How much of this $900,000 for “Improving the Health of People with Disabilities” will get to the people with disabilities?

“The Ohio State University Nisonger Center and Ohio Department of Health were recently awarded a $900,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote health, prevent chronic disease, and increase the quality of life among people with disabilities.”  These are extremely vague goals; I assume there are specific diseases that disabled people have that are different than the general population (measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, shingles, chicken pox, etc.) and specific quality of life markers in the contract. Essentially, this is a monitoring and surveillance program—i.e., there’s nothing new—no new services, no research, no . . . nothing. The goal of the CDC is to “reduce disparities” and not to help the disabled.*

There are so many fingers in this pie, it is difficult to imagine that anyone except the direct researchers, bean counters, and university and government staff will benefit.  First of all, when a federal government grant comes to the university, close to 50-60% is taken off the top to cover university overhead—this is everything from parking lots, utilities. janitors, food service, debt, and social events for deans and faculty.  But keep In mind, that the amount started out bigger than $900,000 because each agency whose hands/offices it passed through also took their cut for overhead.

The employees of the following agencies and organizations must be paid before a disabled person receives a dime’s worth of service, and even then it is monitoring services that they already have had from earlier programs. I used to be an employee of Ohio State University and The State of Ohio Department of Aging.  It’s a very nice living for many well-educated people.

Federal

National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

State

Ohio Department of Health Division of Family and Community Health Services

Ohio Emergency Management Agency (EMA)

Ohio Department of Health’s Division of Prevention

Ohio Department of Aging

Ohio Disability and Health Program (ODHP)

Ohio Office of Health Preparedness

State Universities

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Nisonger Center Health Promotion / Healthcare Parity

The Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center

University of Cincinnati UCEDD at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Associations/non-profits

Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)

Ohio Association of Community Health Centers

*Through public health efforts, such as surveillance, research, and health promotion, CDC aims to reduce health disparities and the incidence and severity of secondary conditions, including additional physical or mental health conditions that occur as a result of having a primary disabling condition. CDC http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/pdf/AboutDHProgram508.pdf