall 1994 26
תאריך פרסום / 2019
Video Incitement- Las Vegas 1994
Here is the video Incitement story of the ADAPT action in Las Vegas Nevada, 1994, when ADAPT again protested the American Health Care Assn, AHCA, convention there. Closing streets, protesting at the Convention Center and the AHA hotel, ADAPT fought to make the nursing home providers deal with the pain and havoc their industry causes in the lives of people with disabilities of all ages.
ADAPT v AHCA Las Vegas 1994
Edited video footage of Las Vegas ADAPT action mixed with news clips from same action. Shows protest of AHCA convention by disability rights group ADAPT. Shows protests at Las Vegas Convention Center, on Paradise Dr. and at Hyatt Hotel. Video by Gordie Haug
ADAPT (900)
[This page continues the article from image 901. The full text is available under Image 900] [Image description] Behind a wall of police barricades that have bars and come up to their necks, a line of people in wheelchairs have their arms up and are chanting. One man {Alfredo Juarez] has a bullhorn. They have large posters in front of their legs which read "The Nursing Home [unreadable word with a scales of justice picture]", "Family Values not AHCA dollars" and "Redirect [not readable.]
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LAS VEGAS VOL. 45 / NO. 103 LAS VEGAS SUN P.M. STREET WEEKEND SUN FRI/SAT/SUN, SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 2, 1994 [Headline] Metro gears up for protest By Bob Shemeligian Metro Police are bracing for planned demonstrations by disabled people at next week's American Health Care Association convention. The convention runs Sunday through Thursday at the Las Vegas Hilton. In terms of strength of conviction, the demonstrators are no different from animal rights and environmental activists. But in other ways, these demonstrators - members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today- are special. Many don't walk. They use wheelchairs. Others use respirators. In other cities, ADAPT activists have chained themselves to buildings and thrown themselves from their wheelchairs onto the pavement to draw attention to the issue of how money is spent in nursing homes. Disabled demonstrators have been arrested during AHCA conventions in cities such as San Francisco, Orlando, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn. Metro officers have been planning for months on how to maintain public safety during the planned demonstrations. "We're working closely with the fire department, paramedics, the staff of Clark County detention and others to make sure there's adequate medical and support personnel on the scene and that our transportation vehicles are equipped," Lt Carl Fruge said. Members of ADAPT say they have nothing against the Las Vegas Hilton, which is hosting the 45th annual AHCA convention. Nor do they bear any grudges against the Las Vegas community. "We didn't come to this city to interfere with the lives of the residents," said Mike Auberger, ADAPT national organizer. Auberger, who uses a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury, co-founded ADAPT 12 years ago. He lives in Denver. During the past 10 years, ADAPT activists have been arrested and jailed numerous times during demonstrations. They have battled for accessible public transit now required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Four years ago, the group began to focus its attention on the nation's nursing home system. ADAPT wants Congress to redirect 25 percent of $23 billion in nursing home funds to home care for the disabled. Activists argue that more than 1.6 million disabled Americans are being cared for in nursing homes, many against their will, and that this shift in funding is more practical and more humane. "We're talking about a $60 billion industry, and Medicaid dollars pay for the lion's share of nursing care," Auberger said. "If you redirect some of that money into the community, it would allow some individuals in nursing homes a path home." Auberger acknowledges the demonstrations could get a little hectic and could cause disturbances to area motor and pedestrian traffic. "Bear with us," Auberger said. "We have a reason for doing this." Auberger said as baby boomers get older, many of them will develop age-acquired disabilities. He fears many will be placed in nursing homes against their will. Moreover, Auberger said many young Americans received spinal cord injuries in traffic and sports accidents. They also deserve a choice about what type of care they will receive. "We're talking about 500,000 people with spinal cord injuries," Auberger said. "They could fill a city almost as big as Las Vegas." Not only Metro has prepared for the demonstrators. Kathy Shepard, director of Communications for Hilton's gaming division, said hotel security officers will take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of guests and employees during the demonstrations. The Hilton is not taking a position. AHCA officials are not planning any demonstrations. "We don't have a quarrel with their position on the need for a tenant care program," said Dave Long, AHCA spokesman. 'But we're not the right audience. They probably need to talk to Congress and other folks about that." Long said AHCA officials have met with representatives of ADAPT several times in recent months. "We continue to try to have a dialogue with the group, to see if we can help bring about a resolution," Long said. Fruge believes the department has accomplished at least one thing with ADAPT. The department has asked each demonstrator to carry a "Vial of Life," which is a small plastic bottle containing a slip of paper with crucial medical information such as medical history, allergies and other specific conditions. Fruge explained that if one of the demonstrators loses consciousness or is unable to communicate with officers, the information could save his life.
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[Headline] SHOWDOWN ON PARADISE ! What happens when you combine over 400 ADAPT folks from 34 states, 10,000 plus AHCA (American Health Care Association) members, a hotel that is still smarting from the Tenderhook scandal, and the raw energy of Las Vegas? Well, ADAPT hit the jackpot! ADAPT's annual protest at the AHCA nursing home lobby group's October 2 -7, 1994 convention was a great success. Three great days of actions, record numbers of ADAPT folks from more places, 486 arrests for acts of civil disobedience show that despite Health Care Reform's set backs, our momentum continues to grow. [Subheading] THEY FEEL THE HEAT AHCA tried to buy us off with a promise to support the idea of a national attendant services program, but refused to include anything about redirection or other funding for such a program. (ADAPT hasn't just fallen off the turnip truck, and wouldn't fall for that old trick; services without funding -- equal no service.) Even as they tried to "negotiate", however, AHCA -- true to form —was conniving behind the scenes. Behind closed doors AHCA worked from day one to try and get a court injunction to stop ADAPT's protests. [Subheading] DON'T GAMBLE WITH OUR LIVES Just to raise the tension, Monday evening, a group of 25 ADAPT folks went over to the Hilton, where AHCA was staying, to mingle and "welcome" the convention-goers. AHCA was horrified to have to brush elbows with ADAPT. [Subheading] FLUSH AHCA ROYALLY Protests began Tuesday, October 4, 1994 with a march on AHCA. In single file, the troops marched down Paradise Street to the front of the Hilton, where we held a press conference explaining why ADAPT was in Las Vegas. Mark Johnson laid out ADAPT's demand: that 25% of Medicaid dollars currently going to nursing homes some $60 Billion is be redirected to fund home and community-based attendant services. Then Cecil Rawlins and Monique Alexander spoke of their own experience with the personal cost of warehousing people. Cecil, who is dying to get out of a nursing home, spoke of the loss of dignity, liberty and hope. Monique, a vent user who recently has moved from a nursing home to her own apartment, spoke of the sense of freedom and worth she has found since she has her own home. After the press conference the march continued on down Paradise to the Las Vegas Convention Center. For hours MICA members had to file past ADAPT's protest, confronted by the wrath of those they allegedly "care" for ADAPT, with chants and signs, held AHCA accountable for their oppression of people with disabilities. [Subheading] RAISING THE ANTE A pre-selected group of 75 people eventually left the larger group to deliver the resolution ADAPT has asked AHCA to address since 1990. Marching down the main drive, ADAPT brushed past Convention Center officials who feebly tried to stop us. There was a rush on the doors which, surprisingly, were not locked. Many managed to get inside before security started to tussle and block. Eventually all were arrested but not before some confronted AHCA establishment inside. That evening a small group again slipped over to the Hilton to remind the AHCA folks of whose lives were being spent to fund AHCA's fun. [Image] [Image caption] Diane Coleman, Alfredo Juarez and Alfonso Williams cry out for justice. Photo: Tom Olin [Subheading] A SQUARE DEAL Day two we used a Nashville technique, as all 400 ADAPT folks marched down in front of the Hilton and took over the crosswalks at Paradise and Riviera, the intersection right in front of the Hilton. Old-time ADAPT member Rev. Willie Smith mastered a brief ceremony in honor of those who had escaped from nursing homes, those who had died there and those who were still locked away. We erected a giant cross and hung a wheelchair from it to symbolize the sacrifice of lives of people with disabilities, young and old, for a nursing home industry which cares only for the profits to be milked. [Subheading] VEGAS ACTION The traffic snarl spread and spread, admittedly an inconvenience for the Las Vegas public, but a minor inconvenience compared with what people with disabilities have gone through just to try and live in their own homes. Eventually the cops moved a They pulled on their latex gloves preparing for arrest, only to find ADAPT pulling on our latex gloves equally prepared. Over 200 people were arrested. [Subheading] ALOHA AHCA The last day ADAPT returned to the Las Vegas Convention Center. A little man littered the driveway as he tried to pass out court orders AHCA had gotten that morning forbidding ADAPT from going into the Convention Center. Again the cross was erected, ADAPT rallied and MICA members had to pass right by their ADAPT "fans" to get from one part of the convention to another. ADAPT had learned AHCA's next party designation was Hawaii so we all waived our leis as they skittered by. On a designated signal three groups moved out to the edges of the Convention property and simultaneously blocked each of the driveways to the Convention Center. Another 200 were arrested that day. After processing, ADAPT went back into the Hilton to visit the one and two armed bandits.
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[Headline] Protesters test mettle of conference-goers By Bob Shemeligian LAS VEGAS SUN [Image] [Image caption] The first protesters break through barricades Tuesday and into the Las Vegas Convention Center. Frank McNeal, left, of Denver carries a sign which sums up many of the protesters' desires. BY BRAD TALBUTT / STAFF Organizers of a national disabled rights group planned more local demonstrations against nursing homes today. But it will be hard for them to top their Tuesday afternoon actions at the Las Vegas Convention Center. More than 300 members of American Disabled for Attendant Program, many in wheelchairs, shouted at nursing home representatives from behind barricades and 44 were arrested as they tried to enter the convention center to press their demands. The demonstrators also hung a wheelchair from a cross in front of the convention center. "We're being crucified daily by AHCA," demonstrator George Zakarewsky of Philadelphia said as he helped raise the wheelchair. Zakarewsky was referring to the American Health Care Association, a trade association representing 11,000 nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. More than 4,000 AHCA representatives are attending meetings and seminars at the convention center this week. Many of the trade association members are staying at the Las Vegas Hilton. The protesters carried placards that stated: "Don't Gamble with Our Lives," "Nursing Homes - No Dice" and "You Can't Have Sex in a Nursing Home " Many of them chanted: "AHCA, AHCA, cut the crap. Time to face ADAPT." ADAPT members say they bear no grudges against the Hilton, the convention center or the Tag Vegas community. They say they are here to protest the "incarceration" of disabled Americans in nursing homes. ADAPT wants Congress to redirect 25 percent of $23 billion in nursing home funds to home care for the disabled. Activists argue that more than 1.6 million disabled Americans are being cared for in nursing homes, many against their will, and that this shift in funding is more practical and more humane. "AHCA would like you to believe that the nursing home industry is a 'care' industry," said ADAPT member Mark Johnson of Atlanta. "In reality, they represent corporate giants that profit off the needs of people with disabilities and their families at the expense of lives." Johnson said if AHCA would support the demonstrators' position on the reallocation of nursing home funds, the protests would stop. But Dave Kyllo, AHCA spokesman, said the association cannot and will not support that position. "We believe the issue of expanded home care for the disabled should be addressed through national health-care reform," Kyllo said. Kyllo said the demonstrators delayed some AHCA members on their way to seminars and caused other disruptions, but most trade members carried on. "It's been a long day," Kyllo said. The same was true for 120 Metro Police and Nevada Highway Patrol officers who were on the scene to direct traffic and curtail illegal acts by the protesters. Scores of Metro officers escorted protesters from the convention center to buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. The protesters who were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing were processed at a temporary facility within a quarter mile of the convention center. Metro Lt. Carl Fruge said some officers suffered bruised shins trying to grapple with protesters in electric wheelchairs. "These chairs are so powerful, they could actually break legs," Fruge said. Police officials said they are not happy with the manner in which they are being treated by the protesters. "When we met with ADAPT officials, we pleaded with them to give us an idea of when we would be needed, to handle staff changes on our side, and to keep the costs down for taxpayers, but they have failed to do so," Fruge said. ADAPT officials and members say their cause is a crucial one, and the Las Vegas community should bear with them. "The big issue is that nursing homes have a sugar daddy in Medicaid," ADAPT member Scott Heincman said. "Nursing homes are prison. They tell you when to eat, when to go to bed. They suck dry the human spirit." "I'd rather die than go back to a nursing home," said Monique Alexander, who has spent all but three of her 24 years in one. Lajuina Votaw of ADAPT said she once worked in a nursing home as a private duty nurse. "I've seen things from the other side of the fence," said Votaw, who is confined to a wheelchair. "There are people lying there in their own urine. They need to be changed. They lie there so long, they get chilled and sometimes they die I know what goes on in nursing homes."
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[This article continues from image 892. Please refer back to 892 for full text] Image description: Two police officers carry a woman [Dallas _______] between them by her arms and ankles. She is yelling or chanting. One of the officers looks down at her while the other looks away; both have mirror sun glasses.
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[This page continues the article from image 901. The full text is available under Image 901]
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Nevada Review-Journal/5B Friday, September 30, 1994 [Headline] Activists to protest for the disabled [Subheading] A group called ADAPT wants to focus attention on the issue of independent living for the disabled. By Jan Greene Review-Journal A debate over how federal money is spent on the disabled could spill into Las Vegas' streets next week, when an estimated 500 disabled activists demonstrate at the national convention of a nursing home group. The activists' group, called ADAPT, has held high-profile demonstrations n the last four cities where the National Health Care Association has met, shutting down a major thoroughfare in San Francisco in 1992 and prompting 107 arrests last year in Nashville. Metropolitan Police Department officials are taking the group's appearance in Las Vegas seriously enough to train 120 officers in techniques to arrest people in wheelchairs. The Police Department held a news conference Thursday to alert the public that there may be traffic problems near the Las Ve- gas Convention Center and Las Vegas Hilton next week. Police spokesman Lt Carl Fruge said police met with ADAPT leaders Wednesday but were told few details of what the group plans. Fruge said the activists had canceled plans for a march from the Plaza Hotel downtown to the convention center, a 21/2-mile trip. Still, Fruge said police are preparing in case ADAPT stages an impromptu parade. As for the potential for arrests, Fruge was circumspect, saying that police would "be patient" and act only if public safety is threatened. "We're not going to rush in there," Fruge said. "We would be very reluctant to make arrests. It's when they leave us no choice." Fruge said protesters' previous tactics have included blocking building entrances, chaining themselves to buildings, closing streets and flinging themselves from wheelchairs to the ground. Mike Auberger, national organizer for ADAPT, offered no specifics about tactics for this year's protest. "It's hard to say exactly what we'll be doing," Auberger said. "We'll be focusing on the convention center and hotel." Auberger said the group wants to focus attention on the issue of independent living for the disabled, not disrupt life for Las Vegans. "Our intention certainly isn't to screw with the Vegas public at large," he said. Asked about disruption caused by the closure of a major street in San Francisco for several hours during a previous protest, Auberger said it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if traffic had to be rerouted from Paradise Road for a few hours. "From an inconvenience level it's unfortunate, but it's not nearly as bad as being forced into a nursing home for the rest of your life," he said. ADAPT wants 25 percent of the Medicaid and Medicare budgets for nursing home care shifted to programs that would allow the disabled to move into independent-living arrangements. The group argues that powerful lobbyists for nursing homes have stalled efforts to move funds to home nursing care and personal attendants, which Auberger said would save money. "Morally we have an obligation to elderly adults and young disabled adults ... to provide as much freedom as we can," he said. Dave Kyllo, a spokesman for the American Health Care Association, said his organization supports more money for independent living, but not at the expense of nursing homes. He said already too little money is spent caring for an ever-increasing number of elderly people who need long-term care.
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PHOTO: A man in a sun glasses and a suit stands in a doorway, a police officer behind him. To his left someone is video taping him. In front a mass of wheelchairs face right into him. A standoff at the door.
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A line of ADAPT activists in wheelchairs, many in the front being pushed snakes across a large parking lot. Some ADAPT vans are in view. In the front is Tubby ____ and Kim ______, behind them Bobby Simpson and many more.
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PHOTO: A man and two women AHCA members walk down the sidewalk. The man looks at the ground, one woman looks straight ahead and one looks with concern to her right where the police barricades keep back the crowd of ADAPT protesters.
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Two APTA delegates, Herbert and Jerry, one smiling and one with a puzzled look, walk along a sidewalk, with a couple of other delegates hidden behind them. At the edge of the sidewalk a police barrier is strung and behind the barrier a huge crowd of ADAPT members are protesting. The ADAPT flag flies above the crowd.
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PHOTO: A mass of ADAPT people in a parking lot with many vans behind them. A line of people is emerging from the group and heading off, single file, to an action.
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Wednesday, October 5, 1994 Las Vegas Review-Journal [Image] A group of about 10 police officers, wearing medical exam gloves and one with a video camera, fill an open glass double doorway. Facing them are two ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs (probably Buddy Homiller and Karen Greebon) with others visable only at the edges of the photo. People are holding the doors open and one of the officers is trying to pull a door shut. Caption reads: Metropolitan Police Department officers try Tuesday to hold back disabled protesters at an entrance to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Seventy six protesters were arrested. No one was injured. Headline: Disabled protesters arrested [Headline] Disabled protesters arrested By Jan Greene Review-Journal [Image] Smaller photo down below headline by Jim Laurie/Review Journal: Woman (Sharon Atkinson) in a motorized wheelchair has a large poster that reads "Nursing Homes = Jails." On either side of her police officers are holding onto her chair. [Image caption] Sharon Atkinson of Denver was one of 76 disabled protesters arrested at the Las Vegas Convention Center for trespassing at the American Health Care Association convention. Demonstrators tried to force their way into the yearly convention of a health trade group. A raucous group of about 250 disabled protesters, many in wheelchairs, marched Tuesday on the Las Vegas Convention Center, where 76 of them were arrested after a contingent tried to force its way into the building. No one was hurt in the confrontation, although one man's wheelchair was broken when he was wedged between protesters, convention center security guards and police, each side pushing and pulling on the building's glass doors. That struggle proved to be the most dramatic point in a day of noisy dissent by a group called ADAPT, or Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. Members travel each year to the site of the annual convention of the American Health Care Association, a nursing home trade group. Protesters chanted "Free our people," and argued that a chunk of the federal Medicaid and Medicare funds that go to nursing homes be shifted to allow people to live on their own. The industry group said it agrees that more money should be spent on independent living for the disabled, but that the funds shouldn't come from what's now spent in nursing homes. Around noon, northbound traffic on Paradise Road was backed up for blocks as one lane was closed to accommodate the protesters, who slowly made their way from the Sahara Hotel parking lot to the convention center. Slowing their progress and forcing them into the street was a curb that had not been cut to accommodate wheelchairs. "This is so irrational," complained protester Marta Russell of Los Angeles. "This is what we face every day." Around 1 p.m., the group gathered in an arranged "First Amendment trespass area" at the convention center, where they yelled, chanted, honked horns and hung a wheelchair on a wooden cross as curious conventioneers looked on. [Image] [Image caption] A demonstrator is hauled away Tuesday during a Vegas Convention Center. No one was reported to have been hurt during the confrontation. Jim Laurie Review-Journal [Headline] Protest Meanwhile, part of the group moved toward an entrance to the convention center, where security guards met them and warned they would be arrested if they continued. They moved forward, with some darting into a door and the rest blockading the entrance. The protesters who went inside were arrested, and the rest were slowly taken into custody by Las Vegas police officers. Protesters in wheelchairs were escorted into special buses, although a few went limp and had to be carried away. The 76 people cited were charged with misdemeanor trespass, with 32 of them agreeing to leave once cited and the rest being taken to a temporary detention center before their release. They face a maximum penalty of $1,000 and six months in jail. Police Lt. Carl Fruge said the arrests were requested by healthcare association officials. The group's lease of the convention center meant it temporarily became their private property, according to convention center officials. Fruge and Don Ahl, security chief for the convention center, said protesters were stopped at the doors to prevent them from entering the building and threatening the safety of those inside. "That's where we drew the line," Fruge said. "The idea was to contain this for public safety." Mike Auherger, a national organizer for ADAPT, called the day a success because it drew heavy media coverage for his cause and nobody got hurt. [Pulled quote] "That's where we drew the line. The idea was to contain this for public safety." -Carl Fruge Las Vegas police He said further protests could occur today or Thursday, depending on whether health care association officials continue to seek a temporary restraining order to stop the protests. Meanwhile, protesters and convention attendees offered starkly different views about the nursing home issue. John Gladstone, 52, lived in a Philadelphia nursing home for 14 years and will never go back. "I know people who have committed suicide because they were confined in a nursing home," he said. "There are deplorable conditions, and no independence. You have to sign in and sign out." Gladstone now lives independently and has an attendant who helps him with household and personal chores he can't do himself When he needs medical care, he goes to the hospital and sees his doctor. But Ted Dehass, the owner of nursing homes in central Ohio, said most people in his homes are elderly or disabled enough to need constant medical care. "I remember seeing people like this in homes years ago, but not anymore," he said. Dehass also argued that if ADAPT wants more money for home care, it should be making its case to state legislators, not nursing home owners.