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Willie Robinson |
Willie Robinson has a beautiful downtown Denver one-bedroom apartment on the 11th floor of Halcyon House. Actually, Willie’s apartment is in “LoDo,” which is Denver terminology for Lower Downtown, the “hip” section of the city.
“Everything here is perfect,” said Willie. “Well, not technically perfect, but such a vast improvement it seems perfect.”
On April 23 of last year, Willie Robinson lived in a Tennessee nursing home, Overton Park Healthcare Center in Memphis. Three years of work by MCIL to patch together a community living strategy ended in frustration and failure. An institution was all that Tennessee offers its citizens with disabilities.
Willie Robinson wanted more. Doing much of the work on his own from an accessible computer station at MCIL, Willie left the Overton Park nursing home for his own apartment in Denver. At one point Willie had an apartment in Memphis, but without the crucial link of attendant services, his dwelling in Memphis was only possible in an institution.
Although federal Medicaid provides money for personal attendant services, Tennessee gives that money almost exclusively to the nursing home industry. Nursing Homes are the most expensive and least desirable way to provide long-term care services.
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Willie Robinson in his LoDo Apartment |
A combination of state and federal taxes paid over $30,000.00 a year for Willie to languish in a Tennessee institution. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) find that Overton Park pays staff for less than three and a half hours of care for each individual in the facility. Although nursing homes advertise “24 hour” care, CMS reports that nationally nursing home residents actually get less than two hours of direct attention.
“Living here is so much different than in a nursing home,” said Willie, “I set my own meals, and my own activities. I have choice and I can choose things like staying up late.”
Living in his own apartment, Willie gets five hours of direct care a day. Even though Willie has never had a problem with attendants being late or untrained, he is provided with backup and emergency services in case of a problem.
“It is a joy to see them coming, they are professional and do a professional job,” said Willie. “In the nursing home they told me that the personal attendants would be unwilling to get you out of bed or clean you. But, it is the nursing home staff that comes up with excuses of why they didn’t do those things.”
Since moving to Denver, Willie has met two other people that have moved out of Tennessee nursing homes. He did not know either of them previously. One was a neighbor of Willie’s before he moved last November into Halcyon House. The other Memphis refugee works at a Denver Center for Independent Living. Willie also knows Melvin Douglas from Memphis, who has also escaped a Tennessee Nursing home to live in Denver
(read about Melvin’s move to Denver).
Willie is working now on self-improvement, with getting a computer at the top of his list; although he says that may come “further on down the road.” He has been working with Craig Hospital on a reassessment of assistive technology, and may be upgrading his wheelchair.
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The view from Willie's apartment |
Coors Field, the home stadium for the Colorado Rockies, is a block and a half away from Willie’s apartment. In the spring, the sounds of the ballgame will easily reach the eleventh floor. From his balcony, Willie has a view of the Denver skyline and the snow-covered Front Range in the distance.
“It is a great view,” said Willie. “I miss Memphis, that is where my roots are, but, I have such good CNA's (certified nursing assistants) and the personal care assistants are very good.”
Willie’s move away from his home, and the others that have made the trip on the “underground railroad,” are unique responses to the institutional control asserted by the nursing home industry. Most residents become dependent on the substandard care that the nursing homes offer, and the residents become convinced that they need the institution.
The nursing homes reinforce the idea that residents belong in the institution and that the world outside contains insurmountable barriers for people with disabilities. Those that have moved from the paternalistic environment of a nursing home, like Willie Robinson, make a courageous leap into an intolerant world, only to find that the institution is more intolerant and isolated.
A message to people in Tennessee nursing homes from Willie Robinson:
To anyone living in a nursing home I would strongly recommend they consider coming to Denver its such a refreshing environment as well as mentally
stimulating.
Memphis Underground Railroad Terminal in Denver PART
ONE: Melvin Douglas
-Tim Wheat
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