This at a time when there is a waiting list for residential services of 7,000 people. If we continue to close out beds and cut back services, the DCs will soon reach a point where they are no longer cost-effective to operate. And they will close. The Department has indicated that it will only abolish positions that are already being provided in the community. I'd like to offer an example of a service that is being provided in the community that is inadequate and unsafe.
Vocational services are a prime example of privatization and community programming gone bad.
Historically, vocational services were offered in the community through the county boards or private providers. Developmental Center clients traveled to the workshops in order to receive vocational services. However, at the Gallipolis Developmental Center and Mount Vernon Developmental Center, direct care staff discovered that no services were being provided at their county board workshops. In Gallipolis, our clients had continuous outbursts at these workshops because they were unsupervised, left by themselves, and had absolutely no vocational tasks to perform. Our management and direct care staff recognized the horrendous conditions in these county programs.