CDR Clients to Monroe County: Please Reconsider

13 Wham News

Rochester, NY – More than 20 people spoke at the Monroe County Legislature’s Human Services committee meeting on Tuesday night, trying to convince Monroe County to change its mind about CDR.

Kenyatta Costa doesn’t think the recent complaints are reason enough to end services.

“That’s like finding one nursing home wasn’t providing the right care, and then shutting down all the nursing homes,” Costa said.

Susan Stahl is not only a client, but an employee at CDR. “If I lose the program, that means I might have to leave my house,” she said.

Like many others, Stahl is worried if she changes vendors, she’ll lose her aide: someone she chose to provide her care.

“Most of the corporations, if not all of them, will require a different certification,” Stahl said. “Most of the attendants that are going to try to transfer don’t have that certification.”

Monroe County’s Commissioner of Human Services, Kelly Reed, also spoke to legislators. A majority of the clients, she said, will be able to keep their current aides under the new vendors.

“These providers are prepared to look at the current aides to see if they’re qualified to work for their organization, and if they are, they’ll receive seamless service,” Reed said.

She also told legislators the county stands by its decision, and doesn’t plan to reconsider a new contract with CDR.

“Consumers were concerned with the aides not coming in, or some aides coming in intoxicated and passing out instead of providing services to them,” Reed said. “We started an investigation and what I found was when you do a random sample of 12 complaints and 100 percent come back with issues, you have to start paying attention to the issues.”

The county terminated its agreement with CDR last week. It cites 12 complaints about problems with care, including clients that were left alone for hours, even days, at a time.

“They need quality care, they need quality aides, and most of all, they need aides that are present,” Reed said.

The county gave CDR’s clients ten days to choose another service provider. The next step is the transfer process, which could take up to 60 days, she said.