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Staartsäit / Albumen / Nashville - Free Our People Hearings, March 2006 37
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[This page continues the articles from Image 1626. Full text is available on 1626 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (1623)
3/23/06 CITY LIMITS [Heading] We've Got Issues [Subheading] Sound Off This week, a couple of Scene writers vent their spleens, raise their brows or clap their hands about recent Nashville events. [Headline] Takin' it to the streets At 11:45 Tuesday morning, as we walked down Third Avenue on the way to hear Al Gore lecture some Rotarians, a massive line of people riding scooters, sitting in wheelchairs and sporting seeing-eye dogs took over the streets. They bellowed chants in a cold, driving rain: "What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!" And "Our homes, not nursing homes!" Little did we know that long after lunchtime and well into evening, handicapped people would be blocking intersections and snarling traffic all around the state capitol. Frustrated government employees engaged in shouting matches with poncho-wearing protestors. "You're trapped—adapt!" a protesting man with a bullhorn yelled. American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), the national group that led the protest, took an issue no one talks about and turned it into a two-day event that dominated news coverage. Before Monday, the only Nashvillians who had thought anything about health care for the disabled were people who had personal experiences with it. Now, it's a political issue. There's nothing like having someone in a wheelchair show you what confinement feels like to build a little reflective empathy. (Unless you're Phil Bredesen, in which case you just scold them.) There's a time and a place for direct action, and there's a difference between making a point and needlessly disrupting people's lives. But this is a group of pissed-off people who the rest of us would just as soon pretend don't exist. After all, we quickly avert our eyes from disabled folks on a daily basis, and its not like these people can stand up to meet our gaze or get our attention. Who could begrudge their provocative—though peaceful—tactics? Sometimes you've got to block some traffic to be heard. --John Spragens - ADAPT (1629)
Page 2 April 6, 2006 www.workers.org [Headline] `Free our brothers and sisters' [Subheading] Disabled protesters besiege Tennessee state capitol By Lou Paulsen More than 400 disabled activists from 40 states and the District of Columbia recently staged five days of militant action in Nashville, the capital of Tennessee and a national headquarters of for-profit health care. Mobilized by American Disabled for Attendant Pro-grams Today (ADAPT), they demanded an end to policies that force elderly and disabled people to go into nursing homes for services that they should be receiving in their own homes. On March 19, in front of media and federal officials, over ioo present and former residents of Tennessee nursing homes testified to the miserable and oppressive conditions they faced. "I swear to god it was like listening to people who just got out of prison," recalled Chicago ADAPT organizer Ed Hoffman. Being institutionalized in Tennessee is so bad, and services outside nursing homes are so impossible to get, that activists have had to create strategies to help disabled people escape to other states—a system they call the Underground Railroad. The next day, hundreds of protesters, many using wheel-chairs, marched uphill in cold and wet weather to a rally at the War Memorial. They then blockaded several inter-sections around the Capitol building for over five hours, while also shutting down the exit from the parking garage. They chanted, "Just like a nursing home—you can't get out!" Sixty were arrested. On March 21 they returned to the Capitol, rallying across the street and chanting steadily for two and a half hours. A delegation attempted to meet with Gov. Phil Bredesen. After being rebuffed, they blockaded Charlotte Avenue. Police arrested 44 and threatened them with a month in jail and a $i,000 fine if they repeated their civil [image] [image caption] "Our homes, not nursing homes." PHOTO: TOM OLIN, ADAPT disobedience action. On the following day they held a long march through the city to the office of TennCare, the state Medicaid program, and then to the office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They chanted, "Free our brothers, free our sisters, free our people now!" Bredesen, a Democrat, consistently refuses to meet with disability activists. He is not a servant of the ruling class—he is a member of it. He made his $ 100 million fortune in the health care industry, specifically the managed-care giants HealthAmerica and Coventry. Tennessee's Republican senator, majority leader Bill Frist, likewise made his fortune from the Tennessee-based Hospital Corporation of America. Bredesen is a great believer in corporate medicine but not public health care. In February 2005, he told a national conference that Medicaid has "more in common with ... socialist economy than the commonsense business principles that do such a good job allocating resources efficiently in other parts of our American life." Acting on these principles, he "solved" the budget problems of TennCare by throwing 330,000 poor and uninsurable people off the rolls. In response, activists occupied Bredesen's outer office from June 20 to Sept. 4, 2005. This 77-day sit-in is believed to be the longest ever at a U.S. State Capitol building. According to ADAPT sources, 77 percent of all Medicaid funds in the U.S. are ear-marked for nursing home care, meaning they mostly go to private businesses, leaving less than a quarter for home-based services. But in Tennessee the figure is 99 percent. Contrary to the myth about capitalist "efficiency," home-based services would not only liberate the recipients but cost less per person. But they would mean less profit for the corporations, which view nursing homes as a gold mine, given the growing number of people who need assistive care due to disability or age. Protesters called for the Tennessee legislature to pass the Community Choices Act, which would allow Medicaid funds to be paid to community providers of the recipient's choice. More information, including photos and video clips, is available at www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/aar/nash06/. - ADAPT (1626)
3-23-06 [Headline] Group feats' message got stuck in traffic [Subheading] Protest chaos may have overshadowed plight of disabled By KATE HOWARD Staff Writer An activist group for dis-ability rights that has protested healthcare funding at Capitol Hill intersections this week plans to leave today, disappointed that the governor wouldn't meet with them and worried that the public cares more about traffic than the state's disabled residents. Protesters with American Disabled for Attendant Pro-grains Today ended their rally with a day of "peaceful protest" yesterday near the state's TennCare and Housing and Urban Development offices. The national activist group travels the country to bring attention to a lack of funding support for handicapped people who want to live in the community instead of nursing homes. On ADAPT's third day of demonstrations, more than 100 protesters sat in the MetroCenter parking lot and quietly reminisced about the week. The location, under the watch of police officials in a patrol car and a few unmarked vehicles, was a vast change from Monday's chaos. Protesters, most in wheelchairs, blocked key intersections near the Capitol and kept state workers in a traffic jam, delaying their trips for home at the end of the workday. On Tuesday the group blocked only Charlotte Avenue. More than 100 protesters were arrested during the week and released. Bob Kafka of Austin, Texas, an outspoken ADAPT leader, feared the group's message might have been drowned out by the public's reaction to the tactic. "A lot of people focused on the inconvenience to the [image] [image caption] LARRY MCCORMACK / STAFF. Metro police cars pull onto Charlotte Avenue in anticipation of ADAPT protesters yesterday. [text resumes] state workers," Kafka said. "The point was, for people in nursing homes and institutions, their whole lives are inconveniences." Kafka scoffed at Tuesday's letter from the governor's office, denying a request to meet with the group and characterizing the week's events as public spectacles created by "professional protesters." He saw a glimmer of hope in the letter's reassurance that the state has asked for added federal funding to support 400 more disabled people who want to leave nursing homes. "The bottom line is, will Bredesen make this commitment?" Kafka said. "There are many people here who have had years stolen from them because there wasn't the support to get out of an institution." The group also was pleased that the state's HUD director came out to talk with them yesterday when they passed by the office on Great Circle Road. The majority of the police presence remained down-town, where the Capitol building was closed yesterday to visitors as a precaution because of the previous days' events. Seven Access Ride vans waited at a staging area to assist police if they arrested any wheelchair-using protesters. The Metro Tran-sit Authority uses the vans for an on-call service for disabled residents. MTA spokeswoman Patricia Harris-Morehead said lending the vans to Metro didn't cause any interruption to the regular service. Between 50 and 100 officers were on location Monday through yesterday, said Metro police spokeswoman Amanda Sluss. The [Subheading] AT TENNESSEAN.COM • Read Bredesen spokesman Bob Corney's letter to the ADAPT protesters. • See the e-mail from Interim Safety Commissioner Gerald Nicely. • Read the statement of Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas regarding the Capitol protests. • See previous stories written about the protesters. Go to Tennessean.com and type ADAPT into the keyword search box. [text resumes] Tennessee Highway Patrol and Davidson County Sheriffs Department also provided officers. Some protesters saw all the hoopla as a waste of time, saying all they wanted was a meeting with Bredesen to talk about disability policies. "A one-hour meeting is not too much to ask, and it would've saved the city a bunch of money for the police and transporting people to jail," said Don Dew of Gorham, Kan. The protest was a first for Dew and his partner, Brad Rohr. Dew has become more involved in activism since nine months ago when the started using a wheelchair on and off. He said the cause is personal for him and Rohr but that it should hit close to home for just about anybody. "Of course it's always personal when it involves you," Dew said. "But there is always a relative, a mother, a sister that will have something happen to them to give a reason to need causes like this." Kate Howard can be reached at 726-8968 or kahoward@Tennessean.com. - ADAPT (1645)
[Headline] Group takes protest to the streets Dozens of demonstrators arrested afler protesting for about seven hours near state Capitol A group of about 500 protesters. demanding more dollars for homebased health care services and an audience with Gov. Phil Bredesen, blockaded several intersections around the state Capitol Monday, disrupting downtown traffic for at least seven hours as about 80 of them were arrested. “Just like a nursing home — you can’t get out,” protesters fiom the national advocacy group ADAPT chanted outside of Legislative Plaza at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Deaderick Street. The plaza houses many state lawmakers and their staffers. The protesters, many of whom were disabled and coming from across the country to attend the demonstration, were advocating that Tennessee give its citizens more choices, and dollars, on whether to be in a nursing home or receive medical care actually in their homes. “What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!” they chanted. To spread that message, the protesters requested a meeting with Bredesen, but the governor’s oflice dismissed those requests, adding that the protest’s organizers had endangered the disabled demonstrators by exposing them to Monday's frigid temperatures. “This is a national professional protest group and (Monday’s) action is an extreme publicity stunt that has created a serious disruption to downtown businesses and state employees,” said Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker. But while that “serious disruption“ took place, Metro Police, joined by a few troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, allowed the protesters to block the streets from about 12:30 p.m. until about 5:40 p.m. Metro's decision lefl some state lawmakers, many of whom arrived in Nashville Monday. upset because the access to their parking garage in Legislative Plaza was blocked. “(Metro’s) scared of (the protesters).“ said Sen. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville). “They're all gutless." Tim Wheat, a resident from Boulder, Colo. is the first protester to be arrested Monday by Metro Nashville Police Then, Metro Police decided enough was enough. At 5:40 p.m., a Metro Police officer announced to the intersection of Eighth and Charlotte avenues that anyone obstructing the roadways would be arrested, and they were. Some protesters then cleared the road, while others lingered in the middle of the street, blocking eager state employees’ cars from going home, all the while being cheered on by on-looking demonstrators. “Our home — not a nursing home,” they chanted. The Eighth and Charlotte avenues blockade caused dozens, if not more than 100, cars of state employees to be delayed rom leaving work. Some state employees wondered why they were being targeted by the protesters since they lack a direct public policy choice on home-based care. “I think they are trying to get the message to the wrong people,” said state employee John Douglas, who sat waiting in his car, which was blocked by others hoping to exit onto Charlotte. “I just want to go home.” A few of the bolder demonstrators actually laid down in front of state employees’ cars to plead for their cause. Those, and a few others who blatantly ignored Metro Police, were arrested at the intersection of Eighth and Charlotte. Metro then proceeded to the other intersections to see if other protesters were blocking the roadways. At about 8 p.m., state employees in Legislative Plaza were told they could go home. The demonstrators, many of whom said they wanted to be arrested, got their wish. At 8:30 p.m., Metro Police officers on the scene said about 80 to 90 protesters have been issued citations for blocking roadways. About seven to 10 of those were actually taken into custody, with one being charged with assault. A small group of about 40 demonstrators remained, huddled under what shelter was available while a cold drizzle smattered their ponchos. - ADAPT (1643)
[title] lT’S JUST PLAIN WRONG! Tennessee spends $160 on Nursing Homes for every $1 spent on the community! Community Services cost about 2/3 to 1/2 of institutional services, like nursing homes. Tennessee consistently ranks in the 10 worst states in the nation for its bias toward institutions in long term care. The Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that people have the right to services in the most integrated setting — but Tennessee is ignoring the court. Tennessee is planning to build more institutions for people with developmental disabilities, at $170,000 each, while no nothing goes to community services. TennCare cuts have forced people into nursing homes and other institutions. Some Tennessee Centers for Independent Living have had to create and “Underground Railroad" and move people out of state so they can get community services and not be forced into nursing homes or other institutions. Over 21% of people in Tennessee Nursing Homes (6,700) have told authorities they want to return to living in the community - but the state refuses to help them. AARP recently did a survey of Tennessee voters age 35 and over and found 75% of them want to get long term care services at home, when it is needed; Only 5% said they preferred a nursing home. [Subheading] TENNESSEE CAN DO BETTER! Tell Governor Bredesen and the Tennessee Legislature: Enough is Enough. Tell them you support community services and you want them to do the same. - ADAPT (1630)
[title] Tennessee Needs The... [subheading] Community Choices Act of 2006 In Tennessee, facilities receive the lion's shore of the long-term care budget. Washington, the state next to Tennessee in total population, has state waivers thot provide citizens with Home and Community Based Services rather than forcing them into costly institutions. The nursing home industry dominates long term care funding in Tennessee resulting in poor care to fewer to fewer people at a greater public cost. Washington, with a much smaller federal Medicaid match serves over 70 thousand with its long term care Medicaid program, most in the community. Tennessee serves fewer than 40 thousand and almost exclusively in expensive and undesirable institutions. [ADAPT logo] www.adapt.org - ADAPT (1624)
[Headline] Why Tennessee? [Subheading] Why Tennessee? Tennessee highlights the failure of policy makers in our state and federal governments to bring REAL CHOICES to people with disabilities and their families who are in need of long-term services and supports to live in the community. "I'm not going to cut their services I'm just going to put then in the nursing home." -Governor Phil Bredesen *Tennessee is a symbol of the immoral national policy that makes institutional care an entitlement while making community services optional. *Tennessee consistently ranked as one of the 5 WORST states in providing community services to older and disabled Americans. *Governor Bredese's is on the Health and Human Services Committee of the National Governors Association. *The Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has not supported any reform of the institutionally biased long-term care system. www.adapt.org - ADAPT (1635)
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[This page continues the article from Image 1654. The full text is available on 1654 for easier reading.]