Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Families facing loss of respite centers, their ‘saving grace’

  • by Arielle Levin Becker
  • July 19, 2011
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Every few months, Jim Schmitt and his wife take their 14-year-old twin sons to a state-run respite center in Putnam for the weekend. He calls it a saving grace: It’s the only time he and his wife spend together without their boys, who have autism and do not speak.

“You love your kids to death, but you wait for those weekends to be able to get away,” Schmitt said.

Jim Schmitt

Jim Schmitt

Schmitt’s sons were scheduled to go to the respite center Sept. 8, and he and his wife were thinking about taking a trip to Maine. But officials are planning to shut down the state’s 10 respite centers by Sept. 5, part of a plan to cut $1.6 billion from the state budget. Closing the respite centers, which serve 1,100 families a year, is projected to save the state just under $8 million over two years.

There’s a chance the cuts to the respite centers and other programs that help families that care for people with disabilities or illness will be averted. State employee union leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy have expressed optimism that there could be a way to salvage a concession deal that union members rejected last month, creating the budget hole.

But with no guarantee of a resolution, respite center workers have gotten layoff notices, and families who serve as caregivers are wondering what they will do if the centers are closed.

“A great deal of the time when you have children with disabilities, you’re living like a couple who’s divorced, even though you’re not divorced,” said Maryann Lombardi, a Wilton resident who serves on the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities and has a son with autism. One parent might leave home with the other children while the other parent stays home with the child with a disability.

“It’s a very difficult way to live,” Lombardi said.

A report released Monday by AARP’s Public Policy Institute highlighted the stress that people who care for relatives face. “Family caregiving is now viewed as an important public health concern,” said the report, which estimated that 711,000 people provided unpaid care to relatives in Connecticut in 2009. The report did not take into account those who care for people under age 18.

Most of the state’s caregivers are not served by the state programs facing cuts, but those that are could find themselves with few alternatives.

Joan Barnish, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Developmental Services, which runs the respite centers, said there are no comparable programs in the private sector, and the department does not have the money to develop an alternative.

Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, Malloy’s budget director, said last week that the respite program closure was difficult to avoid because it is among the few services provided to developmentally disabled people and their families that are not mandated by law. It was among the most difficult cuts he had to order, he said.

“I find it very troubling and it would be among the first [cuts] I would undo” if fiscal circumstances were better, Barnes said.

The administration assigned DDS to cut nearly $85 million from the current two-year budget, and the agency is laying off 446 workers. The department is also eliminating services provided by support teams that work with 1,200 families with children living at home.

Another respite program, which provides funding for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease to pay for other people to care for their loved ones, is facing a 10 percent cut from the Department of Social Services.

“It’s an extremely effective program in terms of alleviating caregiver stress,” said Patricia K. Clark, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Connecticut. “It would have a huge impact on these 169,000 caregivers who care for people with this disease.”

Barbara Pennell uses funding from the Alzheimer’s respite program to help pay for the adult day care program her husband, George, attends while she is at work. The funding covers 80 percent of the cost of one day a week, and she pays for two other days.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know what I’d do without this service,” she said. “It’s been a lifesaver for us.”

Being with people is important for her husband, and he enjoys his time at the program, Grasmere by the Sea. “And I’m at peace at work, knowing that he’s being taken care of,” she said.

It’s not safe to leave George alone, and Barbara Pennell would like him to go to Grasmere five days a week, but it’s costly. On the two days a week he’s not at day care and she works, neighbors drop in and, one day a week, someone comes to give George lunch. The other day, she leaves her job as a secretary at Fairfield Warde High School to give him lunch.

Schmitt, who lives in Pomfret, said friends and relatives can’t take care of his sons, R.J. and Gunnar. It’s important that they be cared for by professionals who understand sign language and know them.

“Without respite, we have nothing,” he said. “It’s a critical service.”

He called the center a godsend.

So did Sandy Quigley of Simsbury. “I don’t know what we’ll do, to be honest,” she said.

Quigley takes her 39-year-old daughter, Tonya, to the respite center in Windsor. Tonya, who has Down syndrome, loves it so much that a mention of a plan to go there in the future will send her packing.

“I can’t even tell my daughter right now,” Quigley said. “I don’t even have the words to say ‘You can’t go back.'”

Quigley said the respite center allows caregivers to rekindle their marriages. You can pay attention to a spouse without constantly tending to another person. And you can leave knowing your child is safe. There are private services that could care for Tonya, she said, but they’re too costly for her.

Malloy had to do what he had to do, Quigley said. “But he said he wouldn’t go after the vulnerable groups, and I do think this is one vulnerable group,” she said. “You don’t go after children. You don’t go after the elderly. And you certainly don’t go after people that are disabled.”

Quigley said she is frustrated that some unionized state employees rejected the concession deal, which called for a two-year wage freeze and health plan changes, since the alternative is people losing their jobs.

DDS cut protest 7-19-11

Union members protest cuts to respite and other services

“We all have to make concessions somewhere,” she said.

Union members who work for DDS also expressed frustration Tuesday during a press conference outside the department’s Hartford Regional Center in Newington. The workers are members of the New England Health Care Employees Union District 1199, SEIU, and CSEA, both of which voted in favor of the concession deal. They warned that the services being cut are critical to peeple who need them.

In addition to the respite centers, department is closing 18 residential sites this year, including group homes, regional center units and units at the Southbury Training School, laying off the staff at six and redeploying the staff at the other 12 to save on overtime costs.

Rebecca Wentworth, who works at the Putnam respite center, said parents of clients don’t know what they will do.

“It’s not just our families and our children that are affected by these layoffs, but the people who have not a big voice to be able to get some help,” she said. “Their families are devastated by this and they’re losing a tremendous support network.”

1199 vice president Paul Fortier said members told him that the Torrington respite center has a full schedule until the middle of January.

“So now we have to tell these families that they have to find respite elsewhere that doesn’t exist,” he said. “Or they have to hire somebody at a rate they can’t afford.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arielle Levin Becker

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
‘It’s a nightmare:’ A growing number of seniors are unable to book vaccine appointments as problems mount
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

The state acknowledged Friday in an email to local health workers that some residents are waiting days for a callback.

Panel recommends small, inflationary pay hike for state officials
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut's part-time legislature hasn't received a pay hike since 2001. The annual base-pay for senators and representatives is $28,000.

Police task force seeks wider applicant pool for watchdog role
by Kelan Lyons

The task force sent four recommendations — and two that didn't get unanimous approval— to lawmakers for the 2021 session.

Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Opinion Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO