DECATUR, AL (WAFF) -
Alabama is working on a plan to close mental health hospitals.
WAFF 48 News wants to know if that plan will impact the homeless population in North Alabama.
Advocates for the homeless expect more people who need their help to rise, but they are also very concerned about some of the people who need more specialized care than they can give.
Thursday, we met Martha. She is a resident at the Tennessee Valley Outreach Mission in Decatur. The director of ministries there said Martha has an I.Q. of 42. She is on the waiting list for treatment by a state-aided program.
We took Martha's case to the Alabama Department of Mental Health CEO, David Jackson.
He said people with intellectual disabilities can get services with state funding that is matched by the Medicare.
He said if they don't close the facilities, that could affect that type of program because the department would have less funding for it, and lose federal match money too.
Meanwhile, the state remains stretched on these programs and Martha remains here.
"It took almost a year for me to get her on the waiting list. I had to prove she had a low I.Q. and different things and she finally got on the waiting list. She's 149, and they said there's a list for the waiting list because they cut funds not too long ago. So it looks like she'll be with us for a long time," said Denise Jones, Director of Ministries at Tennessee Valley Outreach.
CEO David Jackson said the need for community-based programs to help the intellectually disabled, like Martha, is so far beyond the resources available as it is. And if they did not make these hospital closures, the disparity would only get deeper.
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