I read the letter by Marty Margeson, “APH VS. API,” published in the ADN on Jan. 17. I agree that individuals with a dual diagnosis of dementia and mental illness with violent tendencies should not be housed with other dementia patients.
It is my belief that the Department of Health and Social Services moved individuals with dementia and mental illness with violent tendencies from the Alaska Psychiatric Institute to the Pioneer Home to save the state money. Every day, DHSS is faced with a question: How to save money and how to care for individuals with a disability. It is not a debate a state wants a single state agency to be conducting with itself. But that is what is happening in Alaska.
Alaska has very few organizations, state-run or otherwise, that have the resources and can advocate for the improvements of the rights for the disabled. There are plenty of organizations that advocate for creating new programs, but that is not the same as adding needed rights for the disabled.
— Dorrance Collins
Anchorage
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