ADAPT Advocates from across the Country Demand Senators Fund Services to Keep Disabled and Aging People Safe and Living in their Own Homes
MM/DD/YY PRESS ALERT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More information:
(Contact Name & phone number and/or email)
WHO: (ADAPT Chapter)
WHAT: Disability Rights Activists Send Messages to Senators to fund Home and Community Based Services and make Money Follows the Person permanent
WHERE: (Address for the location)
WHEN: (Time if an event is happening)
Disabled and Aging people being held in institutions are dying of COVID at alarming rates. Congressional COVID Relief packages so far have pumped more money into institutions but people are still dying; more nursing facilities and other congregate settings are labeled as cluster sites every day.
(Local ADAPT Chapter), as part of ADAPT’s national network of grassroots disability activists, is participating in a call to action. The call to action has been organized to call upon Senators to protect disabled and aging people living in the community by providing additional funding for Home and Community Based Services and help disabled and aging people in institutions move to the safety of their own homes by reauthorizing the federal Money Follows the Person program.
Resources are needed to keep disabled and aging people in their homes safely. NONE of the laws Congress has passed to address the COVID pandemic have had funding to protect and support the 12 million disabled and aging people living in their own homes. None of the funding has supported the workers who keep disabled and aging people living in their own homes through better wages or benefits. None of the resources have ensured that personal protective equipment or other supplies are available to people living in the community and their workers.
The federal Money Follows the Person program has supported thousands of people in moving from institutions into their own homes. Since the program’s ending in 2018, Congress has provided extension funding, but the loss of the formal program has meant some states have ended the program, and in all states the number of people who have been able to benefit from the program has sharply dropped. Permanent reauthorization is necessary to ensure a safe way for people to get out of dangerous institutions and back to their own homes.
(Local ADAPT Chapter) will be (Describe what actions you will be doing on this day) to reach our Senators who returned to work in D.C. on July 21st. Funding Home and Community Based Services and re-authorizing Money Follows the Person must be first priorities for the next round of COVID relief.
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