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Hjem / Albumer / Baltimore - Washington DC, Spring 1995 34
Innleggsdato
Baltimore/DC May 1995
News footage of protests by ADAPT against Newt Gingrich and Manor Care company, a major owner of nursing homes. Lots of traffic reports too.
ADAPT (904)
DISCLOSURE 7 JULY-AUGUST 1995 [Image] Man in ADAPT T-shirt [Jim Glozier] walks in line of protesters mostly in wheelchairs. With his left hand he is driving a little boy's [Kyle Glozier] motorized wheelchair. Kyle is wearing a bandana headband and in front of him is a small briefcase sized box [a communication device] attached to his wheelchair. Jim and Kyle are looking ahead with determined expressions. Several others are visible behind them. [Image caption] Kyle Glozier, right, and his father Jim were part of the ADAPT, Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, march through Washington, D C. as part of the group's national action In May. [Headline] Health-care industry, Newt, Shalala forced to ADAPT or perish The national action of the Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today can easily be summarized. As they have for several years, the hundreds-strong national organization of the disabled went to Washington to pursue their goal of more federal support for home care and other programs instead of massive subsidy of the nursing home business. Here's how ADAPT leaders summarized it: Newt saw. Newt ran. Newt slept in a hotel. Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, saw (Monday). Donna Shalala came (Wednesday). Donna Shalala was impressed. Donna Shalala wrote a letter supporting ADAPT's Community Attendant Services Act. The Health Care Finance Administration Director saw. HCFA met with more than 30 local ADAPT groups and plans to learn more. HCFA came. HCFA is beginning to understand. Manor Care corporation saw. Manor Care heard the issues and the demands. Manor Care locked their doors. Manor Care learned what nursing home life is like--Welcome to the nursing home, you can't get out! ADAPT's lawyer is working on the tickets given to 110 arrestees. The 700 leaders at the ADAPT conference made progress on their goal of a new law to provide a community-based alternative-to nursing homes and institutions for people with developmental dis-abilities. Called CASA, the Community Attendant Services Act, the law they propose would redirect the huge federal subsidies to the nursing home industry toward community-based alternatives that treat people with dignity. Newt Gingrich's landlords at 110 Maryland Ave., N.E. must be getting tired of seeing activists of every stripe trample their lawn. Just weeks after NPA visited the building on the last Sunday in April, ADAPT showed up twice in two days , barring entrance to the building for most of one day. Although they won't meet with Newt until September, Shalala did come to the conference, where she read a statement of support for the organization's goals. "I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for the principles of emphasizing home- and community-based services and offering consumers the maximum amount of choice, control, and flexibility in how those services are organized and delivered," Shalala told the four hundred people gathered at the conference. Maybe the best summary came from Norbert Holmblad, who wrote in the group's magazine, Incitement: "This is the first time I completely crossed the line on something this large and important....I'm sure they won't forget or easily forget the messages that our pathetic, ragtag, but very powerful group made."
ADAPT (936)
[Headline] ADAPT: FREE OUR PEOPLE [Subheading] STATEMENT AT THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BUILDING MAY 15, 1995 PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FROM THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES ARE AT THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BUILDING BECAUSE ALMOST 2 MILLION PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE LOCKED AWAY AGAINST THEIR WILL IN NURSING HOMES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS. ADAPT WANTS TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE OUR LONG TERM CARE SYSTEM SO THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WILL NO LONGER BE FORCED INTO NURSING HOMES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS. WE WANT TO REDIRECT THE CURRENT FEDERAL FUNDING NOW GOING TO NURSING HOMES AND OTHER. INSTITUTIONS TO CREATE A NATIONAL ATTENDANT SERVICES PROGRAM THAT WILL FREE OUR PEOPLE! WE HAVE CHALLENGED THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO ENDORSE A NATIONAL ATTENDANT SERVICES PROGRAM. THEY HAVE RESPONDED! WE WILL BE MEETING WITH SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DONNA SHALALA AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE HEALTH CARE FINANCING ADMINISTRATION BRUCE VLADECK ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 17TH AT THE HHS BUILDING. ADAPT WILL TELL THEM THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE BEING WAREHOUSED IN INSTITUTIONS LOSING OUR FREEDOM, DIGNITY AND OUR CIVIL RIGHTS. WE WANT THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO ACT! SECRETARY SHALALA MUST ACT! THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW! ACTION NOT RHETORIC! WE WANT THEM TO ENDORSE CASA AND THE IT IS BASED ON. ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS! WE WILL NOW TAKE OUR MESSAGE TO CONGRESS! ADAPT HAS PROPOSED LEGISLATION CALLED THE COMMUNITY ATTENDANT SERVICES ACT (CASA). CASA WILL CREATE THE NATIONAL ATTENDANT SERVICES PROGRAM THAT WILL FINALLY GIVE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES A REAL CHOICE OF COMMUNITY BASED ATTENDANT SERVICES. WE WANT CONGRESS TO PASS CASA! ONLY THEN WILL THE NURSING HOME INDUSTRY LOSE IT DEATHGRIP ON PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WHO NEED LONG TERM CARE SERVICES. WE WILL TAKE CASA TO THE LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS! THEY MUST ACT! THEY MUST FREE OUR PEOPLE! P.O. Box 9598 • Denver, CO. 80209 Voice/TDD 303-333-6698
ADAPT (934)
[Headline] CAPITOL CONFRONTATIONS [Image] [Image caption] ADAPT left Gingrich a wake-up call an his apartment pager system. Photo: Tom Olin Out on the plaza in front of the Washington, DC headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, Mike Auberger's cellular phone rang. HHS Secretary Donna Shalala's aide was calling to complain that inside the Administration's fourth floor offices ADAPT's cries were distracting the staff. Outside, stretching across the plaza and lined six deep, ADAPT and our supporters were holding a press conference, ADAPT style, to announce our arrival in the Capitol and to call again for freedom for our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and for our grandparents from the nursing homes of America which still imprison almost two million of us. "Can you hear us, on the inside?" we chanted to the bureaucrats who oversee the national policies which support the institutional bias in our long term care system. Day leader Maria Ways spoke to the crowd saying "ADAPT wants to fundamentally change our long term care system so that people with disabilities will no longer be forced into nursing homes and other institutions. We have challenged the Clinton Administration to endorse a national attendant services program. They have responded! .... We will take our message to Congress! We want Congress to pass [a national attendant services program] CASA! Only then will the nursing home industry lose its deathgrip on people in this country who need long term care services." Secretary Shalala had agreed to meet with us and have her Health Care Finance Administration, HCFA, officials sit down with ADAPT and try to work on ways to end this bias. ADAPT had agreed to focus on other collaborators Congress and its leadership. So 700 ADAPT supporters who had gathered from around the nation for the press conference turned and marched up the hill, destination: the Speaker's office inside the Capitol. [Subheading] CRIPS IN THE CRYPT Just one year ago, while still Minority Whip, Newt Gingrich had met with ADAPT and promised to support a national attendant services program which is consumer controlled. Yet, despite lip service to the program ADAPT is promoting, Gingrich failed to come through. Ongoing, good faith efforts on the part of Georgia ADAPT were shrugged off. Even after ADAPT drafted a bill, the Community Attendant Services Act, CASA, and sent it to him and other legislators to consider sponsoring, Gingrich and his staff would not make a move, would not even say no. Letters and phone requests for a meeting while ADAPT was in town had been ignored. So, once again ADAPT came en force, to Gingrich's door, hoping he would make good on his previous commitments. Marching with 700 is not the same as marching with one hundred. One week post the Oklahoma bombing, federal security was still extremely tight. We entered the Capitol in a steady trickle. As the first of the group entered the restricted area in which the Speaker's office is located, the line strung out through the whole Capitol, through security check, out the accessible east door, down the ramp, and down the driveway to Independence Ave. We had planned to wait until an appointment was made, but Security said anyone who did not leave would be arrested. As arrests started, supporters in the Crypt of the Capitol (the room under the Rotunda) began chanting. "I'd rather go to jail than to die in a nursing home" echoed down the marbled halls. [Subheading] ADAPT MAKES A HOUSE CALL ADAPT was not finished for the day however. We announced we were moving to a shady spot to cool down and have lunch. The shady spot we settled in just happened to be in front of Newt's home, a couple blocks from the Capitol. Hundreds of disabled people out on a picnic creates a scene by itself. [Image] [Image caption] Photo: Tam Olin. The building is owned by the United Methodists. A negotiation team was sent into their office building next door to see if Newt's landlords would have better luck calling him than we had At first there were discussions of proper channels, strategy on our CASA bill, etc. But as it drew closer to closing time and more and more of us began to gather in their lobby, the United Methodists began to call his office in earnest. Then a funny thing happened. We had gathered in the church office, and repeated calls had been ignored by the Gingrich staff. Staff had, at first, claimed Newt was out of town, but it slipped out that he had returned to DC around noon. Then they claimed he was making a speech at the State Department and could not be reached by phone, as all the phones there were out of order. The church people grew outraged as Gingrich's staffs tales grew taller and taller. To add insult to injury, Gingrich's Legislative Director Krister Holladay would put each call on hold and never pick it up again. At one point we were on hold on four lines at once. Media swarmed around. All we asked for was a meeting. First we were told a month's wait, then next week, then Friday. But we were set to leave on Thursday and the Speaker did not offer to cover additional expenses. Finally the head of the United Methodist office said she was joining us and wanted an end to these excuses. But Gingrich was on the lamb. So, as six o'clock came and went, we vowed to seek out the Speaker on Tuesday, and headed for home. The last of our crowd were still trickling in after 11 pm. It had been a long, hard day. At 10:30pm Holladay, the legislative staffer, had called our hotel to offer a meeting next week with five of our people; for the same reasons as before, next week was not acceptable. [Subheading] BACK ON THE BEAT Tuesday we picked up where we left off on Monday. To get into DC from where we were staying we had to shuttle in city buses driven by local transit union members, to the closest Metro stop several miles away. There we set up a relay system and shuttled folks via Metro into downtown. Day two we got off on the stop right outside the Republican National Headquarters. When they saw the first few ADAPT folks arriving, they slammed shut their doors and would not let anyone in without multiple picture ID and a pat down. They had not forgotten our visit last year. Once assembled, we marched over t the Rayburn House Office Building to stop in at Gingrich's district office where we had met with him last year. We had had luck there in the past, perhaps we would have it again this time. That was not to be. We were only met with stonewalling once again. We asked why the Speaker would have pledged support once and then act this way. Why would he ignore a program which would more cost effectively serve people, would get Government off our backs by reducing federally mandated bias for institutions, would support family values by allowing people to remain at home instead of forcing them into institutions in order to receive services, and would support what the people want? His staff had no answer, except to ask the police to arrest us. [Subheading] MESSAGE DELIVERED We returned to Newt's house that afternoon to demand that people be allowed to live in their own homes. We felt the Speaker would best understand the im-portance of one's own home if access to his was made as difficult as he keeps access to ours. [Image] [Image caption] Manor Care was completely surrounded with every entrance blocked. Photo: Tom Olin Charging the front door of the apartment building ADAPT soon packed the circular driveway in front of the building, swarmed up the ramp and covered the lawn and sidewalks. Chants of "Our Homes Not Nursing Homes" and "Free Our People" roared through the air. Tussles at the door got one ADAPT member inside, but Secret Service quickly closed and locked it again. Creative ADAPT members found the intercom system to be let into the building. Instead of simply buzzing inside each apartment, this system connected to the tenants' telephone answering machines. So we filled up Gingrich's tape with messages about community-based attendant services, just in case he was not clear about how we felt about his attempts to trick us. One enterprising ADAPT member, into rock climbing, scaled the building and covered it -- almost to the second floor with our picket signs so Gingrich would get our message in alternate formats. Neighbors looked on, amazed to see how folks receiving services feel about the nursing home industry. Rumor has it that Gingrich had checked into a Quality hotel for the night. [Subheading] CONFRONTING THE OPPOSITION Wednesday was the day for meetings with Shalala and her staff. Wednesday was also the day for the showdown with Manor Care, the third largest nursing home chain in the nation, whose holdings also include Econolodge, Comfort Inns, as well as several other hotel\motel chains. Despite pouring rain ADAPT troops were ready for action. In wave after wave we shuttled to the headquarters of the $2.1-billion-in-yearly-revenues Manor Care Corporation. The Chief Executive Officer Stewart Barnum JR quickly agreed to meet with our negotiating team of Bob Liston, Karen Tamley, Alfredo Juarez, and Cassie James. Tension and confusion over the meeting site almost lead to arrests on the spot, but the police were reigned in and negotiations began. However, different from their big sister corporation Beverly, Manor Care was not even willing to publicly support choice by supporting the creation of a national attendant services program. They used the tired old company line about robbing Peter to pay Paul. ADAPT informed them we want community services for both Peter and Paul, in addition to Mary! That apparently blew their minds. They could not conceive of giving up a penny of the obscene profits they wring from people's lives each year. When negotiations fell through, ADAPT let Manor Care taste what life in a nursing home is all about.‘ Blocking all exits and entrances, ADAPT shut down the headquarters and turned the place into a nursing home. No one went in or out without ADAPT permission. No one appeared to be too fond of this dose of their own medicine. [Image] [Image caption] Folks from 24 states joined ADAPT's protest and no one bitched about the rain which drenched the group several times Photo: Tom Olin. [Subheading] HIGH LEVEL TALKS Meanwhile back in the Capitol, ADAPT representatives and our supporters met with HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. Beltway disability groups were there, and most made it clear they backed ADAPT on this one. Shalala started off trying to convince everyone that we should rally around to support Medicaid and its current programs. But ADAPT countered making it clear that the disability community saw little reason to support the status quo. We argued that to get support for Medicaid, Shalala should offer a bold and better alternative, like ADAPT's Community Attendant Services Act, CASA. People are looking for a change, but right now the only alternative proposed is the Republican's slash and burn plan, which steals the limelight - in large part - for lack of any alternate solution from the Administration. It took the better part of an hour to get her to come around, but by the end Shalala agreed to issue a statement supporting the principles of CASA. Her strong endorsement (see p.9) was issued before 5pm that afternoon. She could not however, endorse redirecting a penny of nursing home funds. Not only did Shalala meet with ADAPT and endorse the basic principle of our proposal, she had Bruce Vladeck, head of the Health Care Finance Administration, HCFA, meet with ADAPT too. Vladeck and his staff sat down with a delegation from ADAPT which included a representative from each of the 24 states participating in this action. Each ADAPT representative outlined a piece of the problem, using a local example to illustrate her or his point. Vladeck and his staff quickly agreed an ongoing dialog was in order, and the rest of the meeting was spent hammering out the plan for this dialog. After these meetings ADAPT's HHS contingent hurried to meet up with the rest of the group. As we neared the protest we got a rare feel for what an ADAPT action feels like from the outside. Police had closed off streets for blocks around the protest site. Traffic was at a crawl and we even had to sneak through the parking lot of a gas station to get near enough to rejoin our group. We later learned that the TV soap operas had been interrupted that afternoon to tell of the protest and the traffic situation. [Subheading] WET 'N' WILD Quickly parking the vans, we came over a hill and were met by the beautiful sight of our fellow ADAPTers in formation around the headquarter& Police milled around them. [Image] [Image caption] Despite torrential rains, ADAPT challenged the third largest nursing home chain, Manor Cue whose profits were 3500 million in 1993. Manor Care also owns several chains of well known hotels and motels. Photo Carolyn Long. It was an eloquent, if wordless, statement about the power of the people, once they refuse to continue cooperating in their own oppression: you want to lock us up for your profits, well you can at least get a feel for the price you extort for your comforts. [Image] [Image caption] Family values, personal responsibility — ADAPT style. Photo: Tom Olin When the police started to arrest they had a big job on their hands. At first, frustrated with their inability to get rid of the problem quickly, police handcuffed people to their chairs and each other. Arrestees were taken to a nearby building for processing. Ironically this building was one Manor Care used to store extra furniture; ADAPT was literally being warehoused by this greedy corporation. Soon however, the sheer numbers began to get to the police, some of whom actually went down the lines of corralled arresters asking if anyone wanted to be "un-arrested." However, we remained firm: We'd rather go to jail than to die in a nursing home! In the end 120 were ticketed. [Subheading] SUPER SUPPORT The Baltimore bus company whose incredible support for our fight for liberty had made our actions possible, arrived and shuttled us home. These fabulous driven, with their chartered buses had shuttled us to various locals all week, including Manor Care headquarters, and had been threatened with arrest by the cops if they returned with more protesters. That night, after watching the ground-breaking video "When Billy Brake His Head and Other Tales of Wonder, ADAPT celebrated the fight for liberty and justice. In various corners of our hotel celebration continued until dawn. Then began the farewells and the long, hard road home. Typical ADAPT, our four day Baltimore action took us down many paths, none of which led to Baltimore.
ADAPT (920)
PHOTO: In a long, barren congressional hallway people in wheelchairs wearing ADAPT shirts, line the walls. Other ADAPTers, including George Wolf on his cane, walk and stand between them.
ADAPT (913)
PHOTO: In a long rather dim hallway of a Congressional Office Building the mostly shadowy figures of ADAPT members recede into the gloom. There are many standing people in this area, attendants and other ADAPT members. A woman in a wheelchair with an ADAPT fanny pack sits in the center of the photo and two others in chairs are on the right side.
ADAPT (928)
[Image] [Image caption] Capitol sit-in. Members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) are arrested during a sit-in at the Capitol yesterday to dramatize their objection to nursing homes. The activist group earlier in the day demonstrated outside the Department of Health and Human Services for their cause. They want 25 percent of the country's Medicaid funds cut from the budget and put towards at-home care for people with disabilities.
ADAPT (914)
Telegraph & Gazette Tuesday, May 16, 1995 Nation/World [Image] Inside a large room with multiple columns a crowd of ADAPT folks fills the space. In the center front is Danny Saenz with his bandana. In front and beside him is George Florum in a cap and glasses. Over Danny's shoulder with a camera straps on his chest is Terrance Turner and beside him in a striped shirt is Chris Hronis. Behind Chris with long hair and a mustache is Wayne Becker. Over his head at the back of the room with dark hair is Chris from Boulder. Leaning against a pillar to their left is Tom Olin with a pony tail. Behind and between Terrance and Chris is Berhard Baker. Behind Danny and kind of over his head is Frank McNeal with a hand by his cheek. There are dozens and dozens of others packed in the room as well. [Image caption] Disabled activists and other demonstrators jam the U.S. Capitol pushing for community-based alternatives to nursing homes. Police later removed the demonstrators.
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A big group of ADAPT folks are gathered around the edge of an open paved area. Most all are looking to their right at something that is out of the camera range. Three people are in the open area, one person in a manual chair is semi hidden by a man with a cane [possibly George Wolf] standing looking at the crowd. Another man [Mark Johnson] in a motorized wheelchair is rolling away from the other two. Behind the crowd there are trees.
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[This page continues the article from image 934. Full text is available there for easier reading].