Records show Cerebral Palsy Center home residents lived in 'dangerous' conditions

[Jilly_in_VA]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Records show all six people who lived in the Cerebral Palsy home in North Knoxville were "depressed and [had] anxiety caused by the current state of the home."

In July, state investigators with Adult Protective Services (APS) and the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) conducted a joint investigation into the condition of the home at 2014 Highland Drive.

The report obtained by the 10News investigative team showed all six individuals wanted to move from the home "because it was dangerous."

"It just slowly went downhill," said Doris Hager, whose son lived there more than two decades. "It just wasn't a happy place anymore. Nobody smiled."

In August, Executive Director Angelia Jones told families the home would permanently close September 15.

"It's not a program that has been financially viable for a while," she told 10News on September 7. "We've tried to figure out ways to make that work, but without full occupancy, it doesn't."

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/investigations/10investigates-records-show-cerebral-palsy-center-home-residents-were-depressed-had-anxiety-due-to-dangerous-living-conditions/51-3cec45ab-45b5-41b1-bdf9-35848d37750d

Read the rest. The dissembling and outright lying by the former director are outrageous.

[Jilly_in_VA]

1. I have more to say

This, coupled with the closure (finally!!!) of Fillmore Place, an assisted living facility in Petersburg, VA, are just two examples of how little our country cares for its disabled and senior citizens. They are basically a "burden" on society, to be shunted aside into Dickensian conditions, unless someone has the money and time to look after them and keep after the agencies who are supposed to care for them.

It took us three years to get our ASD son into an agency where he would be looked after, and even then we had to keep a hawk's eye on things. Now it's mainly his sister who does, since she's closer than I am. And some of the people we have to deal with are still clueless. His apartment manager, for instance, even though she has the numbers to call, will call family for problems she knows damn well should be handled by his social worker.

Yesterday I was talking to one of the workers at the shelter who I'm pretty friendly with. She has an ASD brother who is currently living with her and I was commiserating with her a bit as well as explaining how to go about getting him into the system to get him into his own place. She said that their mother, who is a German national, is planning to take him back to Germany as soon as his passport comes through. He was born there and educated there through first grade and German was his first language. She said that the German government isn't like ours at all. It just views taking care of the disabled as taking care of its citizens. (I gathered that her brother still has dual citizenship through his mother, since he was born there.) It would be nice if the US felt that way.