thebattle

The Battle Of HCPF--A Personal Diary

Anita Cameron

My name is Anita Cameron, and I am a member of ADAPT, a national, grassroots disability rights organization with chapters in 49 states. I live in Denver, Colorado, where last week, about 40 members of Colorado ADAPT participated in an amazing protest that lasted 13 days.
What happened was this: Governor Bill Owens needed to balance the state budget, and demanded cuts across the board in various programs. However, he let the Directors of the various departments and agencies decide where, and in what programs these cuts would take place. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF, pronounced hic-puff) initiated a 5% cut in the reimbursement rate that Medicaid pays for home health aides, also known as attendants. Home health agencies could lose a lot of money, attendants would have to take a pay cut, and client home health care would suffer. To make matters worse, there were also plans to put a cap on the Home and Community Based waivers for the Elderly, Blind, and Disabled, also known as HCBS-EBD waivers. These waivers would allow people who were in a nursing home, or in danger of nursing home placement to receive their services in the community. The department was also considering changing the scoring mechanism by which Medicaid eligibility is determined.
These changes were initiated without the knowledge of the disability community, which found out accidentally only a few days before the changes went into effect. Comments and testimonies are usually allowed before a change goes into effect. In this case, no comment period was allowed until July 12th, eleven days after the cuts took place! Karen Reinertson, Executive Director of HCPF, decided to hold a meeting on July 5th with ADAPT and several home health agencies as well as other disability rights groups to discuss the cuts. She, at the stroke of a pen, could rescind these cuts! ADAPT planned a big rally and press conference for the meeting. This was life and death, and if the cuts, caps and changes weren’t rescinded ADAPT would do the unthinkable—we would hold a vigil day and night in front of the State Human Services Building, where Karen Reinertson’s office is-- until the cuts were no more.
This story is about that hot July day, and the 13 nights and 14 days that followed. We called it The Battle of HCPF…

Day 1 July 5th

Friday dawned sunny, and very hot. At about 10:30 am, people started making their way over to the State Human Services Building, located at 1575 Sherman Street, in Denver. I got here around 10:45 and began introducing myself to those folks whom I didn’t know, or recognize. I called the office, and everyone was on the way. The rally would start at noon. We had plenty of time…
It’s 1:00 pm, and I’m about to go into this meeting about the cuts. There were almost 350 people at our rally. I gave an interview to Channel 9 news. I hope I didn’t sound too stupid. Rollie Heath, Democratic candidate for Governor came by for a while, and we gave him a T-shirt, which he put on right there. A police officer comes up just as I’m asking the crowd to keep a pathway clear. I tell him and the officials from the building that this is a peaceful rally and protest; we have no intentions of blocking anything. Relieved, the officer wishes us luck, and leaves. My friend, Henry Feldman dropped by. He told me that he’d spoken to my mum earlier and she’d told him about the rally. My mum has been pretty sick here lately, with the cancer and all, but she and my dad are with us in spirit. Besides, knowing her, she’ll be out combing the Internet looking for news and e-mailing everybody and their brother about this…
Well, this is it. The battle is on! That meeting was bad from the start. Karen Reinertson began by saying that the cuts were in place and would have to be dealt with. Humph! I could have walked out right then, but stayed to hear it out. There was so much technobabble and bull crap going on that my eyes were glazed over, and my mind was numb from information overload. Finally, it was over, and I went to find Babs. “Well, what do you think?” she asked. “I think we need to stay.” I replied. “Our bottom line hasn’t been met. There are still going to be cuts, caps, and changes while they’re having meetings.” Babs agreed, and we went to find David, Barry, and Carol. David Bolin is Director of CPWD, the Center for People With Disabilities, in Boulder. Barry Rosenberg is Director of PASCO, another home health agency, and Carol Bouchard is Director of AOI, Accent On Independence. We find Barry and Carol, and have a discussion with them. They agree to support us in what we’ll do. When we get downstairs, however, almost everyone is gone, and ADAPT members are milling around, pissed off. “Hey, Anita,” yelled Dawn, speeding up to me. “What’s this I hear about a victory?” “How can it be a victory when there are still cuts?” “Victor-who?” I exclaim, shaking my head. “There is no victory. We’re staying here. Who said anything about a victory?” By this time, other ADAPTers had gathered around and were talking angrily. “You should have heard David from Boulder, and Julie Reiskin,” said Sheila. She told me that while Babs and I were upstairs with Barry and Carol, Julie Reiskin, of Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition (CCDC), and David Bolin had come down, and announced a victory, though there’d been cuts. They told the crowd that there would be meetings and that we would be participating in those over the coming days and weeks to make sure that they keep their promises. I asked the ADAPT folks what they wanted to do. The answer was unanimous—stay. I took a few seconds to mull over what I’d say without embarrassing Julie R. or David B., then, went before the crowd to announce the beginning of the vigil…
It’s 2:00 am, and I’m still awake lying on a lawn chair beneath our huge ADAPT flag and facing our large banner that says Free Our People. I snuggle under my sleeping bag. I’m stoked. I can’t believe we’re actually doing it! Now, I’ll find out how tough I really am. Can I walk the walk like I talk the talk? So far, it hasn’t been too bad. We set up our sleeping bags on the grass about 9:00 pm. At 10:00, the sprinklers started going off, so we had to move all of our stuff to the sidewalk. Then, at 11 pm it began to rain. It’s still raining softly as I write this, but I’m prepared, so it doesn’t bother me. It was –4 degrees on my first national ADAPT action, so a little rain is nothing to me, or to the 30 hardy ADAPTers out here…
3:00 am. It’s still raining. I’m cold and exhausted. I desperately need sleep, but I’m too excited, or something. I‘ve been talking to a few passersby about our issue, and they’ve been really supportive of us. I’ve got to try to get some sleep before my watch at 5 am…

Day 2 July 6th

5:00 am. I’m glad I woke up, because it’s my watch. We all have scheduled watches in order to make sure that everyone is ok during the night. It’s still raining, and hard, too! Finally, we all make a run for the garage next door. I curl up in a blanket on the ground and try to rest…
It’s 6:00, and I am in rare form, acting crazy and all. Silaen, one of our attendants, has come by with a coffee pot, coffee, and fixings just as Monaca comes back with more coffee from a nearby 7-11, and Christy, Shannan’s mum, comes out with our first breakfast of the vigil. Needless to say, I’ve had way too much coffee! It’s still raining and cold, and I’m trying to keep myself and everyone else hyped…
It’s 11:30 am, and the sun is out, so it’s warm and dry! There was a picture in the Rocky Mountain News with a blurb about our rally. There was also a short piece on Channel 9 that aired twice yesterday, and once this morning. I start calling various ADAPT chapters, letting them know what we are doing. Our numbers are down to 15, now, as some of the attendants had to go on shift. Wow, our attendants are so cool! It’s they who face a pay cut, yet, they have already donated a good portion of our food throughout the day. Some, like Barbara and Ruth, have been with us through the night. Frank R. came by this morning with breakfast and donuts. I appreciate their support, and am grateful that they want to come back after their shift is done. Also, Lowell, and Julie A. and Dave H. will be back, along with Cameron, and Andrew, so our numbers will rise by dinnertime…
It’s about 2:00 pm, and whoops, what’s going on here? It looks as if they’re going to take our potty away! Several of us go over to see what’s happening. The guy is very cool, and calls his company to see if he can leave us a potty. Finally, he leaves it anyway, but his company calls to say that they’ll pick it up tomorrow. I imagine that Barry will take care of this as he’s renting it out for us…
Dinnertime. There are lots of us now! Christy just came back with a home cooked meal! She cooked us four huge hams and baked beans, and the best lemon squares this side of my sister. Barbara, Cindy, and Lupe came by with some kick-ass burritos. There are about 50 of us now, though I expect the numbers will go down somewhat by bedtime. Sheila, Gil, and Rick J. went home. They weren’t feeling well, but knowing them, they’ll be back bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. We had some trouble with a whacked out homeless guy, but Rick V. and I took care of that situation…
It’s midnight, and I’m about to lie down. I’d been hanging with the kids. Julie J., Cameron, Cassandra, Andrew, Chante, Taylor, and Zachary are so cool! A cop named Officer Jackson came by on his bike. He was curious about what was going on; he hadn’t been briefed. He was really nice, and told us that since we weren’t blocking anything, that we could stay as long as we wanted. He told us that he’d be around throughout the weekend, and that he’d come through sometime to make sure everything was ok. Hercules, Tisha and Mark’s dog, has just come by to make sure that I’m all right. He’s such a cool dog! I feel better that he is here. Well, I’ll sleep now. Terrance is on watch…

Day 3 July 7th

I wake up, and there is Terrance taking pictures. Hercules comes over for his good morning hug. I go to the potty to freshen up, and get walked in on, but I’m ok. Barry and Carol come by with breakfast, and Barry makes arrangements for the potty to stay as long as we are on the vigil. We also get a key and a lock for the potty, so we won’t be walked in on. Sheila, Gil, and Rick J. have come back, but Tisha, Mark, and Hercules go home to get Malachi, their son, and Stephanie, Tisha’s little sister. Malachi and Stephanie, who have grown up in ADAPT, have been at camp, but want to come to the action, so they’ll be here later, and out here with us pretty much from now on. They’re neat kids, though, and I’m glad that they’ll be with us. Later, Barry, Carol, Babs, Julie A., Dawn, and I get together to strategize for the coming week…
We had a good strategy meeting. We decided that a couple of us would go over to the Capitol sometime tomorrow to try to see if we could reach some of the legislators because they are in a special session. While we were resting afterwards, a couple came by with flowers for us. Both worked for the State; in fact, the guy worked inside the building we were in front of! They wanted to show their support for us, and they thought we’d like the flowers. They were right. The flowers were beautiful…
It’s about 4:00 pm. My mum has just called to say how proud she is of us, and to tell me what she has done. She has been out on the Internet, writing state legislators and such. One of the folks that she had e-mailed was Rep. Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff called my mum back today, and had a long conversation with her about the issue we are fighting, and how it will affect her, personally. He wanted to know if there was anyone out here that he could talk to, so Mum called me. I had her talk to Babs. They talked for a while, and Babs gave Mum her cell phone number to give to Rep. Romanoff. About 30 minutes later, Babs received a call from Romanoff. He supported us, and told Babs how several weeks ago he had written a bill, which passed both houses, but was vetoed by Governor Owens. The bill would have allowed a 1% raise in state funds for home health agencies. Romanoff wanted ADAPT to work with him on writing another piece of legislation. He also gave us the names of 4 other representatives and senators who supported us, and would work with us. I phoned each of these folks, and left messages on their machines to contact ADAPT…
It’s late, about 1:30 am. We had a wonderful meal cooked by Sloan’s mum, Renee, and had some goodies from our press lady, Monaca. Her daughter, Burgundy has drawn us a beautiful ADAPT flag on the ground. Julie Reiskin dropped by with a few items; she only stayed for a few minutes, as she had some things to do. She said she’d drop by tomorrow, and that she was glad that we were out here. A homeless guy came by, drunk, sick, and begging for food. I’m starting to get a little irritated with some of these homeless folks. Most are really nice, but some are starting to get on my nerves, and I’m beginning to have a hard time being nice to them. At first, I refuse this guy food, but then, I hear that he is sick, and that gets to me, so I call him back, and give him some food and something to drink. The guy literally starts crying and praying right there. He kisses the ground where I have walked, and says that we have blessed him. He sits awhile, and talks with the kids, then, goes on his way. Afterward, I met a guy named John Conquering Bear, who knows Rick V. Rick and I chat with him a while, and he tells us of a protest tomorrow by several American Indian groups. Because of the drought and the wildfires, there is a ban on open fires, such as barbecues, and the like. This means that the various Native American tribes cannot have their sacred fires for their religious ceremonies and such. During the conversation, John suggests that his Chief come by, and perform a sacred ritual for ADAPT. We’re all for it, and John tells us he’ll make the arrangements. Later, Monaca, Babs, Dawn, Julie, and I write a press release for tomorrow. It’s especially stressful for me, as I have extremely poor self-esteem, and I feel that I’m being criticized. I try to hide it, but it’s hard, and everyone sees that I’m frustrated. I know that my friends aren’t dissing me, but I’m extremely sensitive. I suggested to them that I dash something off, then, have them look at it, then, make any changes that they suggest. This arrangement seems to work, so I think I’ll do it that way from now on…
4:00 am. I wake up, punching and kicking Sloan, who is sleeping next to me. I’ve had a nightmare about some events that happened earlier. We’d been having problems with homeless folks and drunks, and I’d had a bad row with one person who was especially belligerent. I ended up calling the police on my cell phone, rather than hitting the guy, which was my first instinct. Later, I dreamed that he’d come back, and that I’d carried out my plans of kicking his ass, but it was poor Sloan who was getting his ass kicked, instead…

Day 4 July 8th

5:00 am. It’s my and Babs’ watch, so we’re up to greet the state workers as they come in to work. Believe it or not, they come in as early as 5, and they come in on the weekends, as well! I’ve had my coffee, and have freshened up, so I’m bright-eyed and especially friendly. I say ‘good morning’, and sing songs. Some folks respond, while others don’t. I sing a cute little song that I learned in kindergarten called “Good Morning To You”. Dawn loves this song, and has had me sing this to her when she wakes up in the morning. She says it makes her day…
11:00 am. Sherry and her attendant, Ken, come by. Sherry is a client of Barry’s agency, PASCO. Larry Ruiz, another PASCO client, comes by as well. Some Atlantis staff and Learning Center clients have been here since about 9:00 am, and the attendants started coming by at 5:00 am. People are really surprised that we are still here. Some are perplexed, while some are angry, but most are supportive, and wish us luck. A couple of them have even brought down bagels, donuts, and water for us. There was a lady training a new service dog named Liz. The lady definitely has problems with us, but Liz likes us. The only thing that bothers Liz is that she has to deal with Cielo. Cielo is a really cute Chihuahua who belongs to Lowell and Julie. When Liz and her trainer came by, Cielo attacked Liz. We don’t know why he doesn’t like Liz, because he loves Hercules, and he’s normally a nice dog. Maybe he’s just being protective. Oh, well. We spotted Karen Reinertson earlier, and went over to speak to her, to try to drum some sense into her, so to speak. She, too, was extremely surprised to see us still out here. She hadn’t realized that we were going to stay. She clearly doesn’t like this, but she asks us how are we managing, and we tell her that we are doing fine. We remind her that we’re here because of the cuts, and that we aren’t leaving until they go away. We ask for a meeting with her and Gary Snider, Director, Long Term Benefits for HCPF. Gary, who works directly with Karen, was one of the HCPF folks at the meeting on Friday. She hems and haws, and then says that we don’t need to meet with her, but we tell her that we do, since it is she who has the power to get things done. We invite her to come right down on the sidewalk to meet with us, since we here, anyway. She says she’ll drop by on her lunch break…
7:00 pm. A lot has happened in the past few hours. The Denver Post sent a photographer and a reporter down to our tent city about noon. The photographer, John Leyba, happens to be a cousin of Chris Cordova, one of our attendants. John stays for about two hours taking pictures, and chatting with Radine and I. The reporter, Valerie Edmundson, was very impressed with ADAPT. She interviewed me, Dawn, and Julie A., as well as several other folks, including some of the attendants, and seemed quite enthusiastic about the story. She, too, stayed for a couple of hours. Karen came down during this time, and began talking to Tim Thornton, Co-Director of Atlantis Community, Babs, David B, Barry, and Carol. They try to tell Karen the true effect that these cuts will have on home health agencies and people with disabilities all over Colorado. Karen starts asking for the numbers, as she doesn’t believe that the cuts will have that much of an impact. Karen is one tough cookie, I’ll say. She’s going to be a hard one to break, but she’s never met ADAPT. After that, Babs, Dawn, Sheila, Julie, Pete, Terrance and I went over to the Capitol to get some information to some of the legislators. As we were going in, Valerie Edmundson called Dawn to tell her that another reporter had scooped her, so she couldn’t do the story. She was disappointed, and so were we. After all that hard work! We went on in to meet with Rep. Romanoff’s aide, and gave her information to give to the legislator. I then called Reps. Plant, Garcia, and Stafford along with Senators Thiebaut and Matsunaka, and left messages on their machines about what was going on, and if we could set up a meeting. These folks were the ones whom Rep. Romanoff identified as would-be supporters of ADAPT. We also left information in each of their mailboxes. As we were leaving, we met with a representative of AARP, and told her what we were doing, and she seemed supportive. When we got back to our site, I talked to more passersby about why we are living on the sidewalk. Some folks asked if we shouldn’t be protesting Governor Owens or Mayor Wellington Webb. I explained that while Owens is no friend of people with disabilities, he didn’t make these particular cuts. He ordered cuts across the board, but gave the various departments discretion as to where the cuts would take place. That’s why we’re here at the State Human Services Building, and not in front of the Capitol. Some people understand this, while others choose to continue to act ignorant and uninformed. Afterwards, we have another of Christy’s wonderful meals, with help from Sloan’s grandmother, Inez. Inez works with people with developmental delays, and has been down with several of her clients throughout the weekend. Just after dinner, John Conquering Bear came back to do the sacred ceremony for ADAPT. With him was Chief Richard Sparrow Feather, Chief of the Crazy Horse band. We gathered in front of the building and sat listening attentively and respectfully as Chief Sparrow Feather explained the purpose of the ceremony and the prayers, which would be said in the Lakota language. As he and John prepared the smudge pots and the sage, he told us that because of the prayers, the hearts and minds of the people inside would be changed, and our desires would be realized. “In three or four to seven days, hearts will change,” he said. “Mark my words. In three or four to seven days, the hearts of those inside will change, and your desires will be met.” What followed next was one of the most beautiful and awesome experiences that I have ever had. Too soon, it was over, and we were thanking John and Chief Sparrow Feather for their time and for the ceremony. “Remember,” said the Chief, as he held my hands and gazed intently at me. “Three or four to seven days.” Then, he and John were gone, as quickly and as quietly as they had come…

Day 5 July 9th

5:00 am. Babs and I are up for our watch. We have our coffee and talk about the previous day’s events, and what may happen today. There are 22 of us out here this morning. Clarence Miller comes by; he usually stops by early in the morning. Clarence, who has developmental delays, volunteers in the State Capitol building, and is well known to many state workers and legislators. They love him, even if he is a bit obnoxious. To be honest, I’d rather deal with Clarence than many of the folks that I’ve run into since we’ve been out here…
It’s about noon. There was a so-so story on the front page of the business section of the Denver Post. The pictures were good, though. There was a great color shot of Karen walking past our Free Our People banner, and one of Tim Thornton talking with Karen. Karen didn’t like her picture. She complained that she looked like a tourist. Later, as I was coming back from the potty, Gil called me over. “Hey, Trees,” he boomed, waving excitedly. “Come here. I want you to meet my friend.” I go over to meet the guy. His name is Peter Droege, and he is a good friend of Gil’s. They volunteer together with the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization that I’m very familiar with, having grown up in the Catholic Church. “I was across the street when I saw you guys,” he told me. “The first thing I thought was, “I bet Gil is here,” so I walked over, and sure enough, there he was.” I explain to Peter why we are here, how long we have been here, and what our demands are. It turns out that Peter is a reporter for the Denver Catholic Register, and is keen to write a story about the action. His mother recently had a stroke, but is now at home receiving attendant services. He feels that the attendants who come to his mum’s home are a “godsend”, and that his mother would be placed in a nursing home without them. He calls his editor on the spot, and gets permission to do the story. Peter does an interview with Gil and I. A few minutes later, a photographer from the Register comes by. I grab Rick V., and he, Gil, and I pose for pictures. We took pictures by the flag, by the banner, and by our huge, beautiful sign that Tim Wheat had made announcing each day of the vigil. No sooner had Peter and James, the photographer, left when my cell phone began ringing. I picked it up. It was Michael deYoanna, a reporter for the Colorado Daily News, a paper out of Boulder. I spoke to him for about 20 minutes, then, gave the phone to Julie A. Since she is from Boulder, I thought that it would be good for Michael to speak to her. I later learned that he went to CPWD to do a more in-depth story. Cool…
2:00 pm. We have been meeting out here with both Karen and Gary, trying to get them to work on removing the cuts. All of us tell our stories. I tell about my mum and dad, who live in the mountains. My dad gets an attendant three times a week, though he qualifies for attendant services three times a day. There is a severe shortage of staff at Mount Evans Home Health, so they can’t give my Popz all of the services that he is entitled to, including physical and occupational therapy. He only gets those services once a week, though he is eligible for therapy at home four times a week. We ask about cuts to other areas of the budget, as we can’t afford to take a cut in attendant services. They talk about pay differentials for agencies that serve clients 24 hours a day. “That’s all fine and well,” I say. “What about small agencies, and agencies in rural areas”? “Forget them”, said Julie Reiskin. “They don’t do the services and backups that the other home health agencies do. They don’t care about their clients.” “Hold up, you can’t just say things like that,” I retorted. “You don’t know why the other agencies don’t provide 24 hour services. It may be that the agency is so small that it’s realistically impossible to do that. It may be that in rural areas, it’s logistically impossible to provide extensive services.” I don’t mean to argue, but this divide and conquer method that HCPF seems to be employing is making me angry, and I don’t think that we should fall into that trap. I think that we should stick to our bottom line—no cuts, no caps, no changes…
10:00 pm. After I finish writing our press release, I go over and talk with Babs and Tisha. She is wondering about our upcoming trip to Boise, Idaho, where the National Governor’s Association will be meeting. ADAPT wants the NGA to support MiCASSA, the piece of legislation that ADAPT has written that would allow a national, uniform attendant services and supports program, where the money would follow the individual from the nursing home into the community. Since Governor Owens will be there, Colorado ADAPT wants to let him know what’s going on in his own back yard and tell him of the vigil that we have been keeping. However, Babs is worried that if everyone who’d planned to go there does go there won’t be many of us down here keeping up the vigil. I, too, had been thinking about this. I really, really wanted to go to Idaho, but I felt that this vigil was even more important, so I decided to stay. After all, I had been running my mouth since before this vigil, saying that I wouldn’t leave until there were no cuts. How would I look if I went, after mouthing off like that? It was time to make the sacrifice, to put my money where my big mouth is. Babs wanted to stay as well, but they were expecting her in Boise, so she had to go. She had until Thursday night to see who was going, and who would stay. We talked a bit more, with Tisha and Dawn, then, I went to bed…

Day 6 July 10th

It’s early, but I can tell already that it’s going to be a rough day. Liz had to be dragged past us into the building, while Cielo barked his head off. Her trainer is not handling this well at all; so, I don’t have much hope of Liz’s success. There is a guy who uses a wheelchair and takes access-a-ride to work. He always fixes us with a scowl as his driver pushes him past us on his way into the building. There are also two women who use canes who pass by us each day, giving us baleful looks as they enter the building. We found a hose, and with bleach and water, we cleaned out the gutter. People had been dumping urinals out into the street, and the smell was getting raunchy. As soon as we’d finished, a man came up, and asked us what were we doing with the water. We told him that we had just cleaned the gutter, and that this was the first time that we had used the water since we’d been out there, as all of our water had been donated. The man was nice, and explained that because of the drought situation, whenever someone saw a drop of water being used publicly, a complaint could be made, and it would have to be investigated, which was what he was doing. Yep, it’s going to be a rough day! Later, as Dawn, Julie A., and I were sitting near the door greeting workers, a man came out, and began screaming at us to move our stuff, or he’d call the cops. This was the same guy who was jacking with us on Monday, and I’d had my fill of him. I sent Ruth in to get Thomas, the security guard. Thomas is really cool, and he’d helped out with this guy on Monday. I asked Thomas to speak to this guy, because I was really getting sick of his ugly ways, and he seemed to be a friend of his. Thomas talked with us for a few minutes, then, went inside. A few minutes later, the employee with the attitude came out, and asked to speak to someone. I asked him what his problem was; we’d been doing everything in our power to keep from blocking the sidewalks. He actually sat down and talked with us. He explained that he coordinates a lot of deliveries to the building, and though we were keeping an aisle clear, he’d seen people get injured when large boxes would fall off the delivery cart. He told us that he understood that we had to do what we had to do, but that his major concern was safety. He talked with us a bit more, then, went back to work. I marveled at the change that had come over this guy as he talked with us. Apparently, we weren’t the jerks he’d made us out to be. Afterwards, as we moved a few things around, I silently thanked the Universe for folks like Thomas…
Barry came by with breakfast, then, Dawn, Rick V., David B., and I went up on the 10th floor for a meeting about Senate Bill 27. This bill was passed into law in 1994, but still hasn’t been implemented. Under this law, people with disabilities who are on Medicaid or the HCBS-EBD waiver will be able to hire, fire, and train their own attendants. I am very interested in this program, as I am a perfect candidate for it. During the meeting, it came out that HCPF is seriously reconsidering lowering the cap on HCBS-EBD waivers because they want Senate Bill 27 to work, and it won’t if there are caps. Good. That’s one-third of ADAPT’s demands that have already been met…
After the meeting, we went downstairs to our campout site, where ADAPTers were milling around. As I gave the details of the meeting to some of our folks, Tisha came to me. “NiNi, we got a problem,” she said. “We don’t have any electricity.” “Aw, crap,” I exclaimed, throwing up my hands. “You’re kidding, right?” “No,” she said, shaking her head. “It went out a few minutes after you guys went up to that meeting.” “Damn,” I thought, this was bad. We needed that power for our wheelchair batteries and cell phones, as well as for our computer and coffee pot, which to some, was the most important item out here. “Well, what do we do?” I asked. “We’ll have to get the generators later on, if we don’t get power back,” she replied. “Okay,” I sighed. “That’s the best we can do.” As I turned around, I saw Karen Reinertson heading for lunch. I went over and explained what had happened. I told her that we had been careful not to plug too many things into the outlets, as this could cause overload. She went on about how the building was falling to bits, and said she’d talk to someone about it. About a half hour later, Carole Workman-Allen came down to go on her lunch break. Carole had worked for HCPF, and had retired; they’d called her out of retirement to serve as a consultant for HCPF to work on Senate Bill 27. She was at the meeting that I’d gone to this morning. Carole is also a member of the Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition, but a huge supporter of ADAPT. I remember working with her several years ago, when I served on one of the Medicaid committees for the state, and she works closely with Latonya, who now serves on some of those committees. I went over and filled her in, and also told of my suspicion that this was merely a ploy to get us to leave, which we wouldn’t, of course. Needless to say, she was appalled, and went to Gary Snider and told him so. “This is unacceptable,” she railed. “These people need that power. Now, you find out what’s going on, and get that power restored, or I will call the media!” I must say that it was funny seeing Gary, Karen, and several other suits running around on their lunch breaks with the maintenance folks trying to get the power restored. In less than an hour after Carole had her diva fit, we had our power back, with the excuse that it was the building maintenance people who had cut off the power. Carole then sat out with us on our vigil for another hour and one half talking with us. Some of her staff would come over and talk to her but I noticed the quizzical looks that they were giving both her, and us. I asked Carole if it was going to hurt her being with us. “Oh, no,” she said, smiling. They want me back too much to say or do anything.” Before she went back to work, she donated fifty dollars to offset some of the cost for food and other items for the vigil. “Keep up the good work, “ she said…
The stuff is getting hip deep now. HCPF and Human Services obviously do NOT want us here, and they’re starting to jack up the pressure on us. Gary must be pissed, and wanting to get back at us about the electricity. He came out and told me that he saw two people trip on our stuff and asked if we could move the blankets off of the sidewalk. I went off, and told him that what he was saying was a patent falsehood, as I had been actually standing on the blankets keeping an eye on the kids, and keeping an area clear. If anyone tripped, they did it over their own shadow, and not over our stuff. I rolled one pad over about two inches, and told Gary that he’d better be satisfied with that. I guess he was, as he gave the thumbs up sign. We had to move our vans an hour ago, as there had been complaints from folks that there were no parking spaces because we had taken them up. I know for a fact that those complaints were from people with disabilities who work for the state. Anyway, Officer Andrade came up to us about this, and I almost went off on her, but decided to settle down, and listen to what she had to say. After all, the cops have been VERY nice to us, and I want to keep that good relationship that we’ve had so far with them. Actually, Officer Andrade was cool. She told us that she wasn’t going to ticket us this time, though we had started being ticketed that morning. She gave us the address of where we could apply for permits to keep our vans there, but she did ask us to move them for now, and we said we would. After talking with Babs, Tim, and Mel about what we should do, David B. decided to get us a permit for the vans in the parking lot a few yards up the street. We moved all but one of the vans to that parking lot. If that weren’t enough, we started getting word that we would have to get a camping permit to stay out there. Yeah, right. We’ll see about a permit. NOT…
Tisha looked up at the sky as we were cleaning up the kitchen area. “There’s going to be a storm, NiNi,” she observed. “Yeah,” I nodded. “Maybe we should pack our stuff, since we’re already putting the food away.” We divvied up the stuff between three vans. As we were packing, people from the building started coming up to us, asking excitedly if we were leaving. I swear, people were literally crestfallen when I loudly announced that ADAPT wasn’t leaving, but merely putting our stuff up to protect it from the rain. “Oh, don’t get happy,” I yelled to the crowd of HCPF and state workers who were milling about. “ADAPT ain’t going nowhere.” “We’re just putting up our stuff to protect it from the rain. We’re here for the long run; don’t bother getting happy. We’re staying here.” Barely ten minutes after packing up our things, it began to rain. Hard. The kids ran for the garage first, then, some of us adults went in. A few minutes later, Dawn came into the garage. “Hey, guys, come back out. We look more powerful if we stay out there.” At first, I objected. “Naw, uh-uh, I’m not going out there. I’ll be the first to catch pneumonia. I’ve got to look after myself. Wade always told me that if I didn’t take care of myself, I was no good to the movement.” Dawn just grinned wildly, and left. I don’t know what happened next, but something inside me said go ahead, it’ll be okay. The next thing I knew, I was out there with Dawn, Babs, De’vorah, and David B. It was cold, and the rain was pouring down mightily. The crowd of HCPF and other state workers who were standing between the doors waiting for the rain to end must have thought that we were totally insane. To keep myself pumped up, I began to chant, clap, and wheel around the front of the building. “I’m sweet, but I will not melt,” I yelled, as I wheeled around beneath our flag. Maybe it’s in my mind, but it seemed that the more I chanted, the harder it would rain. Then, it began hailing. I chanted louder and stronger. Gradually, I think I lost track of what was going on, except that I was chanting. I thought I heard other ADAPTers chanting, but I’m not sure. After a while, consciousness gradually seeped back in, and I was aware of Babs calling to me to come with them under the banner, which was serving as a cover, of sorts. I went over, and a few minutes later, someone came over to me with a red jacket. “Latonya says to give you this,” they said, then, went away. I then realized that I was soaked to the bone. After we’d frolicked in the rain and hail for over an hour, we joined everyone else in the garage. I was still pumped, so I began chanting silly stuff like “I’m cold, but I will not freeze.” Stephanie and Malachi liked that one, and joined in. I tried another one. “We’re wet, but we won’t get pneumonia.” That got a laugh from Chante and Cassandra, Terrance’s nieces. Tisha went to the van and got a few blankets out, then, Shannan put in a call, and Christy and Inez came by with loads of blankets and pillows, while Babs sent out for coffee, and Larry Williams came down with home made burritos and guacamole dip and chips. Mmmm…

Day 7 July 11th

I’m up early as usual, enjoying coffee with Babs. This will be her last day until Monday, when she returns from Boise. Sheila, Gil, Tim Wheat, and Lowell are going with her. With Babs gone, that leaves me and Tisha in charge, but I know that all of us will pull together and help each other out. Though I’m proud and honored that Babs trusts me to handle things while she’s gone, I’m frightened, too. I have never been in this much of a position of leadership, and I’m afraid that I’ll mess up somehow. But, I resolve to myself, and to Babs that everything will be okay. With Tisha, Mark, Dawn and Julie A. by my side, I can’t mess up too bad…
At about 7:30, Dawn, Julie A., and I sat near the entrance to the front door and began passing out flowers to the state workers who were going inside. Monaca, our press person, had brought the flowers the day before. Strangely enough, after the day we had yesterday, it felt good to pass out flowers. Some state workers ignored us, as usual, but many were genuinely touched by our gesture. I would tell folks “here’s a little something to brighten your day,” and you could see that for some of them, the flowers really helped. I think we won a lot of them over…
We met outside again with Gary and Karen to discuss the cuts. They kept coming up with talk about pay differentials. They even offered to bring the cuts down to 21/2%, plus the differentials. We told them if they could reduce the cuts from 30% to 5% that they could reduce them to zero. We offered again to check their budget and find the money. We told them that we could find other areas of the budget to cut. Karen was dubious, saying that other groups would come back on her. ADAPT told Karen that no other group would consider their own cuts so detrimental that they would camp outside her place of work, so she needn’t worry. We told her that there were other areas of home health that have a high margin of profit, and can afford to cut. We asked again for the numbers, and Karen reluctantly agreed to get us some numbers after the meeting tomorrow. Later, ADAPT got together to strategize about what would happen tomorrow and throughout the weekend. We decided that since HCPF wasn’t taking us seriously, we should bring stuff down to make it obvious that we were there for the long run. Starting tomorrow, and over the weekend, we would bring down more tables, chairs, games and toys for the kids, and a television. Tisha and Babs were already doing quite a bit of work at our tent city, but they decided to make it more formal and obvious and set up an office right there. If HCPF saw just how serious we are about settling in, maybe they would be more willing to negotiate. We also decided to send some folks from Atlantis to the meeting tomorrow. This is the meeting where people would give comments and testimonies about the cuts, and how they would be affected. I think that it was stupid to have a comment period after the fact, but since the disability community was, in David Bolin’s words, “sneak attacked”, this was what we wound up with. Those of us outside would do some theater. We worked on the plans for tomorrow, wrote out a press release, and then, had a warm send-off for Babs and the crew going to Idaho. “Go kick some NGA ass,” said Latonya. I watched the van go down the street, its taillights receding in the distance. I was missing them already…

Day 8 July 12th

Cora came down with breakfast this morning, and a woman who worked in the building gave us bagels. Afterwards Tim T., who had stayed the night with us, went to Atlantis get the table for our polling place, while Dawn and I set up the rest of the props for our street theatre. We had decided to set up a polling place to give state workers the opportunity to vote on how their Medicaid dollars were spent. Tim W. had made some really cool ballots on his computer that gave voters a choice whether they wanted their Medicaid dollars spent on wasteful programs, or programs such as home and community based services, which saves the state money. We had signs that directed people to the polling place. Dawn and Julie A. staffed our table complete with ballots and boxes, while I pranced around with a two-sided sign on a stick. On one side, the sign read: Wasteful Programs. On the other, it read: Attendant Services. In my best circus barker voice I invited state workers to cast their votes. “Cast your votes today, state workers!” I boomed. “Cast your votes today.” How would YOU like YOUR Medicaid dollars spent?” “Would you like them spent on wasteful programs?” I said, turning the sign to the Wasteful side. “Or would you like them spent on programs that save the state up to 60%?” I ask, turning the sign to the Attendant Services side. “Cast your votes today, state workers, and let your voice be heard!” Amazingly, many people were interested, and cast their votes. Another prop we had was a small box full of play money. HCPF needed a savings of three million dollars to offset cuts, so we had the box of play money with a sign that read: 3 million dollars for HCPF. We set it up right next to the front door…
I came over to our polling area, and a man in a suit turned to me, shook my hand, and gave me a business card. It was Bill Thiebaut, the state Senate Majority Leader. He is the running mate of Rollie Heath, the Democratic candidate for governor, who had come to our rally and had donated money and beverages for our action, and who’d been out earlier today. Senator Thiebaut wanted to offer his support, and to tell us about the lawsuit that he’d brought against Governor Owens since the cuts had been made without legislative approval. With him was Denis Berkfield, Chief of State. He offered his support as well...

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