By Roni Rabin
STAFF WRITER
NEWSDAY - September 5, 2002
Darlene Cruz can finally go home.
In a decision hailed by disability rights advocates, an
administrative
law judge ruled last week that Suffolk County's Department
of Social
Services erred when it placed Cruz in a nursing home last
year and
directed the agency to authorize the home care services Cruz
needs to
live in the community.
"It's the best birthday gift I could get," Cruz,
who turned 32 on Aug.
28, said by phone from the Northeast Center for Special Care
in upstate
Lake Katrine. "I can't wait. ... I just want to begin
my life again."
Cruz, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy while in
high school in
Bay Shore, has been in the nursing home for about a year.
That was when
Suffolk's Social Services Department determined she could
not be safely
maintained in the community, and turned down her request for
16 hours a
day of home nursing care.
Disability rights advocates said yesterday that they hoped
the ruling in
Cruz's case would signal the start of a new era in New York,
which has
been slow to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark
1999 Olmstead
decision that spelled out the right of disabled individuals
to live in
the least restrictive appropriate setting.
A bill to establish a statewide council to develop and
implement a
so-called most-integrated setting plan has passed the State
Legislature
and is awaiting Gov. George Pataki's signature, said Brad
Williams,
executive director of the New York State Independent Living
Council.
"I don't know why, but New York has been one of the
last states to
implement this," Williams said. "There are 130,000
people in nursing
homes in New York State, including about 17,000 to 18,000
people who are
working- age adults like Darlene Cruz."
Dennis Nowak, a spokesman for Suffolk's Department of Social
Services,
said the Aug. 27 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Thelma
Lee would not
change the agency's policies or procedures. The judge found
the agency's
"determination to deny the appellant's prior approval
request for
private duty nursing services on the grounds that her health
and safety
cannot be maintained at home with these services is not
correct and is
reversed."
"We still believe we took appropriate action,"
Nowak said. "A lot of
thought and time went into her assessment. ... We still have
concerns
about her plan, which is to move in with her sister; that it
is not an
adequate plan to maintain her health and safety."
Cruz plans to move in with her 30-year-old sister Meldy, who
lives in
Bay Shore and has pledged to provide her with backup care in
case of an
emergency.
Nowak pointed out that although the social services agency
will
authorize a certain number of hours of home nursing care or
personal
care services, the county is not responsible for hiring the
nurses and
cannot guarantee enough nursing care will be available,
given the
chronic nursing shortage.
Cruz's predicament started in May 1999, when she reduced her
home
nursing hours in order to afford her and her boyfriend more
privacy.
When the couple broke up last year, county officials refused
to restore
Cruz's nursing hours, and a social worker advised Cruz to
get herself
placed in a nursing home as a temporary measure. With the
help of
attorney T.K. Small of Brooklyn, Cruz requested a hearing in
July and
appealed the Suffolk County agency's decision.
Copyright C 2002, Newsday, Inc. < http://www.newsday.com >
Brad Williams, Executive Director
NYSILC
111 Washington Avenue, Suite 101
Albany, NY 12210
(518) 427-1060
(518) 427-1139 [Fax]
Email: nysilc@nysilc.org