Adele Ferguson - A letter from state DSHS

THE LETTER from the Department of Social and Health Services came at the turn of the year. It was only three sentences.

“Due to state budget cuts, on Jan. 3, 2011, the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) will no longer have case managers for clients who do not receive a paid service. For information about community resources, please call 211. You may call 800-735-6740 if you need to request a paid service.”

It was signed by Linda Rolfe, director of DDD. It came to my brother’s home in Ravensdale, because he and his wife have been overseeing the affairs of the youngest of the ten Ferguson children, Frances, since she was taken into state care many years ago. No, they don’t get paid for it. In fact, the Social Security income she receives from the feds goes directly to the state.

Frances was born with Down Syndrome. I’ve told you about her once in awhile. She was the prettiest baby I ever saw, despite the slightly slanted eyes and broad hands with short fingers of mongolism.

My parents loved her dearly and refused to believe that she was handicapped in any way. But even as a toddler they couldn’t control her. She would get up at night after they were asleep, leave the house and run out on the road where it was not uncommon for a startled motorist to retrieve her and come knocking at the door to return her. She could get out no matter what they tried to keep her in. She had no feelings of pain and had often burned herself, once putting her hand on a hot stove burner.

It took a lot of talking for me to convince my aging parents that she belonged in an institution, in particular Rainier State School, then the usual destination for children with her condition. But the list of applicants for Rainier was very long.

THE SITUATION worsened, and I forget exactly what happened with her that triggered me to break my steadfast rule to never ask a politician for a favor. I called one of the local superior court judges who was involved with such cases and asked him if he could get Frances farther up the list because it was only a matter of time before she was killed. He complied and she was admitted, reluctantly on the part of my parents, to Rainier. They visited her frequently over the years, taking her out to lunch and shopping. Once they brought her home and she cried all the time she was there, missing her friends at Rainier.

When my folks died, the management of Frances’s future was assumed by my brother and his wife since they lived nearer Rainier than any other of us. As she grew up, she was able to work and was transferred to a group home where she was happy.. Today she is in a convalescent nursing home, unable to walk or even stand alone and suffers from Alzheimer’s. When the letter came, my kin sent it on to me to find out what it meant.

I CALLED DSHS and told them I intended to write about it because many others had received the letter and were as puzzled over what it meant as we were. The call back was reassuring. There would be no impact at all on Frances, I was told, because she is in 24/7 care and her welfare is and has been overseen by her family.

As I understand it, the real problem is where people with disabilities or injuries have been assigned caregivers to help them that will not be available so they have to get paid caregivers. But DSHS clients will not be abandoned, I was told. There will be resources available and toll free lines in every region where help will be available. The Legislature has yet to act, of course, and the caring and compassionate are already being heard from.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)