Evelyn Stevens Finally Gets DD Waiver Services

This summer should be full of adventure for Evelyn Stevens. She and her family are looking forward to being together again in the southern part of the state. Evelyn, who is now 64, lived for years in Eastern New Mexico and went to a program in which she had to pay for her transportation and services out of her SSI. It always seemed like she was deep in debt to the service provider. Meals were often the same for years.a frozen waffle for breakfast, a frozen burrito for lunch, and a frozen TV dinner for supper.

The program that offered the most comprehensive community services for Evelyn would have been the Developmental Disabilities Medicaid Waiver Program. Medicaid provides a federal match of nearly 75 cent match for every 25 cents of state money from the federal government.P&A had applied for Evelyn for the DD Waiver back in 1994, but the Waiver was frozen, too. Luckily, Door of Opportunity finally received state general funding for Evelyn, took her in and began providing a good program for Evelyn, but when her family moved to the Southwestern part of New Mexico, general funding wouldn't follow with her to a different provider closer to the family.

When the state looked into why Evelyn had not received DD Waiver services yet, they found that she had undergone a name change during a brief marriage, and although the social security number remained the same, her last name did not. Her married name placed the date of application to only 1997. When the error was recognized, Evelyn went to the front of the waiting list from back in 1994 when she had originally applied.

Evelyn is now choosing a case management agency and a provider. She will be moving much closer to her family and is looking forward to a community program with a full array of services.