Success Stories - MTSTCIL

Stories from MTSTCIL of Mr. T and Ms. J.

Mr. T, Cabell County

Mr. T is 37 years old and a paraplegic. He went to MTSTCIL for support to help him get out of a nursing home and back into his own home.

Mr. T was one of the best basketball players to ever play for Marshall University. While attending Marshall, he was in an accident that left him a paraplegic.

As a paraplegic he was no longer able to play basketball or find meaningful employment and turned to selling drugs. Eventually he was arrested for drug dealing and spent time in a federal prison. While serving his time he was transferred into a nursing home where he served the balance of his sentence.

When he was due to be released, Mr. T set a goal of getting out of a nursing home and into his own home again. He wanted to find an apartment near Marshall University so that he could complete his education.

Mr. T worked with a transition specialist at MTSTCIL who worked with him as he transitioned from the nursing home and into his own apartment.

With the shortage of accessible housing, it is always a challenge to find an apartment that is accessible. And Mr. T wanted to be near the university. After much searching, the MTSTCIL staff found an apartment that was located one block away from Marshall University with level access so that he can use his wheelchair to wheel directly into the building as well as doors inside the apartment wide enough for his wheelchair to pass through.

Next, the search was on for waiver services, and after much research a provider was found in order to secure a good personal attendant for Mr. T to help him with personal needs so that he could live independently. Mr. T is able to travel independently by taking public transportation near his apartment.

With a 3.7 grade point average, Mr. T. is now one semester away from graduating with his Master's Degree in Human Resources and is considering becoming an attorney. He hopes to one day work to help other people, as he was helped, to move out of nursing homes and into their own homes.

MTSTCIL was able to provide services and support to Mr. T at a cost to the state that is only a fraction of the cost taxpayers were paying for him to live in a nursing home.

Mr. T is currently serving on the Aged and Disabled Waiver Quality Assurance Council for the State of West Virginia and most recently became a board member of Mountain State Centers for Independent Living.

Ms. J, Raleigh County

Ms. J, who is 25 years old, lives in Raleigh County with her two young children (4 year old and 1 year old girls). Ms. J is a graduate of the Romney School for the Blind.

Ms. J. receives services through the Aged and Disabled Waiver program. Ms. J. needed a caregiver five days a week to help her with meals and snacks for her children and to help her mix formula for the baby and other food identification and preparation related support.

Through the Community Living Services program, MTSTCIL was able to provide assistive technology including bump dots on the stove and an assistive device, ID Mate. ID Mate is a portable hand held bar code scanner.

ID Mate is able to identify over 2.3 million bar code descriptions and read them aloud to Ms. J. With the ID Mate Ms. J is able to identify the contents of cans, boxes and other food items that have a bar code in their packaging, so that she can prepare meals for herself and her children. Ms. J can also use ID Mate at the grocery store or with any item that has a bar code.

Now that Ms. J has the ID Mate she no longer needs the services of a caregiver for basic meal preparation at a savings of approximately $6,000 a year to taxpayers.

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