COLUMBIA, S.C. - The state Department of
Disabilities and Special Needs has thousands of South Carolinians
who need care for head and spinal cord injuries, mental retardation
and autism, but they've been put on hold while Hurricane Katrina
evacuees receive help.
Part of the reason South Carolina residents will wait is because
of the dire situation some of the refugees are in and because the
federal government has promised to pay for their services.
DDSN and departments of health, social services and mental health
are working to aid the roughly 4,600 evacuees who are staying in
hotels, shelters or with friends and family in South Carolina.
The Health and Human Services Department has temporarily enrolled
1,200 evacuees on Medicaid, the state's health insurance program for
the poor, elderly and disabled.
The Mental Health Department screened evacuees as they got off
airplanes and referred more than 100 people for crisis counseling.
"We're talking to everybody that comes through just to make sure
they're OK," said Jac Upfield, the agency's hospital services
coordinator.
Of those referred to centers for counseling, some have had a
previous mental illness while others are just coping with the
effects of the hurricane, Upfield said. About nine evacuees were not
stable enough to go into shelters and have been taken to hospitals
or mental health centers.
DDSN said Thursday at least five people have been referred for
services, all of them in the Midlands area. The agency assured
county officials in a letter that they will receive additional
funding to cover the cost of services for evacuees but told them it
was "very important" to document the services so the state will
receive reimbursement from Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We really don't want this to affect people who are waiting for
our services who are already eligible," said Kathi Lacy, associate
state policy director.
DDSN has 1,863 people waiting for housing and will ask Gov. Mark
Sanford to increase its budget Friday by about $9.2 million to pare
the list by 500. The agency also wants about $8 million to prevent
expensive out-of-home placements for about 2,000 people with severe
disabilities who need supporting services in their own homes.
Department commissioner Lyssa Harvey was concerned how long the
agency would provide services for the evacuees.
"It may be on a temporary basis, or we may be actually supporting
these people indefinitely," Lacy said. "We have no idea. People are
still being relocated."
Some evacuees from the Gulf Coast are considered crisis
situations, which puts them ahead of some South Carolina residents
on the waiting list.
"It's a delicate issue," said Bill Barfield, deputy state
director. "If people here in South Carolina are in crisis, we take
care of them, too."
If the evacuees decide to permanently live in South Carolina,
their eligibility would be re-evaluated.
"Our goal is to ease pain right away," said Health and Human
Services spokesman Bryan
Kost.
