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Почетна / Категории / Free Our People March, 144 miles Philadelphia to DC, September 2003 85
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On the Line [Headline] Free Our People from Nursing Homes [image] [image caption] Linda Anthony demonstrates in front of Union Station, Washington, D.C. Photo copyright Tom Olin More than 200 people with disabilities marched along with their advocates from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., from September 4-17. The protesters traveled the 144 miles to demand support for legislation to liberate disabled and older people from nursing homes by providing in-home support services. Marchers want Congress to pass the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act, which requires Medicaid to pay for such aid. The bill was first introduced in 1997 by Representative Newt Gingrich. [image] [image cation] copyright Tim Wheat. Adam Nielsen leads the protesters as they cross into Delaware on day two of the march. November 2003 [two images] [image caption] copyright Tom Olin. Gabriel Siegel waves the ADAPT flag in Baltimore - ADAPT (1482)
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Weather Today: Heavy rain, wind High: 69 degrees 100 percent chance of rain Tomorrow: Partly cloudy High: 70 degrees 10 percent chance of rain The Pitt News www.pittnews.com Pit preapres for its first road game at Toledo...page 18 Friday, September 19, 2003 One of America's great student newspapers-since 1906 [Headline] Rally for disabilities [image] [image caption] Free our people march and rally gets a little help from Pitt students. Pitt's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Student Advisory Board traveled to Washington, D.C. Wednesday for what members described as "the largest gathering of disability rights activists since the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990." Image courtesy of Tamara Mills - ADAPT (1480)
METRO DC MD VA S WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 B3 [Headline] Going the Distance for the Disabled [Subheading] 144-Mile March Urges Right to Live Free of Institutions By DARRAGH JOHNSON Washington Post Staff Writer Already, they had cruised 128.6 miles in their wheelchairs and eat-en too many jelly doughnuts for breakfast and too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. "I can't wait to have a hoagie," fantasized Topeka, Kan., res-ident Jo Ann Donnell yesterday morning, "with Genoa salami with provolone. That, and a scotch and soda." They had endured rain-soaked pillows and sunburned forearms and cars whizzing by way too close for comfort. And every night for almost two weeks, these 250 advocates for the disabled had wheeled into their campsites, plugged their chairs into chargers and spent the next 10 hours on their cots, sacrificing mobility for the chance to make a statement. Now there they were yesterday morning, lined up in blue tents next to a driving range in Beltsville, eating more jelly doughnuts and getting ready for another six hours. Another 10 miles. Another day of clogging traffic along one of Maryland's busiest roads, Route 1, as they zoomed two miles an hour in the right-hand lane and chanted, 'Free Our People!' In the midst of the preparations was co-organizer Bob Kafka, whose wild white hair and beard gave him an added presence as he turned on his cordless microphone and cried, "Today . . . we're heading to D,C.!" He started waving a piece of pa-per, as cheering erupted around him, and men in ball caps and women in chic, Juicy Couture-esque sweat suits and red-spangled sandals leaned closer. "I have a letter here, dated September 15, on White House stationery," he continued, and with the mention of "White House," the crowd immediately quieted down. On Sept. 4, the members of the advocacy group ADAPT had started this 144-mile wheelchair march at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and with every town they stopped in, they tried to whip up support for bills in the U.S. House and Senate that would "allow all Americans to receive long-term care services in their own homes, instead of being forced into nursing homes, as they are under cur-rent Medicaid policy," as their mission statement on their Web site describes. Currently, Medicaid funds automatically pay for nursing homes, but the funds can be diverted to pay for home health care only by the most diligent and seemingly connected of patients. So nearly all the march participants live in fear that someday if, for example, pneumonia further disabled them, they would be forced to spend the rest of their lives in an institution. "I would rather die," said Terri Stellar, 40, her voice cracking and her eyes tearing up as she talked. "I would rather die than go into a place like that." She knows because she was there, she said. Stellar, a social worker in Austin, was in a car accident four years ago that broke her left hip and foot and landed her in a rehabilitation hospital that she said was no different from a nursing home. She was supposed to spend two weeks there. She spent three months, until the insurance money ran out. "We would like to invite you and five of your fellow representatives of ADAPT back to the White House," Kafka read, to continue our discussion . . . of policies to promote home and community-based care for individuals with disabilities. We have reserved the Lincoln Room at the White House Conference Center." "The letter is signed," Kafka finished, "by the special assistant to the president!" "Whoo hoooo!" surged the group. Everyone was tanned after almost two weeks in the sun. On every third chair flapped an American flag with the stars arranged in the shape of a person in a wheelchair, and chanting started up: "Free Our People! Free Our People!" From there, the chairs wheeled toward Route 1, where three Maryland State Police cruisers and a Prince George's County police car waited with lights flashing to escort them to the District line. The mood was cautiously jubilant. Just one more day and 14 more miles before their big rally this afternoon on Capitol Hill, where they hoped Congress members and 5,000 supporters would show up to join them. Already, Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Reps. Danny K. Davis (D-111.) and John M. Shimkus (R-111.) have sponsored legislation to help their cause. But on whether anything will change dramatically as a result of this odyssey that brought advo-cates from all over the country [image] [image caption] BY SUSAN BIDDLE--The Washington Post. Advocates for the disabled make their way along Route 1 In Maryland en route to today's rally In Washington. [text resumes] from Salt Lake City and Boulder, Colo., and Missoula, Mont., and West Haven, Conn.-46-year-old Albert "Sparky" Metz was reserving judgment. "Actions speak louder than words," he said gravely. Cerebral palsy has garbled his speech to the point where he often needs his attendant, Andy Rowe, to "translate" for him. But after spending his childhood in a state-run home in Oklahoma, and his adult years until 1990 in a nursing home, Metz uses whatever plat-form he can find to describe the difference between life in an institution and life on his own. "Freedom," he said, straining back his head. In the institution, he said, "I had to tell them where I was going." But today, he lives in a duplex in Austin with his wife, Laurie, and their dog, Elvira, "and now I go shopping, and (or walks around Town Lake." He has visited Hippie Hollow, the nudist colony near his house, and wheeled his chair to the edge of the lake. Though he hasn't gone skinny-dipping—"it isn't accessible," he said—he didn't wear a shirt for the occasion. But better than just the freedoms of movement and decision-making, he said yesterday, surrounded by friends in chairs, is the freedom he now has to make a difference. "Ten years ago..." he said, the words pushing forth with more vowel sounds than consonants, requiring the listener to lean in and concentrate. "Ten years ago, Austin didn't have accessible cabs." Today, Austin does. "And l—he smacked his heart with his hand, beaming—"I helped with that." - ADAPT (1479)
Metro Wednesday [image] [image caption] By Susan Biddle--The Washington Post. Kassie Holdsowrth and daughter Danielle, 3, participate in disabled rights rally. Story, Page B3. - ADAPT (1478)
USA Today Monday, March 1, 2004 Nation [image] [image caption] By William Thomas Cain, Getty Images. Headed to D.C.: Advocates protest in September in Yeadon, Pa., for more Medicaid funding for in-home care. - ADAPT (1477)
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OBITUARIES/4B OPINION/5B www.journalstar.com/local LOCAL JOURNAL STAR B Wednesday, October 1, 2003 [Headline] Funds sought for home care [Subheading] State Capitol rally is held to bolster support for MiCASSA, which would shift federal Medicaid money to community-based services. BY MARK ANDERSEN Lincoln Journal Star Bundled against the cold as he spoke from his wheelchair in support of increased home-care funding, Tim Kolb explained the issue in terms a child could follow. In "Finding Nemo," Kolb said, a clown fish found himself among pleasant companions in a supposedly safe environment, the office aquarium of an eccentric dentist. Yet, more than anything else, Nemo wanted to return to his ocean home. In the real world, Kolb said, too many Americans find themselves forced to live in nursing homes because of inadequate funding for home-based care. About 50 people withstood a cold wind on the Capitol steps at noon Tuesday for the Free Our People rally, intended to raise support for the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act, dubbed MiCASSA by disability rights activists. First introduced in the House in 1997 and in the Senate in 1999, MiCASSA would shift Medicaid funds from nursing homes to community-based services and establish a national program of services. Supporters say it would end the institutional bias of Medicaid, the federal medical program for the poor that also pays for a lot of nursing home care. Under the current system, every state that receives Medicaid is required to provide nursing home services. but providing community-based services is optional. As a result, 75 percent of long-term Medicaid dollars go to nursing homes, MiCASSA supporters say. The issue is of particular importance to Nebraska, which ranks second be-hind only Iowa in the percentage of people over age 65 who live in nursing homes, they say. The difficulties of finding and paying for home-based care are an everyday is-sue for 56-year-old Laura Moore, who attended the rally Tuesday. Moore was born with cerebral palsy, but her biggest challenge has been in finding a way to keep her husband at home. Paul Moore, now 66, stopped breathing and swallowing following heart surgery almost two years ago because of the polio he had contracted as a teenager. Following his lengthy hospitalization and rehabilitation, Laura Moore said, "They told me I'd never get him out of the nursing home." He has been living at home since Sept. 17, 2002. He frequently does woodworking projects. Unfortunately, their home-care costs run $500 more per month than their in-come, Laura Moore said. They've exhausted their savings and inheritance, and the only advice people give her is to put her husband in a nursing home, she said. "We're supposed to forget about living," she said. Home-care aide Jennifer Irvin said, "It's all about the money." If Paul Moore lived in a nursing home, Irvin said, the state and federal governments would pay for his care. At home, even though the costs might be no different to taxpayers, they aren't covered. Joan LaBelle of the League of Human Dignity, which sponsored the rally along with ADAPT Nebraska, said one woman's story illustrated the difficulties imposed by the current system. LaBelle said she had been working with a woman for more than a year to get her out of a nursing home so that she could live with her son. "Three weeks before she was to leave," LaBelle said, "she died." Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@joumalstar.com. Local news tips? Call the City Desk, 4737306 Page Design- Stem Bate [image] [image caption] TED KIRK/Lincoln Journal Star. The Free Our People rally was called Tuesday by the League of Human Dignity and ADAPT Nebraska in support of the Medic-aid Community-Based Attendant Services and Sup-ports Act - ADAPT (1475)
Metro/State The Clarion-Ledger Jackson, Mississippi Thursday, September 18, 2003 [Headline] Marching toward hope [image] [image caption] At the [cut-off] time 20,000 disabled activists are marching on Washington [cut-off] than 50 people march south on North President Street toward the state Capitol Wednesday during a "Free Our People" march. [two images] [captions for both] Above, Christ Dunaway, executive director for LIFE, or Living Independence for Everyone, leads a chorus calling for change in legislation regarding the right to choose the type of care the disabled can receive. At right, Robert Estes of Canton (right) and Traci Alsup (left) show their support of the MiCASSA Act during a rally at the state Capitol. The march and subsequent rally showed support for the MiCASSA Act, or the Medicaid Community-based Attendant Services and Support Act. The act allows people with disabilities to receive long-term care in their own homes instead of being forced into a nursing home. - ADAPT (1474)
[the left margin is images without caption] [Headline] Our long term care system must change The money should follow the individual not the facility or provider. A national long term care service policy should not favor any one setting over the other. It should be neutral, and let the users choose where services will be delivered. ADAPT Demands Change www.adapt.org The current system is not neutral. Over 70% of Medicaid spent on long term care is spent on institutional services: This leaves only 30% for all community services. Community services are less expensive, on average and are much more desirable than institutional services. - ADAPT (1473)
Chicago Sun Times Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Featured Letter [image] [image caption] Participants in the "Free Our People March" travel last week along Route 40 in Maryland, about the halfway point between the start in Philadelphia and its destination in Washington. Photo courtesy of Tom Olin [Headline] Disabled get on the move for freedom We just celebrated the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Forty years later, people with disabilities still have a dream of escaping nursing homes institutions and going back to the community. About 150 disabled activists-- many in wheelchairs--convened at 4 to begin a 150 mile march on Philadelphia to Washington. [s] two-week "Free Our People March" will end at Washington [k] in our nation's capital today to [m] the need for more home- and community-based attendant services, and to call attention to the institutional bias that lingers in this country. More than 80 percent of Medicaid long-term care dollars are spent keeping people institutionalized, while less than 20 percent as- people who want to live in their homes and apartments, where they are much happier. [pulled quote] We have a dream to live independently [text resumes] There's federal legislation that would address this issue: the Medicaid Community Attendants Service and Supports Act. Introduced by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), H.R. 2032 would assist people with disabilities--regardless of age--in nursing homes back into the community, using the same Medicaid funding that's used to keep them institutionalized. Statistics show that people are much happier and productive living in their own homes instead of languishing in nursing homes. The major obstacles of MiCASS's passage in Congress are the nursing home lobbyists in Illinois and around the country. Profit is their bottom line, and they have deep pockets to buy off legislators. They continue to be a threat to the civil rights of people with disabilities. They disregard the quality of life for people stuck in their institutions; they see the almighty dollar sign and don't hear the cries of the people who want out. About 5,000 people with disablities will descend on Washington Park to rally for justice and the right to live in the mainstream community. We have a dream to live independently, free from segregation, as Dr. King could have related to. It's time to have our dream realized. Larry Biondi, independant living advocate, Progress Center for Independent Living, Forest Park - ADAPT (1472)
DAILY BRIEFING — Thursday, September 18, 2003 Austin AmericanStatesman statesman.com [Headline] Disabled demonstrators end trek with rally for in home care bill By Chuck Lindell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF WASHINGTON — Weary and sore after leading her wheel-chair on a two-week, 144-mile protest, Austin's Jennifer McPhail crossed the finish line Wednesday on Capitol Hill, greeted by whoops and cheers from hundreds of well-wishers. "It was tough. We went from being in this ridiculously hot weather to driving rain the next day,' McPhail said "It doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, but I'm hurting." McPhail was among 215 people with disabilities, most of them in wheelchairs, who began their journey at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to rally support for a bill that would divert more federal money to in-home care instead of nursing homes or similar facilities. "We're sending a message to Congress that the long-term care system needs to stop warehous-ing people in nursing homes and other institutions," said Bob Kafka, also of Austin and one of the national organizers for the event billed as the Free Our People March and sponsored by the disability rights group ADAPT. [image] [image caption] Kevin Wolf ASSOCIATED PRESS. Austin's Bob Kafka helped organize the Free Our People March, in which 215 people with disabilities traveled from Philadelphia to Washington. Traveling seven to 16 miles a day, spending the night in a tent city that volunteers spent hours building up and tearing down each day, the caravan of pro-. testers arrived in Washington in the early afternoon for a 20- minute, traffic-stopping display. With shouts and chants, the group urged Congress to pass the Medicaid Community-based Attendants Services and Supports Act, which would change Medicaid rules that mandate nursing-home home instead of home-based care. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told the crowd that he will push the Senate Finance Committee to hold hearings on his bill early next year. "Keep up the pressure," he said. Harkin's bill has 14 co-sponsors in the Senate. Seven of the 81 House co-sponsors are Texas Democrats, including Rep Lloyd Doggett of Austin. clindell@statesman.com; (202) 887-8329 - ADAPT (1471)
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