Here is a news release from our union at GDC the OCSEA it may let everyone no what is happening to Developmental Centers in the state of Ohio. Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. Oct. 16, 2013 NEWS RELEASE DODD layoffs in southern Ohio affect states vulnerable the most Westerville - Ohio Civil Service Employees Association leaders and activists who work in the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) are crying foul after 80 employees from the Gallipolis Developmental Center (GDC) were handed pink slips last week due to the center downsizing. GDC is one of the larger employers in Gallia County. Approximately 300 OCSEA members work at the facility. The union fears job loss will ultimately mean a loss of services for some of the most challenging and vulnerable residents in Ohio. In Ohio, ten state-operated developmental centers are home to about 1,000 individuals with severe and profound developmental disabilities. Since 2011, nearly 500 individuals in all have been made to move from the ten centers. The Gallipolis facility is the largest of those but has been downsized by nearly 50 percent in four years. Today, only 115 individuals live at GDC. But employees, parents and other advocates for these centers say the downsizing has gone too far and enough is enough. Union leaders have raised questions to DODD about whether individuals being transferred to community settings are safe or capable of thriving in those environments. In other cases, the individuals themselves have said they are opposed to the move. Yet, DODD has continued to move residents despite a number of individuals returning to the centers and ample evidence that the moves arent always appropriate. Monty Blanton, OCSEA staff representative and retiree of GDC with over 30 years of service, says that Ohioans dont know the real story of whats been happening in the rush to downsize state facilities. If Ohioans knew that we are moving individuals who cant walk, cant talk, cant feed themselves into homes where the staff dont know how to take care of them and where their needs arent being met, theyd be appalled, said Blanton. It is a moral outrage. We care about the jobs, absolutely, particularly in southeastern Ohio where jobs are already scarce. But more importantly, we are the only family many of these individuals have ever known, Blanton said. We are their voice. The DCs of today are not institutions. They are home-like settings where people live in condo-style units, eat family-style and participate in community activities nearly every day of the year, said Jeana Campolo, the MH/DODD/OVH Assembly President for OCSEA and a direct care worker at the Mount Vernon Developmental Center. Large state-operated developmental centers are a thing of the past in Ohio. The placements that are continuing out of our DCs are completely unnecessary. Parents are scared. They want their family member safe and happy, but they feel they are being harassed to move them into inappropriate settings regardless of their ability to thrive, said Mitch Salyers, the local OCSEA chapter president at GDC. As a guardian, I want my brother to stay at GDC. This center is his home and has been for decades. The caregivers are his extended family. I know some of the people that work there personally. Its not just a job, its more than that. I feel much more comfortable with staff at GDC, said Rick Jones, legal co-guardian to his brother who lives at GDC. They shouldnt be taking people who have lived 40, 50, 60 years at GDC and moving them. This is their home. Let them be, said Blanton. Download news release (pdf) Keep connected with OCSEA: Tell-a-friend about E-News Unsubscribe Ohio Civil Service Employees Association 390 Worthington Road, Suite A Westerville, OH 43082
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:57:54 +0000
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