rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/urgent-stand-with-nursing-home-residents-not-owners-sb-3559?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-urgent-stand-with-nursing-home-residents-not-owners-sb-3559' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Alliance for Community Services https://actionnetwork.org/groups/alliance-for-community-services https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg The COVID pandemic brought new urgency to the long-standing goal of a person-centered long-term care system (nursing homes et al.) that prioritizes human need over profit, and enables people with disabilities (PWDs) and elders to live with maximum dignity and autonomy. Use this form to ask your state legislators to support New Directions that prioritize dignity and community for PWDs and elders. Disability-led groups across Illinois and across the country are calling for a new direction for long term care, away from institutions and toward home and community-based services (HCBS). Any such transformation requires a plan that is concrete, can work, treats workers and other stakeholders fairly, has a step-by-step process of developing the programs, models and policies that enable persons the viable option to be in or stay in home and community-based settings. We also must enact immediate improvements for residents and workers in long term care facilities, while a plan for new direction is being crafted. Use this link to have your organization listed as a supporter of this new direction. Proposals under consideration will: a) Provide greater dignity now by - increasing the monthly 'personal needs allowance" (Illinois is one of only 4 states that only provides the federal minimum of $30/mo for clothing and other personal needs) - adding teeth to bans on retaliation by facility managers, against residents and workers that blow the whistle on neglect, abuse, or safety violations - expanding emergency PA/medical support programs, which will reduce the 'hospital-to-nursing-home pipeline' and help PWDs and elders stay in their own homes when they don't need a 24/7 facility b) create a stakeholder task force to develop a 5-year plan for coordinating and developing HCBS program capacity, including programs such as a transition housing voucher, that enable a viable choice for HCBS over an institution. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urgent-stand-with-nursing-home-residents-not-owners-sb-3559