Massachusetts budget cuts means disability assistance center will scale back many programs

From The Wicked Local. In the picture, old friends and recipients of the Walnut Street Center's individual support program, Evelyn Moreno, Joan Souza and Donna Souza are advocating for funds to critical human services that help keep physically or mentally challenged individuals in their homes, with their families.

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Francis Baxter, 59, has physical disabilities and lives with his brother’s family since their parents died. Dawn Kehoe, 39, has cerebral palsy and lives with her elderly mother and sister at home. Franco Junior, 45, is autistic and lives with his parents. What they have in common is a disability and the Walnut Street Center.

Every morning a special van picks up Baxter at 7:30 a.m. to take him to the Walnut Street Center where he enjoys hours of activities with folks who have become his friends. When Kehoe’s mother had a heart attack, the Respite Program at the Walnut Street Center kept her safe and occupied. Junior has a case manager there who keeps track of his medical history and doctor’s appointments.

These individuals are three out of 250 families in Arlington, Cambridge and Somerville who receive some sort of support to enable them to live at home – be it transportation, health care, at-home help, keeping track of health history, medicines and doctor’s appointments.

As of July 1, these folks have to make do on their own. Thanks to recent state cuts in mental health funds, the Walnut Street Center has lost $600,000 or 5 percent of their annual budget in key programs and staff that help support families with special needs folks who live at home.

Now Franco and Filomena Difuso are wondering how they will explain to their 45-year-old autistic son Franco Junior that he can no longer go to the center and has lost the case manager who kept track of his medicines, doctors and hospital visits due to he cuts. “Negotiating the system itself is a full time job,” Difuso worried.

The non-profit agency was founded in 1970 by parents who wanted support for their children in the community. The mission is to empower adults who have developmental disabilities to make meaningful life choices and even work or live independent lives. It does this with the help of day and employment training programs, residential and respite programs, social service and clinical supports and specialized services including assisted living and day habilitation programs, all of which have been recently axed by state cuts.

Somerville resident Jim Baxter does not know how he and his wife, both holding full time jobs, will look after his 59-year-old brother if he cannot go to the center every day. He also worries that the lack of social activity and not seeing his friends will have a negative impact. “It was a joy for him to go there. Without it, he will be completely shut off,” Baxter said. “It’s going to be very difficult.”

Families impacted have been meeting every week at the Charlestown Street center but haven’t come up with a solution, said Dana Kuhl, assistant director of Individual and Family Supports.

“This is a very sensitive issue,” Kuhl said. “For years these families have kept their loved ones at home and now they will be completely lost without the support to deal with the health, money, day care issues. Some are elderly families who need help themselves. All they are asking for is emergency support and some social time – it’s not a lavish extra.”

Lynn Kehoe looks after her 73-year-old mother and 39 year-old sister Dawn who has cerebral palsy and needs help with feeding, bathing and healthcare. Dawn uses the center’s day rehab program and will now have to be kept at home and under supervision 24-7.

“These cuts are so emotionally traumatizing to the families,” Kehoe said. “It’s causing so much stress. My mother is ready to have a heart attack now that the state has just abandoned all these people. What are they supposed to do all day – sit and stare at the wall? There are programs for childrens’ well being, well, adults need it too.”

She hopes state officials can start treating them as human beings and not line items.

Clinical Director Karen Procacini wonders how they will balance out services at the center after the recent cuts, especially as there are no clear answers from the state on support services like transportation, which may also be cut soon. “These families are saving the state tons of money to be at home and ask for a minimal amount of support that got taken away too,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for the Walnut Street Center, I wouldn’t be here,” said Donna Souza, 59, with tears in her eyes as she wonders how she will survive without the help of the center’s assistance programs that are cut. She lives with her son who also has developmental disabilities, and cannot read or write. “I cry because I don’t want them to do this to us. I wish this wasn’t happening,” she said citing the trips to the doctor and surgeries that she couldn’t manage alone.

Dana Kuhl, assistant director of Individual and Family Supports, said staff goes to stay with her at home to help her live her life especially as she has a brain tumor that they need to closely monitor.

Families impacted have been meeting every week at the Charlestown Street center but haven’t come up with a solution. “This is a very sensitive issue,” Kuhl said. “For years these families have kept their loved ones at home and now they will be completely lost without the support to deal with the health, money, day care issues. Some are elderly families who need help themselves. All they are asking for is emergency support and some social time – it’s not a lavish extra.”

The non-profit agency was founded in 1970 by parents who wanted support for their children in the community. The mission is to empower adults who have developmental disabilities to make meaningful life choices and even work or live independent lives. It does this with the help of day and employment training programs, residential and respite programs, social service and clinical supports and specialized services including assisted living and day rehabilitation programs, all of which have been recently axed by state cuts.

Pat Baven, 59, has been coming to the center for a decade and depends on her mother and sister at home. “She is so upset, she is crying and couldn’t come,” said sister Betty Baven at a meeting in the center on Tuesday night. “What’s going to happen to her with all these programs cut?”

“She’s already withdrawn and doesn’t want to come out,” said her mother Lucile Baven. “She’s going into depression and it’s a terrible thing to do this.”

Austin Prescod, 45, is an autistic man who has made great progress at the center over the years, said his brother Stephen Prescod of Somerville. “This place gave him a social life. We said no to institutions and saved the state millions of dollars,” said Prescod who doesn’t mind any kind of increases in taxes that affect him, as long as his brother can have the basic services to lead a better life. “We’re hoping that with the sales tax passed, this money will be restored. The state needs to put the money where the most vulnerable people need it the most.”

Mary Houghton, 45, is severely physically disabled, does not speak and needs complete care at home. She relies on all the center programs that have been cut – day rehabilitation, family support and health assistance. Her sister Kathleen Houghton of Somerville who cares for her is disillusioned by the state’s apathy and wonders why the state’s most vulnerable have to bear the brunt of the budget cuts. “It’s very unfair to families who already have something enormous in their lives to give all their attention to,” she said. “We have to pick up the slack because we have no other choice. Some of the caregivers are in their eighties!”

Jores Jones remembers bringing her son to the center when he was 20. Cledwin Jones is now 41 and a regular at Walnut Street. He has several developmental disabilities including OCD, cannot sit still, is very curious and needs constant monitoring. Thanks to the center, he now greatly enjoys the art program and is one of their budding artists. “These programs have helped him discipline himself, socialize and know how to act with others, and brought out his strength which is art,” said Jones.

“Governor Patrick needs to learn about disabled people. If he had a disabled child, he would know. We are different but we are also the same in many ways,” said Joan Souza, 65, of Cambridge. She chanced upon the Walnut Street Center 35 years ago in Union Square as a homeless person and sought help. Today she is advocating for the state to reinstate the cuts to the families it serves. “They don’t have a lot in their lives but these programs bring a smile to their faces. It breaks my heart to see what they are doing to these people. The state is letting us all down.”

“I don’t think people understand the devastation this causes,” said a grim Kehoe. “This will cost the state. Because the people here don’t vote, they think they are not important. But they have families who vote and we will not vote for a governor who cuts these essential services.”