Advocacy groups demand CVTC spend state funds elsewhere

Four advocacy groups for people with disabilities teamed up this week to demand that $43 million in new state funds for the Central Virginia Training Center be used instead to move the center’s 460 residents into new group homes.

Using the name “Virginia Alliance for Community,” the groups said their first goal was to “reform Central Virginia Training Center” by moving its residents to about 100 homes where just three or four of them would live together.

Community-based housing is a civil right that belongs to the residents, the groups said in a news release.

The center’s director, along with the state delegate whose district includes the center in Madison Heights, said the groups’ approach wouldn’t solve all problems.

“Calling themselves an alliance is a concern when they did not attempt to align themselves with us,” said Denise Micheletti, director of the center.

“We would like to talk about what innovative ideas could happen, if the General Assembly approved them, for a portion of these dollars but not all of them,” Micheletti said Wednesday.

The buildings at CVTC immediately need basic fire safety improvements, including sprinklers and electrical generators, Micheletti said.

The alliance’s spokeswoman, Jamie Trosclair, said the improvements wouldn’t be needed if the $43 million were used to move the patients to group homes.

“Our proposal is a call for reform, not a call for compromise,” Trosclair said.

Virginia and other states have been moving the care of people with intellectual disabilities to community-based support over the past 40 years, Trosclair said. Virginia has moved slower than most other states, the alliance said in its news release.

Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, who worked with other legislators to arrange the state appropriation of the $43 million, said he was surprised that the alliance was taking “an all-or-nothing approach.”

“I believe in the multiple-option approach,” Cline said.

“Group homes are great for those who can live in them,” Cline said. “CVTC is needed for those who can’t live in a group home, or would prefer not to. Those renovations are absolutely necessary for CVTC’s success.

“Let the group homes flourish, let CVTC flourish, and let parents have the ultimate choice to what is the best option for their child,” Cline said.

Micheletti said CVTC has been moving about 20 to 25 residents per year into group homes “and doing it successfully.”

Of 84 residents who transitioned out in a four-year period, only four or five have had to return to the center, Micheletti said.

“We have 460 people who live here,” she said. “At least 350 are immobilized in wheelchairs. A good portion of them, almost 300, have medical problems that need some kind of monitoring.”

That medical care would not be as readily available in group homes, where nursing attention might be at a lower level than care at the training center, Micheletti said.

“I’m not saying they wouldn’t get attention, but they don’t have the nursing resources to provide the medical resources” many of the residents need, Micheletti said. Seizures, swallowing problems and poor eating are among the issues, she said.

Trosclair responded by citing some numbers of her own.

“Regarding medical care, there are nine people in the hospital at Central Virginia, and 89 in skilled nursing care. The numbers are not consistent,” Trosclair said.

Micheletti said more people need medical monitoring than just the ones who are currently in the hospital or skilled care.

Trosclair said the CVTC buildings should continue to be used to provide dental and medical care for group-home residents.

She declined to say how transportation would be provided for the residents who need the care. Instead, she said other group homes operate at lower costs than the training center requires.

The new alliance was formed from four groups: The Arc of Virginia; Partnership for People with Disabilities; Virginia Board for People With Disabilities; and Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy.

The protection group focuses on civil rights for the disabled. The other three groups seek to integrate residents of institutions back into community-based housing.