Budget cuts lead Louisiana to close group home

From The Shreveport Times:

Louisiana officials plan to close a group home for mentally and physically challenged adults in Sibley as part of budget-cutting measures.

Five people living at the group home operated through Northwest Developmental Supports and Services Center will be moved to privately run group homes in May or June. The home's 10 employees will be given the option of transferring to other jobs through the state civil service system. And the state leased the property in Sibley, so it will revert to the property owner, said Sean Smith, a spokesman with the Louisiana Health and Hospitals Department.

The Sibley facility is among 31 state-run group homes the Health and Hospitals will eliminate. About 157 residents will be affected statewide.

Health and Hospitals projects a annual savings of $60,000 per person with the change because it costs $366 a day to care for a state-run group home resident versus the top state reimbursement of $208 per day paid to privately run group homes.

The privatization of group homes is part of $108 million cost-cutting plans state health officials announced Wednesday.

The Northwest Center itself will remain open. It serves a variety of people with mental and physical challenges. Some require little help with everyday activities, while others have complex medical needs or suffer from emotional and behavioral problems that make them dangerous to themselves and others.

"I'm glad they didn't shut down the center itself," said Paul Procell, president of the Northwest Supports and Services Center Parent Association.

Procell said he's concerned about how the state will find appropriate placement for group home residents. "If you privatize it, (privately run homes) are not going to take people who require the high level of care."

Duane Ebarb, of Shreveport, said there also is a lack of appropriate housing for disabled adults who can live independently.

"There are five residents who want to transition out of the (Northwest) center now, but they have to wait," said Ebarb, regional representative of Louisiana Citizens for Action Now (LaCAN), a disability advocacy organization. The group encourages independent living for disabled people who require lower levels of help with everyday activities.

"There's insufficient housing right now in the cities of Shreveport and Bossier."