METRO ACCESS - PARATRANSIT REMAINS BROKEN IN DC (GREASED PALMS)

METRO ACCESS - PARATRANSIT REMAINS BROKEN IN DC:

YET THE PROGRAM COLLECTS MORE FEDERAL FUNDS.

WHICH POLITICIANS' PALMS ARE BEING GREASED??

WHY NOT REPLACE CONTRACTORS WITH UBER & LYFT DRIVERS?

METRO ACCESS GROWING PROBLEMS INCLUDE.......

POLITICALLY-RIGGED CONTRACTS,
POOR MANAGEMENT,
HORRIBLE PERFORMANCE LEVELS,
SEVERE RETALIATION AGAINST WHISTLE BLOWERS,
EXTREME DISORGANIZATION,
RARE ON-TIME PICK-UPS,
DISABLED PASSENGERS FORCED TO RIDE FOR HOURS,
NEPOTISM,
DISPATCHERS DON'T KNOW WHERE DRIVERS ARE,
POWER STRUGGLES,
SEXUAL HARASSMENT,
HOTBED FOR SINGLE WOMEN LOOKING FOR SUGAR DADDIES IN THE WORKPLACE.


Sources: Washington Post, WTOP, Youtube


******* How problems with MetroAccess have left D.C.’s most vulnerable commuters stranded


Users of Metro’s service for the elderly and people with disabilities say they have recently endured hours-long waits for rides, spent entire afternoons in vans traveling nonsensical routes and watched as fellow riders soiled themselves on unreasonably long trips.

The routes that MetroAccess drivers must follow are not only unnecessarily long, but sometimes also take them in the opposite directions from their destinations, say customers, including some who are blind, medically fragile or use wheelchairs. One former customer said her doctor recommended she stop using the service to get to her lung cancer treatments because it was too stressful.

For MetroAccess’s 43,000 registered customers, the problems began last September with a sudden, seven-point drop in on-time performance. The share of excessively late trips nearly tripled from the month before. Metro officials have blamed soaring numbers of late and missed trips on a driver shortage.

“I feel like because I have a disability, I’m being treated like less than everyone else,” said Shannon Minnick, 46, who is quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair.

Minnick, of Silver Spring, said she recently missed a doctor’s appointment after spending more than 2½ hours in a MetroAccess van for what is typically a 25-minute ride. On another recent trip, a driver taking her home from Rockville first picked up someone in Kensington, five minutes from her home, and then drove another passenger to north Silver Spring before heading south again to drop her off.

Nancy Childress, 63, of West Springfield, Va., recalled how one MetroAccess trip took so long this winter that another passenger soiled herself after being in the van for two to three hours.

“She couldn’t help it,” said Childress, who has trouble walking and balancing from being hit by a car two decades ago.

The driver disinfected the van, and they went on their way, Childress said.

Heidi Case, a disability advocate, said she knew a woman who almost called the police, frantic that she hadn’t heard from her severely disabled daughter who had been stuck in a van for more than two hours.

Those are the kinds of “disastrous things that are happening,” Case said. “It is a significant quality-of-life change.”

On-time performance remains near its lowest level since at least mid-2013. In April, 88 percent of customers were picked up on time — better than the 83 percent in the fall but still below Metro’s minimum target of 92 percent.

By April, the number of trips deemed “excessively late” — more than 20 minutes past the half-hour pickup window — had nearly doubled since last summer, from about 2,400 a month to 4,700. Incidents in which the driver never showed also doubled to almost 1,500 in April.

The number of botched and excessively late trips make up a relatively small portion — about 3 to 4 percent — of MetroAccess’s overall service. But with about 8,000 trips a day, the percentages mask thousands of missed appointments, late arrivals at work and frustrated customers who rely on the service to live independently.

While high driver turnover has been a problem in the paratransit industry for decades, Metro officials say the growth in services such as Uber and Lyft has further cut into the driver pool. The shortage worsened just as ridership was picking up from the summer lull, Metro officials said, even though the agency’s own data shows usage actually dropped by 9,500 passengers between August and October.

Christian Kent, Metro’s assistant general manager for access services, said contractors were down about 100 drivers in September, leaving the companies 10 percent short of the 1,000 needed for full service. As the driver shortage increased throughout the fall, Kent said, on-time performance couldn’t recover, even in months when ridership dropped.

“The contractors experienced a more competitive driver market than they have had to deal with in the past, and the number of people who applied for jobs with MetroAccess was lower than we’ve seen in the past,” Kent said.

Transit agencies are required to provide paratransit service under the Americans With Disabilities Act, and MetroAccess is the fifth-largest such program in the country. Usage has more than doubled in the past 14 years, from just under a million trips in 2003 to more than 2 million trips. It is the agency’s fastest-growing and most expensive service.

Metro spends about $100 million annually to provide Metro¬Access service via five contractors. The transit agency subsidizes 92 percent of the costs, with the rest covered by fare revenue.

Rides cost two times the equivalent bus or rail fare, with a maximum $6.50, for a trip that costs the agency an average of $50.

Customers must make a reservation a day in advance and are given a 30-minute pickup window. As a ride-sharing service, there are typically multiple passengers per van.

Many of those who rely on MetroAccess cannot easily navigate Metro or afford taxis or ride-hailing services.

Kent said a trip is considered late if it is even one minute outside the 30-minute pickup window.

Just because on-time performance dropped, he said, that doesn’t mean “that suddenly every trip is egregiously late.”

Contributing to the problem are the computer-generated routes that drivers are required to follow — even if they don’t make sense in terms of geography or time.

Documents obtained through a public records request show that MetroAccess contractors began “dropping” routes at a precipitous clip last August, meaning the companies didn’t have enough drivers to accept all the trips that the computer assigned them.

During some months last fall, as many as 1,337 trips had to be reassigned among available drivers.

Fewer drivers means those on hand must cover larger areas and have more trips tacked on to their routes, Kent said. Accommodating these “add-on” trips causes the circuitous routes that customers have complained about.

Steve Polkinghorn, of Burke, Va., said his commute home from his job in Arlington County used to rarely exceed 90 minutes. Now it can take more than two hours. That’s because the drivers who pick him up at his Crystal City office often head into the District to pick up another passenger before turning around and slogging through traffic back to Northern Virginia to take him home.

“Why am I driving due north when I live due south?” said Polkinghorn, who has multiple sclerosis.

Cindy LaBon, who is blind, said out-of-the-way routes have left her and her guide dog stuck in a van up to three hours.

In the fall, LaBon said, a fellow passenger who was mentally disabled began crying after the driver passed her street to drop off someone else miles way. The woman had already been in the van for three hours on a trip from Lanham to Silver Spring.

Two weeks ago, LaBon said, she spent more than two hours trying to get from Burtonsville to Gaithersburg — both in Montgomery County — in a van that first took her to Northwest Washington.

“They don’t know geography,” LaBon, 68, said of whoever sets the drivers’ routes. “They don’t even put trips [together] going in the same direction.”

While the computer suggests three options, staff members in the scheduling center can override the software, Kent said.

“On days when we have surging ridership and depleted drivers to route, sometimes the dispatchers don’t have an ideal choice coming out of the computer,” Kent said. “We are very much aware of the issue.”

Metro has fined the three companies that provide drivers — Transdev, First Transit and Diamond Transportation — almost $1 million each in contract “damages” since the fall.

But Metro officials say they’ve also cut the companies a financial break to help them hire more drivers. The agency has greatly reduced future financial penalties, in some cases by 90 percent, for six months, according to Metro. Transdev also has been allowed to use temporary drivers, a Metro spokeswoman said. And the agency recently agreed to pay the contractors “slightly” more so they could raise wages.

“It’s very difficult for them to put out the extra cash to pay drivers at a higher wage scale if, simultaneously, we’re taking the money back from them in damages,” Kent said.

Transdev, the company responsible for half of MetroAccess rides, blamed the sudden downturn on the difficulty of recruiting drivers, “given the current robust labor force and low unemployment rate.” The company said it had been fully staffed a year before the performance drop, but suddenly attrition rose and driver training classes shrank. Meanwhile, ridership increased in the fall just as back-to-school-and-work traffic jumped.

First Transit, which is responsible for 35 percent of Metro¬Access trips, said it faces the same problems attracting drivers. By fall, the company was short 35 to 50 drivers, spokesman Jay Brock said last month, and the workforce hadn’t fully recovered. Brock said the company is participating in job fairs, increasing its marketing and undertaking grass-roots efforts to attract new hires.

“We’re screening, interviewing, taking [applicants] through our background checks and trying to get them on the road and behind the wheel,” Brock said.

John Gray, acting project manager at MV Transportation, which manages the MetroAccess call center, directed reporters’ questions to Metro.

Kate Walden, a spokeswoman for Diamond Transportation, which provides 15 percent of MetroAccess trips, said driver shortages are occurring nationwide. She said the company is now “nearly fully staffed” for MetroAccess and is “aggressively recruiting to ensure we have a full complement of drivers this summer.”

A union representing paratransit drivers says Metro is letting contractors off the hook for poor service. A key problem, they say, remains the “poverty wages” drivers receive. The companies recently agreed to increase wages to at least $15 an hour, union officials said. For example, Transdev drivers who were making $13.85 an hour saw their wages increased to $16 an hour.

“You cannot operate a public service with a sweatshop employment model,” said Todd Brogan, a union organizer with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 at a recent demonstration urging Metro to stop using contractors for paratransit.

[Transit service for elderly, people with disabilities sees sharp decline]

Kent said training classes are now full and efforts continue to hire more drivers to meet the growing demand. The agency said late Friday that they were fully staffed. Metro also recently began receiving 207 new vans to replace older ones and expand the fleet by 25 vehicles.

The five-year MetroAccess contract expires in June 2018, and the agency is putting the new one out for bid. The agency also is exploring ways to partner with Uber, Lyft and other transportation services to provide same-day paratransit service at a fraction of the cost.

Kent said MetroAccess will improve, even as the number of people needing it continues to grow.

“There’s really not a choice,” Kent said. “MetroAccess is our responsibility to our customers with disabilities. We must provide it under the ADA, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Social Security & Disability Checks In Jeopardy After Aug. 3rd! GOP 2012 Tactic

This Afternoon On CBS News Pres. Obama Announced If A Deal To Raise The Debt Ceiling Is Not Reached By August 2nd, Social Sec. & Disability Checks Will NOT Be Paid Because Our Nation's Debts Must Be Paid First. Do You Think GOP Leaders Care? NO! They're Hoping For A Gov't Shutdown!





Obama says he cannot guarantee Social Security checks will go out on August 3rd

President Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3 if Democrats and Republicans in Washington do not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit in the coming weeks.

"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News.

The Obama administration and many economists have warned of economic catastrophe if the United States does not raise the amount it is legally allowed to borrow by August 2.

Lawmakers from both parties want to use the threat of that deadline to work out a broader package on long-term deficit reduction, with Republicans looking to cut trillions of dollars in federal spending, while Democrats are pushing for a more "balanced approach," which would include both spending cuts and increased revenue through taxes.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are expected to hold another round of negotiations with Mr. Obama at the White House Tuesday afternoon on long-term deficit reduction, though talks have yielded little results to date.

Mr. Obama told Pelley "this is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out."

The interview will air Tuesday evening on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.

Mr. Obama's comments followed remarks from the Senate's top Republican, who said Tuesday that he did not see a way for Republicans and Democrats to come to agreement on meaningful deficit reduction as long as Mr. Obama remains in office.

"After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor.

Still, McConnell said Republicans would "do the responsible thing" to avoid default, suggesting that a deal on the debt ceiling could be reached without a "real" deficit reduction package.

"The president has presented us with three choices: smoke and mirrors, tax hikes, or default. Republicans choose none of the above. I had hoped to do good, but I refuse to do harm. So Republicans will choose a path that actually reflects the will of the people, which is to do the responsible thing and ensure that the government doesn't default on its obligations," he said.

Mr. Obama has repeatedly said he wants a deal that would allow the U.S. to avoid confronting the issue again until after the 2012 elections and vowed on Monday that he would "not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension."

"This the United States of America and, you know, we don't manage our affairs in three-month increments. You know, we don't risk U.S. default on our obligations because we can't put politics aside," Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday.

Sources: CBS News, CNN

North Carolina's Terrible Mental Health System Investigated By Feds!

Feds Launch Probe Of N.C. Mental Health System


The U.S. Justice Department has opened a formal investigation into North Carolina's struggling mental health system, the first step in a process that could trigger a federal edict for sweeping reform.

The probe is the result of a complaint filed in July by the advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina, which contends that the state is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act for failing to provide proper housing for people with mental illness.

Nearly a decade after the state Department of Health and Human Services closed thousands of beds in government-run psychiatric hospitals as part of a reform effort, more than 6,400 people with severe mental illness are housed in adult care homes scattered across the state, living in sometimes squalid and dangerous conditions.

The mental patients, their care typically paid for with taxpayer money, are often far younger than the elderly residents with whom they are housed. In the last two years, at least four residents with mental illness have been killed by fellow patients who had histories of severe mental illness and violence.

Vicki Smith, the executive director of Disability Rights, said the federal investigation could force the state to take actions to fix the mistakes made during North Carolina’s 2001 reform effort, which has also resulted in people with mental illness routinely languishing for days in emergency rooms because no bed in a psychiatric facility is available.

Word of the federal investigation also comes as the state is debating further cuts to the state’s mental health system and moving to close Dorothea Dix Hospital.

“Now DHHS is going to have to answer a whole series of questions about why mental health reform has failed,” Smith said. “This is huge, from our point of view. Huge.”

The Justice Department informed the state of its pending investigation through a five page letter received by DHHS administrators in Raleigh on Thursday. However, the state department did not publically reveal the news until it issued a three-sentence media release earlier today, hours before the start of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Renee McCoy, a spokeswoman for the state agency, said there would be no comment beyond the media release, which said the state will “work with the Department of Justice to provide all necessary documents and information in response to the complaint.”



Budget Cuts Hitting North Carolina's Mental Health System With Vengeance


Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and social anxiety disorder, Vinh Gazoo has been in a psychiatric hospital five times.

Recently released from jail after a six-month sentence stemming from a crime resulting from his mental health issues, Gazoo says he now survives week to week because of the Mental Health Association in North Carolina.

nonprofit association that helps mental health patients, the organization helps pay for his medication. Its employees and volunteers drive him to doctor's appointments and therapy sessions.

Gazoo was notified this week that those services have been dropped because of state budget cuts.

The $19 billion state budget resulted in a nearly 12.75 percent or $738 million decrease in the Department of Health and Human Services' anticipated $5.54 billion budget for the fiscal year.

About $75 million of DHHS's community services $390 million budget, which helps fund the Mental Health Association was cut, according to executive director John Tote.

"The cuts we have been waiting on from the General Assembly, they're here now, and they're hitting with a vengeance," he said.

Now, the Mental Health Association is laying off approximately 40 percent of its employees.

"Those 175 folks – in the positions they have – affect the lives of about 2,000 individuals across the state (who have) significant mental illness," Tote said.

He estimates approximately 4,000 mental health providers across the state will soon be out of work. The result, he says, will be thousands of patients without services.

Tote blames lawmakers, saying they were much more concerned with politics than providing services for DHHS.

Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, who serves on the state House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services and also chairs the mental health legislative committee, agrees.

Insko says she doesn't think most lawmakers fully grasped the budget cuts and the impact they would have. For many people with mental illness, she says, there is no safety net other than emergency rooms and mental hospitals.

"As an advocate, it's galling," Tote said. "As a person, it's sad – terribly sad."

For Gazoo – now, his option is a walk-in clinic, but he says he has no way to pay for the services he needs and no way to get there. He says he'll likely either wind up back in jail or in a psychiatric facility.

"That's the two choices I have, because without my medication, I get pretty violent," he said.



Feds Indict Former Chief Of Charlotte Non-profit Group Serving Mental Health Patients


The former leader of a Charlotte nonprofit mental health agency has been indicted on charges that he embezzled nearly $150,000 from the program.

Prosecutors said in court documents Wednesday that 50-year-old Edward Gerard Payton directed employees of Mecklenburg Open Door to provide him loans or payment advances. Authorities contend he actually embezzled the money, and only repaid part of it.

The court documents also say Payton used agency credit cards and vehicles inappropriately.

The documents contend that Open Door shuffled funds that belonged to clients when regular funds ran short because of Payton's activities. One charge says Payton was warned about the seriousness of his activities by the agency's former CFO, but continued to embezzle. The indictment claims Payton used the money to pay alimony, child support, and tax liens.

Mecklenburg Open Door ran several group homes and helped manage finances for many mentally ill and homeless clients. Payton was the agency's executive director from 2006 to August of this year. He was fired after the board of directors confronted him about the money.

Mecklenburg County severed its relationship with the agency in Nov. 1. They have since hired a new agency called Monarch to take over its responsibilities.

Payton was arrested Wednesday. Court records don't list an attorney, and a message left at a phone number listed in his name was not returned. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of his five counts.

Mecklenburg County has reacted to the scandal by changing its standards for county contractors like Mecklenburg Open Door. Outside agencies will now be required to have yearly audits of finances.

"We're actually going beyond what general accounting standards require to make sure that Mecklenburg County residents know we are watching their money," said Jennifer Roberts, chairwoman of the Mecklenburg County Commission.





Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's Death vs Carolinas Medical Center's Racist System


Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System has been previously sued on numerous occasions by several African-American families for Racist Medical practices leading to premature, medically preventable deaths.

Many of those lawsuits were quietly settled with families of those Black patients who died due to intentional improper care or NEGLIGENCE.

Such lawsuits and bad reputation is the reason why Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System now exist instead of Charlotte Memorial Hospital, the old CMC.

Thus its safe to say Carolinas Medical Center and Charlotte Memorial Hospital are one in the same.

How do I know this?

I always do my research and I talk to people personally affected by what I post on my Blog.

People will tell me things they might not disclose to the Charlotte Observer because the Charlotte Observer has a history of practicing Biased reporting and Discrimination in its publication of articles.

Kenneth Jermaine Chapman was an African-American Charlotte citizen who recently killed three members of his family and later himself.

Prior to his destructive actions he desperately sought Mental Health Care assistance from Charlotte's Carolinas Medical Center.

In fact he sent out an S.O.S. which was intentionally ignored.

Mr. Chapman clearly, verbally expressed to CMC Staff he had thoughts of hurting others and killing himself.

Did CMC Staff report his thoughts to Charlotte DSS even though they knew this man had minor children in the home?

NO!

They didn't give a darn because Ken Chapman was Black and wasn't an affluent citizen.

Now if Ken Chapman had connections with an Affluent, Politically-connected Black Charlotte citizen, than of course they may have taken Mr. Chapman's situation more seriously, but because he was just a poor Black man they didn't give a darn!

The result?

A Black Man who killed his wife, two of his children and than later himself.

If you think Jennifer Roberts (board chair) and the other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners are seriously concerned about this matter or seriously concerned about investigating Mr. Chapman's case...DON'T BET ON IT!

If you think Charlotte's weak, scared Black Leaders are going to speak up...DON'T BET ON IT!

The only two Charlotte-Meck. County Commissioners who do really care, Harold Cogdell Jr. & Vilma Leak (both African-Americans) will be blocked from doing anything constructive by Jennifer Roberts (board chair), "Ms. N.C. Corruption" herself.

This tragic incident helps to further demonstrate how Racism is deeply woven into all facets and levels of Charlotte, NC's community, including the Health Care System.

Charlotte's other main Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital isn't much better.

Its a private facility where Blacks go in but don't come out.

Presbyterian Hospital also has a long history of Black Patients needlessly dying but that's a story for another day.

As I was saying Carolinas Medical Center's staff intentionally did NOT prevent Mr. Chapman's death, nor did they help protect his family however.....

I'll bet Mr. Chapman's surviving relatives receive a huge bill for his so-called "treatment".

In fact thousands upon thousands of African-Americans within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Region have Carolinas Medical Center Medical Bills on their Credit Reports.

Many of those bills are decades old.

Many of those bills are due to Billing errors from Carolinas Medical Center.

Many of those bills are due to Carolinas Medical Center INTENTIONALLY overbilling Black patients.

How does Carolinas Medical Center skirt Federal Law as it relates to Medical Bills which are older than 7 years old?

Carolinas Medical Center pays Equifax, Experian and Trans Union Credit Reporting agencies to sell those old Medical bill accounts to Debt Collectors, who create new account numbers for those decades old bills and continue screwing up the Credit Ratings for hundreds of thousands of North Carolina's Black citizens.

Is this really Racism you ask??

Yes!

For White Patients treated by Carolinas Medical Center staff everything is handled entirely different.

White Patients who visit Carolinas Medical Center for treatment receive proper care regardless of their situation and...

They aren't intentionally overcharged, neither are their Credit Reports damaged even if they don't possess Medical Insurance because NOT every White patient has Private Medical Insurance, just like there are many Black patients treated at CMC who DO possess Private Medical Insurance.

I'd say its time for the Federal Gov't including the FTC, to take a look at how Carolina Medical Center intentionally provides inadequate treatment to its Black patients, how they consistently & intentionally overbill Black patients and how they are paying big bucks to 3 major Credit Reporting agencies (mainly Equifax) for the sole purpose of selling Medical Bill Accounts which are decades old to Debt Collectors.

Just watch the Levine Family, old Charlotte money and one of Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System largest contributors, use their big bucks to help defend CMC in any possible lawsuit.

The Levine Family is Charlotte's "Savior".

They often come to Charlotte's aid in a crisis however ONLY after the crisis occurs.

They run Charlotte's so-called Leaders including Jennifer Roberts and Anthony Foxx.

The Levines are most likely indirectly involved in most of Charlotte's Racist activities being carried out however, because they are super rich everyone is afraid of them.

If Ken Chapman were a White Man residing in Charlotte, NC neither he nor his family members would be dead today.

Or at least his family members would be alive today.

Both Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System, Charlotte DSS and quite possibly the Levine Family are ALL legally Responsible for the Chapman Family's death stemming from total NEGLIGENCE.

If I were related to Mr. Chapman's family I would most definitely SUE and demand a Federal Probe to be conducted.

Sadly enough Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's relatives are probably uneducated or too afraid of Charlotte's Racist, Unfair systems to take legal action.

Charlotte's Racist, Scared Leaders know this which is why nothing will probably change.






Patient Advocates: N.C.'s Mental Health System Needs Fixing


Recent reports of patient abuse and neglect at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro is more proof that the state's troubled mental health-care system needs restructuring and more funding, patient advocates say.

"There isn't a system of psychiatric facilities in this state," said Vicki Smith, executive director of Disability Rights North Carolina. "What we have are individual hospitals."

Smith said there needs to be a consistent standard level of care across the state's four psychiatric hospitals and that right now, hospitals only try to meet the minimum standards of care to receive funding.

She blamed that on job vacancies, lack of training, lack of supervision and oversight and inadequate pay. Many state agencies also rely on a temporary work force, and that means the quality of patient care is not always the same, she said.

Better recruiting and retention are needed, she said, to attract more qualified and attractive job candidates.

It's something the state's mental health oversight committee also suggested at a meeting earlier this week. John Tote, with the Mental Health Association in North Carolina, says the General Assembly needs to make more funding available.

Advocates believe Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton has taken aggressive steps to overhaul the system since taking over last year.

For example, he's starting to hold workers more accountable, Smith said. His recent decision to close a ward at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro in the wake of a patient's death sends a big message, she said, partly because there aren't enough beds for patients there.

On Thursday, Benton said the Division of Mental Health must find an independent hospital management firm to evaluate Cherry Hospital.

However, Smith and Tote are concerned that any progress Benton is making could suffer a setback when a new governor is elected in November and if a new DHHS secretary is appointed.

"Four months left scares me," Smith said. "What concerns me is that with a new administration, the tendency will be to study the problems."

That would not be true if the gubernatorial candidates are already investigating and discussing the problems the mental health system faces. Advocates say they have not heard any specific plans from either candidate so far, however.

"Folks are going to be behind the eight ball, and if that's the case we'll see a perpetuation of the situation," Tote said.



North Carolina Mental-Hospital Workers To Be Re-trained After Patient Abuse Claim


The Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says workers at a troubled state mental hospital will be retrained following an allegation of abuse that went unreported for several days.

"The patient was not harmed. The issue was that they handled it improperly, so we're going to make sure that we're restructuring a whole bunch of training at Cherry Hospital," Lanier Cansler said Thursday. "It really gave us a clue to the fact that they thought they were doing it right."

The intensive training will be for everyone who works at the Goldsboro facility and involve a list of prohibited actions that result in immediate termination, Cansler said.

Cherry Hospital is in jeopardy of losing approximately $800,000 in federal funding following the incident last month in which a mental health technician dragged a 22-year-old male patient and covered his face with a pillow to keep him from spitting while staff tried to restrain him.

Among the findings in a report by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, the hospital "failed to provide care in a safe setting by failing to investigate the allegation of patient abuse in a timely manner" by allowing the same staff member to continue caring for the patient for 19 days after the allegation was reported.

Cansler told members of the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Joint Legislative Oversight Committee Thursday morning that the incident went unreported for so long, not because staff tried to hide it but because they didn't know they did anything wrong.

No one will lose their job over the case, Cansler said, despite a zero-tolerance policy he put in place soon after taking over the department in 2008.

"I will not hold an employee responsible for doing something improperly if they've never been trained to do it right," he said. "That's our responsibility, and we're going to make sure it happens."

DHHS must now submit a plan of correction detailing the new training by May 21 to CMS, which oversees the federal insurance plans and reimburses hospitals for treating patients under the programs.

The federal agency revoked Cherry Hospital's certification in 2008, when a 50-year-old patient died after staff left him sitting unattended in a chair for nearly 24 hours. The hospital lost an estimated $8 million to $10 million in federal funding as a result.

Three employees were ultimately fired, two resigned and 10 others were disciplined in that incident. Several former employees were also charged with and convicted of physically and sexually assaulting patients in other cases.

Mental health advocates and state officials have blamed a lack of training and inadequate pay as contributing factors to the problems the hospital has faced.

Canser said Gov. Bev Perdue's proposed budget for the next fiscal year provides $500,000 for additional training at state facilities. A federal match would bring the total to around $800,000.


View Larger Map


Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, WCNC, WRAL, Google Maps

Another TSA Screw Up: Forces Disabled Boy To Remove Braces

Another Terrorist Stopped By Vigilant TSA Officer: 4-Year-Old Boy In Leg Braces


Now we know how the "Crotch Bomber" got through security – TSA Screeners are busy terrorizing disabled toddlers.

4-year-old Ryan Thomas is developmentally disabled as a result of being 16 weeks premature and has to wear corrective braces. His ankles are malformed and his legs have little or no muscle tone. He only just learned how to walk, briefly, on his own, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But that didn’t seem to matter to the Transportation Security Administration Screeners at Philadelphia International airport.

It was Ryan's first trip to Disney in March 2009, according the paper's columnist Daniel Rubin. All was going well for the Thomases -- they had gotten to the airport with hours to spare before their flight, but as it turns out, they would need that extra time.

Ryan's father was breaking down his son's stroller to put it on the conveyor belt as his wife, Leona, walked Ryan through the metal detector. As expected the alarm went off and Leona tried to explain the situation, the paper said.

The screener replied that the boy would have to take the braces off and walk through the detector again. When Leona Thomas attempted to walk with Ryan she was told he would have to do it alone.

She tried, calmly, to explain that Ryan could barely walk with the braces, let alone without them, but the compassionless screener was deaf to her pleas, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile Bob Thomas was getting increasingly agitated. He is an officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, so he understood the need for security, but this was overkill, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Thomases eventually complied and Ryan made it through on his own, but Bob immediately asked for a supervisor. The supervisor was less than sympathetic and stood by the screener's actions. A fellow police officer even told Bob Thomas to drop it and go enjoy his vacation.

But Bob Thomas didn’t forget and after his trip he called the airport manager. Eventually, with help from Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Daniel Rubin, the TSA finally responded to the incident saying that the boy never should have had to remove his braces and they would be looking into what went wrong that day in March.

For the Thomases that probably feels like too little too late.

Sources: Philadelphia Inquirer, TSA, CBS News

NC Officials Slash Rehabilitative/ Educational Funds For Disabled Children...Pure Politics

NC Budget Cuts Threatens Rehabilitative Program For Disabled Children


By the end of June 2010, NC Officials will no longer use Medicaid a Federal government Health Care Insurance program to help poor residents, to pay for a major service for Disabled Infants and Toddlers in North Carolina who have fallen behind in walking, talking or speaking.

State officials must figure out a way to replace the service despite the elimination of federal money, because federal education laws require states to help disabled children. So any future program would likely be trimmed to narrow the kinds of help provided and serve fewer families.

Parents and therapists are pushing back in an effort to preserve the service.

The program provides therapists who go to homes and day care centers to show parents or teachers the best way to interact with young children to improve their physical and emotional development. It is aimed at children younger than 3.

The program, along with other early intervention services, is considered essential to help disabled children prepare for school.

"Our service is there to teach the caregiver," said Briana Kelly, a therapist from Pender County. She started an online petition that had 399 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

The program is meant to help disabled children catch up in skills with those of most children their age, Kelly said. If the severity of the disabilities won't allow that, the goal is to "get them to the best they can be," she said.

"If they saw those kids and those families, they won't cut the service," Kelly said of state officials.

In recent years, the federal government has told states to stop using Medicaid money to pay for services that are not considered rehabilitative, said Brad Deen, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The services cost Medicaid an average of $1 million a month over the 12-month budget cycle that ended last June, Deen said.

As the state looks to narrow the kinds of service offered, it will consider how to limit use and keep out some children who state officials don't believe need the help, he said.

"Medicaid would like there to be a little more selectiveness," Deen said.

In August, 4,766 children were eligible for the service, and about 65 percent of them were thought to be on Medicaid, according to Deborah Carroll, head of the early intervention office in the DHHS.

As the state struggles financially, the department is trying to figure out what comes next for the services and the children who get them.

How other states cope

In a Dec. 11 memo, Carroll listed some states that had devised ways to have Medicaid pay for community-based infant and toddler services similar to what North Carolina offers, but she said in an interview this week that she did not know whether the DHHS would pursue that course.

Private insurance, state money and federal grants are also used to pay for the service.

Jennifer Pfaltzgraff of Raleigh, whose 6-year-old son, Ethan, received community-based services when he was younger, said the program is essential for all disabled children and their families.

"It's a great tool in that it's not only the professional working with the child, but the family's involved," she said. "It's the best way to pull the services together and make it understandable for the parent."

Potential impact

Private insurance paid for the services for Ethan, who has cerebral palsy. But Pfaltzgraff said Medicaid cuts can hurt middle-class families, too.

Some private providers could go out of business without the Medicaid income, which would mean fewer therapists available to work with children, said Pfaltzgraff, who is president of the ARC of Wake County, an advocacy group.

"Everyone will be affected by it," she said.





Federal Judge Halts Mental Health Cuts


A Federal District Court Judge today stopped a Government Mental Health Management Agency from enacting cuts that would lead to two disabled people losing their apartments.

The Beacon Center, the local mental health agency that covers Wilson, Greene, Edgecombe, and Nash counties planned to cut the state money that helps two mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents live in their own apartments.

The two Wilson-area residents, Marlo M., 39, and Durwood W., 49, sued with the help of Disability Rights North Carolina, which argued that the move violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives disabled people the right to live in the least restrictive settings possible.

The U.S. Department of Justice supported their argument. The federal government has participated in cases in several other states where the civil rights law for the disabled was at issue, said Justice Department trial attorney David W. Knight. In other cases, the Justice Department was trying to help residents move to community living, he said. This is the first case the federal government was arguing for people already living in the community fighting imminent institutionalization, Knight said.

U.S District Judge Terrence W. Boyle stopped The Beacon Center's cut, at least until a ruling on the merits of the suit, saying Marlo M. and Durwood W. would suffer irreparable harm, and that it was in the public interest to have state programs and funding adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Beacon Center's lawyer, Christopher P. Brewer, said he did not know whether they would appeal.

Vicki Smith, executive director for Disability Rights North Carolina, called Boyle's decision "a victory for people with disabilities in North Carolina."




North Carolina Must Repay Feds $300 Mil For Medicaid "Billing Errors" (Fraud)

-It took the state months to notice that one of its Medicaid funds was flush with money, but employees couldn't figure out why.

Now, because of a huge accounting error, North Carolina must repay the federal government about $300 million for taking too much for public hospital services.

The state will pay back $200 million by the end of this month, and will repay the rest during the next 11 months, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Medicaid is the federal government's health insurance program for the poor and disabled. The state received about $7.5 billion in federal Medicaid money last year. Though the federal government pays most of the costs, the state picks up about one-third of the expenses.

The mistake was triggered in November, when a state worker sent the department's controller's office incorrect information on how much money hospitals should take from the federal government and how much they should take from the state account, said Lanier Cansler, DHHS secretary.

State workers noticed the Medicaid account was out of whack about March, but couldn't find the source of the problem, Cansler said. The state discovered the mistake at the end of June as it prepared to make more changes to Medicaid billing formulas, and told the federal government about it.

The $200 million can be repaid almost immediately because the state has unspent money in the account hospitals were supposed to be tapping, Cansler said.

The $300 million mistake comes at a sensitive time for Gov. Beverly Perdue, as she pushes for tax increases to cover a budget that is nearly a month overdue. Earlier this week, the governor upended budget negotiations, saying she could not support a budget with an income tax surcharge and a drop in per pupil education spending.

In a statement, Perdue said she told Cansler and the state's new Medicaid director, Craigan L. Gray, to make correcting the problem a top priority. She said she wants a report on disciplinary actions.

"While this problem may have originated prior to my term as Governor, the circumstances under which it was made and perpetuated are simply unacceptable," she said.

Perdue said Friday she ordered DHHS to tell the state budget office if its Medicaid accounts are more than 2 percent off projections and submit a report explaining the cause.

This isn't the first time the state has lost the handle on Medicaid payments. DHHS was criticized in a recent legislative report for losing track of how much Medicaid money it was spending on a community mental health program that peaked at more than $100 million a month soon after it started.

New computers coming

A key to better monitoring Medicaid money, Cansler said, is a computer system that will be installed in four months that will let users know quickly how much money is being withdrawn from accounts and where it's going. It will replace a system that Cansler called "old and outdated."

The computer system will cost about $500,000, and the federal government will pay about 90 percent, he said.

After discovering the mistake, DHHS and the state budget office checked all of the department's federal accounts and will examine them each month for problems, Cansler said.

"It raises confidence issues in my mind about everything," he said. "We didn't find anything else. We will continue to look at everything like that and how we can strengthen controls."

Not being run very well

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said the state should have been taking such care with its accounts all along.

"You would think there would be internal audit procedures and internal review procedures," he said. "This is just one more indication that our state is not being run very well."

In the past, the state has been asked to repay Medicaid because of incorrect payments to hospitals.

In 2006, the state and 51 hospitals had to repay the federal government $151.5 million in excess Medicaid payments made over six years. The hospitals paid $91.5 million and the state was responsible for the rest.

A two-year investigation found that the state mistakenly claimed too much money through a federal program designed to subsidize hospitals for their care of poor patients.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, News & Observer, Allbusiness.com, Autism Society of North Carolina, Voices of America, Youtube, Google Maps

NC Officials Blocked By Federal Judge From Cutting Mental Health Funding

Federal Judge Halts Mental Health Cuts


A Federal District Court Judge today stopped a government mental health management agency from enacting cuts that would lead to two disabled people losing their apartments.

The Beacon Center, the local mental health agency that covers Wilson, Greene, Edgecombe, and Nash counties planned to cut the state money that helps two mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents live in their own apartments.

The two Wilson-area residents, Marlo M., 39, and Durwood W., 49, sued with the help of Disability Rights North Carolina, which argued that the move violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives disabled people the right to live in the least restrictive settings possible.

The U.S. Department of Justice supported their argument. The federal government has participated in cases in several other states where the civil rights law for the disabled was at issue, said Justice Department trial attorney David W. Knight. In other cases, the Justice Department was trying to help residents move to community living, he said. This is the first case the federal government was arguing for people already living in the community fighting imminent institutionalization, Knight said.

U.S District Judge Terrence W. Boyle stopped The Beacon Center's cut, at least until a ruling on the merits of the suit, saying Marlo M. and Durwood W. would suffer irreparable harm, and that it was in the public interest to have state programs and funding adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Beacon Center's lawyer, Christopher P. Brewer, said he did not know whether they would appeal.

Vicki Smith, executive director for Disability Rights North Carolina, called Boyle's decision "a victory for people with disabilities in North Carolina."





Charlotte Leaders Give Harry Jones A Bonus, Cut Mental Health Funding



Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones will receive a $38,400 performance bonus, but his total compensation remains the same as last year, under a deal unanimously approved Wednesday by county commissioners.


Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners praised Jones for, among other things, leading the county during a difficult economic time.

The "pay-at-risk" money - which commissioners have in previous years called a performance bonus - is part of an overall $302,854 compensation package. It also includes $215,655 in base salary.

The pay plan keeps Jones' compensation the same as in 2008-09, though a board committee determined he actually would have been due more money this year, said commissioner Dumont Clarke.

Jones, however, asked that his pay be kept level. "That was his request," said commissioners' Chairman Jennifer Roberts. He "wants to be treated like all the other county employees." The county didn't award any merit raises this year.

Jones' evaluation has been in the works for weeks, with talks largely being kept private initially as allowed by state law.

But some commissioners acknowledged last month that paying the money could raise questions in light of steep budget cuts across the county. Two other local public officials - Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman - declined merit raises or bonuses for themselves and staff to help save money.

Jones is eligible for a higher bonus than Gorman or Walton, up to 30 percent of his base salary.

Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts said the board had a "difficult conversation" about the pay plan because of the economic conditions.

Still, commissioners also have said they wanted to reward Jones for meeting goals previously outlined by the board.

Clarke said Jones told commissioners earlier Tuesday evening that 2008-09 was both his most challenging and best year as manager.

Roberts said Jones "has done a very, very good job, an excellent job as manager in a very difficult year." She cited Jones' work addressing budget cuts because of falling tax revenues and his work on the Critical Needs Task Force to help address social services needs in the community.

But the county also faced questions about inadequate accounting at the Department of Social Services, including an investigation into possible misused money in a charity program for Foster Children. The county announced steps to help shore up practices within DSS, including putting its finances under control of the main county finance department.

Mecklenburg has offered bonuses to the manager for years, but decided five years ago to restructure the pay system to reflect a CEO-style package of a base salary with another piece of pay tied to performance.

Under the plan, Jones is eligible for a bonus of up to 30 percent of his annual salary based on a series of criteria, including how well the county performs on annual goals and a management plan approved by commissioners. Based on his current salary, he could have received a bonus up to about $65,000 this year.

Jones has not received the full bonus since commissioners approved the new pay structure in 2004.

Clarke said Jones' performance in the past year earned him more money. He said he's being paid about 10 percent less than what his performance score called for.

Cuts in mental health

Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved about $2.76million worth of service cuts to the county's Area Mental Health department because of reduced money from the state. The state cuts were actually larger, but county staff has promised $3.7 million to help make up the gap.

Jones said he hasn't yet identified where the money would come from.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps