Maine's "Independent" Govenor Angus King has done nothing to help
long-time Parkinson's Disease sufferer Ivan Suzman of Portland,
now 50 and in his 15th yearof battling the disease. Meanwhile,
the controversy surrounding Molly Baldwin, RN, at th Bureau of
Elder and Adult Afffars (BEAS) who is angry at Ivan for not
cooperating with her decision to commit him to residency
in a nursing home on Monday, October 23, continues to grow.
Baldwin is the key player in the Maine Department
of Human Service's strategy to continue to
underpay its night atttendants, whose rate of
$15.00 for an entire 7-hour overnight shift is being
lowered by Baldwin to $14.60 PER NIGHT (not
per hour).
On September 3, 29 angry, disabled Mainers travelled to a
DHS Hearing in Augusta, Maine, to provide testimony on the
devastating impact of the DHS 's overnight pay rate of approximately
$2.00 /hour,
or as former Portland PCA Ashley Lenartson calls it, in an open
leter to teh Maine Legislature, "SLAVERY."
While Lenartson and many other PCA's seethe over the untenable
pay rate, Baldwin has restricted DHS official Kep Neale from
releasing the testimony from the hearing. She claims that
due to a" Technical error" the Se[tember 3 testimony is
to be removed from the record.
Lenartson is one of many Mainers could not afford to work for Ivan,
and other DHS consumers like him statewide, because of the ridiculous
wage, and echoed the voices of many other PCA's. Donald
Douglas of Bridgton , a CNA. quit night attendant work after his
paycheck came to $00.60 (60 CENTS) for an entire night.
Baldwin, the rate-setting bureaucrat in this puzzling
and stunning underpaymentof night attendants,
blames Suzman's lack of a live-in attendant
and the loss of night caregivers on his poor patient
skills. She now denies being able to locate a May, 1999
letter, in which she suggests that Suzman's "lifestyle"
is the reason he cannot retain attendants.
This outrageous allegation was countered at an October 16 meeting at
Suzman's
home by 5 witnesses for Suzman, including a social worker,
a certified nurse's aide, a former chair of the Governor's
Medicaid advisory board, and two new PCA's who are
working for Mr. Suzman, despite the unfair rate. of pay.
"It is our hope to keep Ivan from deteriorating," said
one of the atendants, on condition of remaining anonymous.
She addeed that Baldwin was cruel and cold-hearted in the
meeting at SUzman's home.
Baldwin insists that nothing can be done, despite King's
multimillion dollar budget surplus.
Mr. Suzman has been steadily deteriorating for nearly two
months. Another PCA close to him says that she does not
think he can survive the winter, without adequate care
at home, limited to 13 hours per day by Baldwin. She
says that Ivan is actually "amazingly resourceful," and
refuses to see placement in a nursing home as anything
less than "a death sentence" for him.
Suzman is seeking to sue King and Baldwin for mental
cruelty, severe emotional distess, and slander, and is seeking
a pro-bono lawyer to protect him from forced removal from
his Portland home, world-famous for its Parkinson's- friendly
construction , ranging from wheelchair accessible features,
postural and positioning safety devices, double-railed stairways,and
a design that includes balance bars and mobilitfy and hypothermia
protections.
GreenArmy Press
Portland 10/18/00
