Caregiver Shortage Forcing Young People with Disabilities into Institutions
May 9, 2018
By: Chris Serres, Star Tribune/TNS
Source: Disability Scoop
MINNEAPOLIS — Every so often, Korrie Johnson closes her eyes and tries to forget that she is a healthy 25-year-old living in a nursing home surrounded by older people with dementia and other debilitating conditions.
Time and again, reality intrudes. In the past year, more than a dozen of her new friends at the GracePointe Crossing nursing home in Cambridge, Minn., have died of various health problems. Staff wearing hospice badges pass through the hospital-like corridors outside her room. Propped on her pillow is a stuffed animal given to her by a resident just days before his death.
“This is no place for someone my age,” said Johnson, who has cerebral palsy and limited mobility of her limbs. “I love these people, but I feel like I’m missing out on life every day that I’m stuck here.”