West Virginians with intellectual and developmental disabilities such as low IQ, Down syndrome or autism continue to be confined in state-run psychiatric facilities even when some should be living independently in communities.
Both disability rights advocates and some state lawmakers agree that rather than being confined to beds, the patients deserve more contact with the community.
On Tuesday afternoon, a group of lawmakers approved a bill that would allow health officials to build a large transitional facility with dozens of beds for people who would otherwise be sent to hospitals. The bill would also make way for other smaller residences with about four to eight beds each.
Disability Rights of West Virginia, the state’s federally-mandated disability rights advocacy organization, opposes plans for a large transitional facility. Mike Folio, the group’s lawyer, said it wouldn’t actually help transition people back to living in homes instead of institutions.
He noted that at least 20 patients at state-run hospitals could be released but do not have anywhere to go because existing providers are refusing to take their clients back once hospitals have found they are no longer dangerous.
Folio also said there is no need for more large residences because there are about 70 vacant beds at existing group homes. Folio said people with disabilities are more likely to thrive in smaller group homes with a handful of beds than in larger institutions.
Group homes, with one to four people, allow people with disabilities to be surrounded by their own belongings and decorations, and get individualized care from in-home workers, who help with tasks like grooming or cooking.
Advocates also say when people with disabilities live in homes, they’re less likely to display the aggressive behavior that might get them sent to hospitals in the first place. They say patients’ outbursts stem from frustration related to inadequate care, and aggression could be prevented.
Over the past few years, an increasing number of people with disabilities in West Virginia have been admitted to hospitals, and some stay for months or years according to data obtained through a public records request.
During the meeting, Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, and Del. Scot Heckert, R-Wood, raised concern about the safety of moving people from hospitals to communities. Christina Mullins, a deputy secretary for the Department of Human Services, countered that neighbors likely don’t even know that people with disabilities live nearby.
“They’re just individuals living within that community,” Mullins said.
Del. Roy Cooper, R-Summers, spoke in support of the transitional facility bill, saying lawmakers couldn’t keep “kicking the can down the road.”
“We heard from two different people who came up and testified, and we didn’t hear any real solutions,” he said.
But state health officials made extensive recommendations to lawmakers about improving services for people with these disabilities during interim meetings. Those proposals included crisis centers, where people might stay for only a short time for a medication adjustment, and the employment of a state official to keep people in small-group settings.
HB 4408 was amended to include opening multiple four-to-eight bed facilities, and not just the one larger facility; that amendment was approved in an 11-9 vote. The bill now goes to the Finance Committee for review.