State Lawmakers Let Us Down
Dear Editor,
This is directed to Ryan Mishler, Curt Nisly, Dave Wolkins, and all State Legislators,
Last week, the Administration of Cardinal Services of Warsaw, Indiana, made the once unthinkable decision to call the State and let them know that they no longer had sufficient staff to care for all the adults living in their group homes.
Cardinal Services has had a staffing shortage for the last few years due to the low starting wage that they can pay their Direct Service Professionals (DSP’s) based on the Indiana Medicaid Reimbursement Rates. Many employees have worked overtime and Managers have worked extra shifts for free as Direct Service Professionals to care for all the individuals they serve. Unfortunately, after the COVID crisis hit Kosciusko County with employees out quarantining or in isolation this shortage became even more acute and unsustainable.
In the last State legislator budget session, our legislators had a chance and a moral obligation to include funding to provide for an increase to Medicaid which would in turn allow agencies like Cardinal to pay their staff more. They chose to ignore this worsening crisis. SHAME ON YOU.
This past Friday, over 30 adults with significant disabilities were moved out of Cardinal Care to Fort Wayne and eventually may be dispersed across the state to other facilities. Their future is unknown.
My heart is broken. Those adults who were removed from Cardinal Care on Friday have names and faces. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet. If you have been on a tour of Cardinal or attended a Cardinal Call lunch, you would recognize these faces. Many of them have lived in Cardinal group homes for many years. Can you imagine leaving what you have called home, people you know, and being put on a bus to Fort Wayne having no idea what is happening to you?
I urge you to request the governor take emergency actions to provide assistance to agencies providing services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to ensure uninterrupted care to their consumers.
Vicki Morton
Syracuse