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Degemer / Rummadoù / Merker nursing home alternative 2
ADAPT (17)
The Denver Post - Monday April 5, 1976 [Headline] Reader Opinions - Open Forum "There is no hope for the satisfied man." Frederick G. Bonfils [Subheading] Miracles for Disabled Occur At Atlantis Community Project To the Denver Post: THE COMMISSION on the Disabled is, and has been, a strong backer of the Atlantis Community, lnc., located in the Las Casitas Housing Development at 2965 W. 11th Ave. In recognition ol the commission's support, this letter will attempt to bring readers up to date on the activities and accomplishments of Atlantis. Atlantis is, by design and philosophy, an alternative to nursing home living for the disabled people of the state. It also serves as a model for independent living for the disabled. Further, and possibly most important, Atlantis serves the community at large and reminds the able-bodied people of the area that the disabled are not as disabled as some of society might think, and that the disabled do not all live in hospitals, never to see the outdoors again. In June of 1975 the Early Action phase of the Atlantis Community opened its doors to 14 severely disabled persons, utilizing seven housing units in the Las Casitas Development. These 3-bedroom units were converted to 2-bedroom units with wider doorways, ramped entrances, widened hallways and other modifications to facilitate movement by occupants in wheelchairs. These apartments can now be used by either disabled or able-bodied occupants. Each resident has his own room and a shared living area with one other resident. There are attendants around the clock to attend to any medical or physical problem which might arise. Atlantis has effected changes in the community beneficial to all of the community, not only the disabled; changes such as the lowering and ramping of curbs and sidewalks between the buildings of Las Casitas. The ramped curbs can be used by bicyclists, mothers with baby carriages and women with shopping carts, to say nothing of the elderly out for a walk. The sidewalks are also used by everyone. So an improvement for the disabled is, in fact, an improvement for us all. Atlantis has been and will be instrumental in creating awareness in the Denver area, not just at the Early Action site itself. The Early Action phase of the Atlantis Community is now. Looking forward into tomorrow is the Atlantis Pre-Planning Program. This program, funded through the Community Development Act in the amount of $80,000 will, over the next 12 months, attempt to answer many questions concerning the disabled population of our city, and make recommendations directed to an equalized status of the disabled in relationship to the able-bodied community. Many areas will be researched to compile the data needed for long range recommendations. Some of the areas include statistical information, medical, legal (i.e., legislative and regulatory), social services, housing, transportation, etc., financial and physical planning, as well as where to obtain funding for the implementation of the final recommendations. The final document, complete with possible site locations, will be distributed to all federal, state and city agencies dealing with the disabled. For the most part, when a person is admitted to a nursing home it means that he is virtually committed to this home. Almost [all of the money given to the] disabled person go directly to the nursing home, with the exception of $25 per month "personal needs" money that goes to the individual. This means that the individual is penniless by any accepted standards, and at the mercy and whim of the home. For instance, you are told when you will bathe, when you will eat, when you will go to bed, etc. You only have the choice of whether you will see a movie or not, you do not have the choice as to what movie you might wish to see. There is entirely too much idle time; time in which to prove to yourself that you are in fact worthless. There is no privacy and most of the time you wonder if even your thoughts are your own. After spending several years in a nursing home this writer can speak for the validity of the above statements. The Atlantis Community is an alternative to nursing homes, in that Atlantis gives the same care, but when you want it. When it is convenient for me to have my bath, I call the attendant and am helped. The majority of the time I can eat when I feel like it. I have no set bedtime. When I know there is a movie I want to see there is a van to take me there. I have a choice! More importantly, my dignity has been returned to me. I am a contributing member of the fine city of Denver. I work on the Hot Line at Early Action and will also be involved in the Pre-Planning Program. I have freedom and independence, and am responsible for my own finances. I am a person. I cannot help that I am not an able-bodied person, but I am able! It is not the intent of this writer to imply staff members at Atlantis perform miracles, they do not. They just allow them to happen. One example would be a young lady, who, after brain surgery to remove a tumor, languished in nursing homes for 14 years. The surgery had left her childlike and unable to talk. While in the nursing homes she was considered to be simply a custodial care case. She did not seem to care whether her area of the room was cleaned, or even it her personal belongings were kept straightened. However, upon her arrival at Early Action, she immediately took charge of cleaning and straightening her apartment. She became so conscious of the cleanliness of her apartment that during a time when she was ill and had to depend on someone else to do the housework, she became very upset one day to find bread crumbs on the kitchen table. This young lady is also proof of the strange contradiction Early Action staff and residents are discovering; that better medical care is possible outside the nursing home. Upon her new doctors' recommendations, she started receiving physical therapy. something the nursing homes thought was a waste of time in her case. As the result of progress made while receiving therapy, orthopedic surgery was indicated, which she is recuperating from at the time of this writing. Her doctors feel this surgery will enable her to walk. Miracles at Atlantis? You decide. Progress and better care with new lifestyles? Definitely! Ms. Carolyn Finnell Atlantis Early Action Resident
ADAPT (18)
Essay [Headline] Whaddya Know, Something Gets Done [Subheading] The Handicapped Get Some Hope On Thursday, February 27, the Colorado Department of Social Services announced the granting of $14,500 to a group of the disabled for the purpose of altering seven public housing units at the Las Casitas housing project in Denver in order to accommodate the handicapped. Aside from the official glee about cooperation between the federal, state and local governments, the exciting element in the story is the force which about such cooperation. The force which brought city, state and federal governments into the Social Services Building for the announcement of this project was a group of the physically handicapped operating under the name "Atlantis." The group has been in formation and operation for over two years. During that time it has requested, cajoled, picketed and threatened the aforementioned governments. The governments met these repeated approaches with concern and disclaimers. The change which brought about the new project is traceable to continued pressure by the Atlantis group and changes in elected officials within the last five months. The key which unlocked the final door was the approval of Henry Foley as director of Social Services for the state. Within one week, the position of the State Social Services Department went from obfuscation to cooperation. The change was brought about by the approval of Foley. The purpose of Atlantis was not suited to the outlook of the state bureaucracy. Atlantis is not merely building housing. The housing is viewed as a tool to achieve self-sufficiency and dignity in the lives of the disabled. By establishing the housing which will achieve a physical presence for the community, Atlantis is hopeful of bringing enough abilities and skills together to achieve a completely independent life style to their members. The history of the treatment of handicapped young adults has been one of miserable failure. Generally, a young adult with a disabling physical handicap has been sent to a nursing home. These institutions are conceived as warehouses for the infirm. This approach has served profitably in the care of the terminally ill and the elderly. But young adults with active minds do not respond favorably to being treated as sides of beef. It must be understood that young adults are basically as alive as a worker, black, chicano or woman. As these deprived members of society have fought to be considered as human beings. so now the disabled are asking for complete membership in the human race. So, when a young paraplegic in a nursing home gets fed up with his life, he feels it is his right to go out and hoist a few to fuzz over his dissatisfaction. Imagine the reactions of a nursing home which is used to treating its patients as inmates when one of its tenants comes wheeling into the lobby at 2:00 a.m. singing nautical chants at the top of his lungs. The nursing home tends to view such a patient as a troublemaker instead of a young adult who has had an experiment blow up in his face. The response is generally to clamp down on opportunities rather than delight in the humanity of the patient. Atlantis is on the road to assembling a program which will allow its members to expand to their capacity. ln order to accomplish this goal. they require extensive aid from the rest of us. The program at the Las Casitas project involves health care as furnished by the West Side Neighborhood Health Center, the buildings as furnished by the Denver Housing Authority, transportation as will hopefully be furnished by the Regional Transportation District (although this program has been an unqualified joke), remodeling as furnished through State Social Services and welfare moneys as provided by the feds and state government. The state and federal governments presently spend about $500 per month for housing each handicapped person in nursing homes. Preliminary estimates show that this new and experimental program at Las Casitas will cost in the neighborhood of $350 per month. Even if costs were the same, the value of giving hope and dignity to the disabled would certainly justify the expenditure. Anonymous The writer has long been a critic of care for the handicapped, but wishes to remain anonymous in this instance for business reasons.