By Alex Green From the moment he became superintendent of the nation’s oldest public school for intellectually and developmentally disabled children in 1887 until his death in 1924, Dr. Walter E. Fernald led a wholesale transformation of our understanding of disabilities in ways that continue to influence our views today. How did the man who […]
Category: Behavioral Health
HHS’s Transformation to Make America Healthy Again U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, March 27, 2025 The restructuring of HHS is proceeding in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” Over the past four years, during the Biden administration, HHS’s budget increased by 38% […]
*Boston Globe, January 17, 2024By The Editorial Board Higher prices, worse outcomes don’t serve patients or providers. When Pamela Daly got new wheelchair brakes, they rattled and didn’t work. She complained to the manufacturer but after a month was still waiting for replacements. Daly, a disability rights advocate, was late to an event at the […]
Dignity Alliance Massachusetts advocates for the adoption of the following amendment affecting Line Item 4120-4000 (Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission): For a pilot project to develop community-based comprehensive sites to provide behavioral health services for adults under age sixty. The goals are to deter persons from nursing home placements and to discharge people under sixty years older […]
Dignity Alliance supports lifting the DON moratorium for specialized skilled nursing facilities for substance use/mental health issues and COVID-19 rehabilitation. Any applicant which proposes to serve this population should demonstrate that it has the skills, expertise, appropriate programming, and trained staff to adequately meet the needs of the population. We question the need for special […]
Dignity Alliance Massachusetts has sent a letter to State Auditor Suzanne Bump, asking for a follow up audit of nursing facilities. The letter is copied below, or download the DAMAuditor Letter on Nursing Home Complaints.docx. “We appreciate the work you and your office reported in September 2019 regarding the unconscionable delays in complaint investigations of […]