By Toni Stinson
cpeditor@lcs.net
They are an unlikely pair. As he works at a table to fill small plastic pots with potting soil, Vincent Martin chatters and grins, spilling soil in his lap and gesturing broadly to all in the room. Earl Mudd, new to the horticulture therapy program at Rappahannock Adult Activities, Inc. (RAAI), silently and methodically measures each cup, not spilling a drop. Both men look forward to their time in the lushly-vegetated greenhouse located behind the Patricia Spaulding Building in Caroline County. Their caregivers also look forward to the time as it gives them a brief respite to attend to daily chores, other children or just a much deserved break. RAAI staff say that without support, many parents and caregivers of mentally disabled adults will eventually need mental health services for themselves, due to the enormous stress of caring around the clock for a disabled adult.
RAAI is just one part of a larger organization, Rappahannock Area Community Services Board or RACSB. It serves residents in Fredericksburg City and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties with public mental health and substance abuse programs. In Caroline, about a dozen mentally disabled adults regularly spend the day in RAAI support programs, which teach them living skills and gets them out into the community. This is something that wasn’t possible for many disabled adults thirty or more years ago when institutions for the mentally disabled were common.
According to research by the University of Minnesota, nationally the number of mentally disabled housed in institutions has dropped from 186,743 in 1970 to about 33,000 today. In Virginia about 1,150 people with developmental disabilities are housed in five training centers around the state. There’s no question, say staff members at RAAI, that individuals in well-supported home environments fare better those who are institutionalized.
It’s more cost effective to support families with day programs that allow the disabled person to live at home too. According to state figures, the cost of resident care in one of Virginia’s training centers is about $180,000 per year, or about $40,000 more than the cost of community-based support programs. But getting this quality care is not easy. Presently the state only allows for 7,000 Medicaid waivers which enable families to access day support programs like RAAI. In addition to the 7,000 individuals already enrolled in the program, another 5,000 are on a waiting list. The stakes are high for the mentally disabled if the waiver program is cut as some legislators have proposed. The disabled are at risk, as are their caregivers, without the respite and educational programs community organizations like RACSB and others provide.
For more information about RACSB, please visit: www.racsb.state.va.us