I am the mother of an adult son with severe cerebral palsy. When he turned 21 his pay rate for his nurses dropped substantially. This happens for all those with special needs now starting at the age of 23. Guess what? At the age of 23 the medical problems of those with special needs do not magically disappear, nor do the duties of the Medicaid provider nurses. The huge gap in pay favoring pediatric cases has made it extremely difficult for those with special needs over the age of 23 to keep nurses. Nurses deserve the same higher pay rate for adult cases as provided for pediatric cases. Adults over 23 should not have this huge discrepancy resulting in many adult individuals losing nursing service. Please sign the petition for equal pay for ALL medically fragile nursing cases.Equal pay will improve the lives of numerous families with adult sons and daughters with special needs allowing them to get the nursing services they desperately need. It will also keep so many nurses from leaving adult cases they love for the fair wage they need to make a living. The way the system is right now it is unjust for adults in need of home nursing care in NYS. The American Rescue Act gave a 3 month pay increase for nurses working on medically fragile adult case. Although that is appreciated it is like putting a bandage on a hemorrhage. The pay increase for nurses working with adults who are medically fragile needs to be a permanent increase. The system currently is age discriminatory causing those over 23 who are medically fragile to be deprived of essentially needed care due to the extreme pay difference given between pay for medically fragile pediatric cases and medically fragile adult cases.
I will be starting a new petition to rectify this situation. Please sign it and call your legislators asking for action not just words to right the wrong in health care system causing such a nightmare for families with medically fragile adults.