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| The Arc of Massachusetts Forums |
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| You are not authorized to post a reply. | | | Author | Messages | |
guardianangel
Posts:0
 | | 12/21/2007 7:00 AM |
 Alert | I am a 20 year veteran in the DD field. I have worked in many capacities, in Day Habs, community residences, from case manager to senior director. I am currently a Guardian Rep with a caseload of 20 adults.
Currently there are 182 (?) people living on the grounds of Fernald. This has been their home since childhood, and much of the resistance to closing this facility is based on the fact that the families of these lifelong residents are not convinced that their loved ones will receive the same level of supports (usually nursing suppports is the #1 on this list of anxieties) in the community as they receive at Fernald.
If this is the case, why not allow these residents to reamin, and bring the community to Fernald? Instead of forcing lifelong residents to move to the community in order to be integrated, why not bring about integration by bringing the community to them?
What is stopping us from renovating empty and under-utlized Fernald buildings to become condos, shops, day cares, beauty salons, public parks, etc while allowing these 182 people to remain where they are? Would they not enjoy and be enriched by this community growing around them? Would they not benefit from neighbors who, like myself, who would relish the opportunity to work and live and raise families in a truly integrated community?
Given the red tape involved in any state venture, I imagine this is an idealistic and naive idea. But having been personally responsible for moving lifelong residents from an institutional setting to community living, and having to watch one of these people die from the sheer shock of the change in his environment, I feel it is my responsibility to put this idea out there for condsideration, even if it only makes it as far as this forum. | | | |
| Kevin
Posts:1
| | 05/04/2008 11:41 AM |
Alert | | Now that is the best idea I've heard yet. The wait lists for assisted housing will only grow. This is another consideration, the staff and operations are in place. My boy is only eight and I am already thinking about to do when he is an adult. My wife and I are finding it harder to help him the older he gets. Just trying to get a sitter to watch him for a day or two is painful. | | | |
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