Editor,
In response to the article by Jessica Holdman, referencing Whitten Center renovations being scaled back after shortfall discovered. As Parent Advocates for residents at Whitten Center, we are distressed to see monies have been diverted to other things by the overseeing agency, Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (OIDD). We fail to understand that after a Senate Proviso in 2024 required OIDD to fix our Centers and to use any available funding to get it done, then OIDD took $22 million designated for this project and spent it elsewhere. Our disabled residents receive SSI and Medicaid money. OIDD charges Medicaid $542.49 a day. According to Whitten Center’s 2025 budget, that brings approximately $8 million surplus. Each Regional Center should have a similar surplus. What is our agency doing with this surplus?
It concerns us that Kimberly Tissot, CEO of Able, SC, stated that our buildings are filthy and smell horrible, and are ripe with abuse and neglect. As parents, we find it offensive that someone who has not visited our children’s buildings would say something like that. That is like saying every nursing home is filthy, smelly and filled with abuse and neglect. She stated that their goal is for no one to be admitted to our centers. Ms. Tissot mentioned Olmstead, but she failed to mention that each individual is unique and one placement does not fit everyone. Some cannot function in the community. Some families may qualify for assistance but can’t find appropriate workers where they live. Some who have been sent to the Community have been returned to the Centers when the Community program could not meet their needs. Our Centers have downsized according to Olmstead, but we still have many residents who need the level of care provided in an ICF facility like our Regional Centers. Individuals who qualify for Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICFs/IID) under Medicaid have a legal right to such facilities for as long as they remain eligible and choose to do so. According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, “As already observed (by the majority) the ADA is not reasonably read to impel States to phase out institutions placing patients in close care at risk…Some individuals… may need institutional care from time ‘to time to stabilize acute psychiatric symptoms’… For other individuals, no placement outside the institution may ever be appropriate…for these persons, institutional settings are needed and must remain available. (Olmstead, at 604-605) Justice Ginsburg also stated that “Each disabled person is entitled to treatment in the most integrated setting possible for that person – recognizing that, on a case-by-case basis; that setting may be in an institution.” (Olmstead at 605). Justice Anthony Kennedy warned of possible tragic consequences if states try “to drive those in need of medical care and treatment out of appropriate settings with too little assistance and supervision. States may be pressured into attempting compliance on the cheap, placing marginal patients into integrated settings devoid of the services and attention necessary for their condition” (Olmstead at 610).
The Whitten Center staff and families take pride in our Facility. We work hard to provide a family environment that residents, staff and family members can enjoy together. We have a beautiful campus with a sensory garden, pavilion, multi-purpose building, and wheelchair swings. The Parents’ Club also provides sensory items, decorations, parties, arts and crafts and monies for recreational opportunities off campus. We decorate the campus every Christmas and invite the neighboring Communities to visit and enjoy the lights.
Jane Parris, Laurens
Linda Lee, Prosperity
Whitten Center Friends here.
