Resources for Patients With Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities
In my community, we also have several resources for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In Upstate New York, there is a not-for-profit organization called the Center for Disability Services which apparently has 80 locations, some of which are located in Albany and Queensbury, but the full list can be found here at their website. According to their mission statement, their goal is to “enable and empower people, primarily those with disabilities, to lead healthy and enriched lives”. Everyone deserves to live a healthy and enriched life, including diverse patients, so I think this is a great mission statement! On their website, I found that they have a variety of resource links for specific disabilities including Autism, Aspberger’s, and a section for developmental disabilities in general, all of which can be found here. I also found a website for New York called Living Resources which provides a variety of programs for “individuals challenged by intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as those who are brain injury survivors” and those programs are listed here under the tab Programs and Services. One of the programs that stood out the most to me was the Community Living Program, which in itself offers smaller programs for housing, supportive living, and family support services. Finally, I found multiple resources listed on the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities website including employment assistance, day services, and help with housing including group home placement or assistance in an individual’s own home. Ultimately there are definitely resources for patients who have intellectual and or developmental disabilities in our community, but I definitely think that there could be more advertising of these resources so that the people who need them can easily access them!
Cost as an Access Factor
I will be the first to admit that Clifton Park, NY is not the most diverse place around. As seen by our demographic statistics from the first blog post, it is a primarily white upper/middle-class community. However, this means that anyone that falls outside of that narrow category is technically considered diverse. With that in mind, a major factor affecting access for diverse populations in my community is the ability to afford health care and health-related resources. Some resources are available for people who cannot afford things like food, a safe place to live, and medical care. If someone is struggling to afford food, they can go to one of the many local food pantries including the CAPTAIN emergency food pantry called Karyl’s Kupboard, the Trinity Baptist Church Food Pantry, the Villa Fusco Food Pantry, and more which can be found here. If someone is struggling to afford a home or has been evicted from their home, CAPTAIN also offers a program where they will provide financial assistance to people facing homelessness. As a side note, on their website, I saw that they have a program where they will provide bikes to people in Saratoga County as a means of transportation, recreation, and encouraging an overall healthy lifestyle which I was super excited to see because it shows how something as simple as a bike can overcome a handful of health access barriers (1)! And finally, if someone is struggling to access medical care due to cost, there are a few options for reduced-cost care (I mentioned them in the last post, but I will reiterate) including the Capital City Rescue Mission Free Medical Clinic in Albany, the Schenectady Family Health Center, and the Troy Health Center (2). Also, If someone needs dental care but doesn’t have dental insurance, they can go to a low to no-cost dental clinic such as Schenectady Family Health Services which is based on “sliding scale fees”, the Saratoga Springs Community Health Center Dental Clinic, or the Whitney Young Albany Dental Center which also has a sliding fee scale based on income and family size (3). Overall, I think my community has a lot of resources to help people who might be struggling, which I think is especially important since it is a rather wealthy community– we are only as healthy as our unhealthiest citizen. I think that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to live a healthy life regardless of background and it is our responsibility as a community to make sure everyone can reasonably access the necessary resources to obtain such a lifestyle.
Paying for Pet Care
As always my mind comes back to this exact scenario but for pets. Luckily there are resources available if someone is in a situation where they can’t afford to care for their pet. First of all, if the situation is really dire and the owner simply cannot afford their pet anymore they can bring it to one of our local animal shelters: The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, The Saratoga County Animal Shelter, Animal Protective Foundation. However, there are alternatives to this that can be found here. Within this site, there were specific resources by state and I found out that New York has a pet food pantry that is rather close to where I live: The Hudson Valley Pet Food Pantry. Additionally, I know that the shelter that I volunteer at, The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, has their own pet food pantry, too, so that is another great resource for people struggling to pay for pet food. Finally, if someone is struggling to pay for veterinary care, I found a website that can be found here that gives some payment suggestions including one that caught my attention called Care Credit, a credit card specifically for health care expenses, including for pets.
Sources:
- https://captaincares.org/get-help/food-housing-assistance.html
- https://www.freeclinics.com/cit/ny-clifton_park
- https://www.freedentalcare.us/ci/ny-clifton_park
Pictures:
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2020/02/26/1582705518000/Helicopter-money-is-here/ https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/c/pet-food
Care Credit seems like a really interesting idea– are there a lot of providers that accept this method of payment?