Transcript - slide 10

Interviewer:  In essence, you are funding the support person through the home and community -based waiver to support the individual in that employment opportunity. Is that correct?

Danny Cowart:  That’s correct. All we use in funding is the MR/DD Medicaid Waiver.

Interviewer:  It’s not that you have other state or local funding that would support those services?

Danny Cowart:  That's correct. We do not have any basic social services grants or any other services with funding. It has really worked out well with the waiver because it is not time-limited. [We] may decrease the amount of support needed once we have put in more natural supports or the person has become more adapted to [his/her] environment and can function better in it. [We] can decrease those supports and move them to another person. This is a neat thing with the MR/DD population [that] the waiver allows us a way [to pay] for long-term supports [for those who] regress.

Interviewer:  I think that's a really good point to bring up for the listener as well. Let me ask you a question related to the example of the young man who was going into the store for 4 or 5 hours a week doing the stocking. What would he do during the rest of his week?

Danny Cowart:  In supported employment he may have 2 or 3 jobs like that. In other words, he would leave that store, and I think that particular young man goes to a lawyer’s office in which he does shredding. I am not really sure of his particular task. He likes to shop. He is really into buying his own clothes now. Then of course, he may pick out a certain time of the week that he goes to eat at his favorite restaurant, which may be McDonald's. Then he has some fun things he likes to do. During that time, I think he does some self-help things. He lives with his mother, and he takes care of the lawn. He takes care of his own clothes and has learned to iron. These are just the typical things that all of us do, and we fill up his day with activities.

Interviewer:  How does the staff ratio work in that situation? I would be curious to know something about that.

Danny Cowart:  That is one of the good things about the buildings. Our staff ratio with the day habilitation is 1 to 3. Our staff ratio for supported employment is 1 to 1. When they finish with their supported employment, they may come back to the building; and the job coach may take another person out. While they are going out, that other person may join a group of two other people, and they may go to Wal-Mart, fishing, or bowling.

Interviewer:  This clarifies for me that you are not talking about putting 25 people on a bus and going to bowl either. But some people may think that. Again it’s the unsaid. So we need to make sure that we clarify some of the statements.

Danny Cowart:  That is exactly right. The State Department of Mental Health has established some pretty good standards that you cannot have a group outing in the community with more than three [individuals].

back to top