Group homes fi nd little help from the state
as they scramble for more medical supplies
BY JACOB KAYE
The annual Queens Pride
Parade and Festival, which
has signaled the start of Pride
month in New York City for
the past 27 years, has been
canceled in response to the
COVID-19 crisis.
This is the first time in history
that the event – originally
scheduled for June 7 – has been
canceled.
“While I am saddened that
the Queens LGBTQ Pride Parade
will be canceled for the
first time in its history, I know
that this decision was made for
the good of the tens of thousands
of people who celebrate with us
each year,” said Councilman
Daniel Dromm, who chairs the
LGBT caucus. “Pride marches
bring visibility to our community
and that has always been
key to the success of the wider
LGBTQ rights movement. This
year, we will continue to be
visible and celebrate who we
are, but will do so in a safe and
responsible manner. This will
take some creativity and will
look very different from past
pride months, but I know we
can do it.
Although the Jackson
Heights celebration has been
canceled, a virtual pride celebration
is in the works according
to the Board of Queens
Pride. An announcement concerning
the details of the celebration
will be made in the
coming weeks.
Vulnerable communities,
including the LGBTQ community,
transgender individuals
of color, sex workers and those
living with HIV/AIDS have
been disproportionally affected
by the coronavirus crisis in
the U.S.
“COVID-19 has shown how
vulnerable parts of our communities
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.18 COM | APRIL 24-APRIL 30, 2020
are,” said Zachariah
Boyer, the co-chair of Queens
Pride. “We must do all we can
to keep members of our communities
safe and healthy
right now.”
Mo George, a co-chair of
Queens Pride, hopes that by
celebrating virtually this year,
the in person celebration can
resume in June 2021.
“To many of us it feels like
being with family. It is with
this feeling in mind that we
make the tough decision to
physically not hold Pride this
year,” George said. “By protecting
our family right now
— by staying home during this
pandemic — we ensure that we
can get the family back together
in June 2021.”
The first Queens Pride
march was held in 1993. It is
now the second largest Pride
celebration in the New York
metropolitan area.
BY BEN VERDE
Due to an oversight from the
state government, group homes
for the developmentally disabled
are now forced to fend for
themselves as they try to buy
much-needed protective medical
equipment — which are in
short supply and rising in cost
amid the novel coronavirus, according
to disability advocates.
Facilities that care for the developmentally
disabled are not
listed as priority recipients of
personal protective equipment
under state guidelines, which
only prioritize hospitals, EMS
operators, nursing homes, and
dialysis centers. This oversight
leaves these homes scrambling
to find medical supplies, such as
face masks and rubber gloves.
The lack of regulatory help
from the state has forced financially
well-off group homes to
compete on the open market for
supplies, while less cash-flush
facilities have been forced to rely
on donations and handmade replacements
— rather than allocating
resources based on need,
according to advocates.
“What should happen is that
it is not based on the financial
resources, but it is based upon
the actual need of the particular
facility throughout the state,
so that those that need the PPE
get it,” said Tim Clune, the executive
director of Disability
Rights New York (DRNY). “All
of these congregate-care facilities
must have the necessary
protective gear to prevent the
spread of COVID-19.”
DRNY filed a formal complaint
on April 9 with the United
States Department of Health and
Human Services against Governor
Andrew Cuomo for failure
to prioritize group homes and
other congregate care settings
as priority recipients of protective
equipment — but that has
yet to yield positive results.
Group home operators have
faced intense competition
and exorbitant prices in their
pursuit of personal protective
equipment, and have begun
joining forces with other care
providers in the region to pool
the necessary cash and have a
unified voice on the market.
Janet Koch, the head of
Life’s Worc, which operates
group homes for the developmentally
disabled throughout
New York City and Long Island,
said she and a cadre of other
group homes on Long Island
pooled together $30,000 each
at the start of the pandemic
through a “providers alliance”
to buy protective medical supplies
— allowing them to scoop
up the equipment before it was
all bought up.
“We were ahead of the curve
for sure, we got in right in the
beginning,” said Koch.
Other homes are still scrambling
to stock up on protective
supplies with no end of the pandemic
in sight — and the market
for more masks, gloves and other
supplies is bare. Some group
homes have put up huge sums
of money just to be entered into
the running for receiving the
life-saving supplies, without
any guarantee they would even
receive it.
After $2.6 billion in budget
cuts over the last 10 years, and
the drawn-out delay of a yearly
three percent cost of living funding
increase from the state, this
is no small feat for most homes
— but with lives on the line they
have little choice, said Koch.
“If you have nothing, or
here’s a chance, suddenly that
risk becomes life or death,” she
said. “Even if you’re a nonprofit,
you find that money and you
do it.”
For their part, Clune and
his fellow advocates at NYDA
argue that a change in policy to
prioritize group homes would
help facilitate supply allocation
more than an uptick in funding
— and they’re continuing to
push for a change in the state’s
priorities.
“This should have nothing
to do with funding,” Clune
said. “It should have absolutely
everything to do with protecting
the people who are within
the facilities and the public at
large.”
Staffers at Life’s Worc, which operates group homes for the developmentally
disabled, taking precautions.
Courtesy of Life’s Worc
File Photo/Queens Pride 2019
With Queens Pride Prade canceled,
a virtual celebration is in the works