The Fight to End Human Warehousing in Philadelphia

Disabled in Action Demonstrates to Close Philly’s Nursing Home

By Crash

On August 18 at 9:00 am, the Philadelphia group Disabled in Action began a sit-in demonstration in front of the Philadelphia Nursing Home on Girard Avenue.  Disabled in Action is part of a national movement called ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) that has been fighting for 25 years for the freedom of People with Disabilities.

Philadelphia ADAPT demanded that “Mayor Michael Nutter gets out of the nursing home business.” The Philadelphia Nursing Home (PNH) is the only city run Nursing Home in the city. In spite of its high ratio of staff to patients, PNH has higher than average incidents of bedsores, depression and neglect, according to the Department of Community Medicaid/Medicare Services.

In a press release distributed at the demonstration, Philadelphia ADAPT organizer German Parodi, himself a quadriplegic, states, “The city is warehousing human beings, treating them like cattle. People can and do live independently in the city like I do. I work and am a part of the Community. People deserve their chance to live and be a part of the community rather than lying in their own waste in a human warehouse.”

After attempting to close the PNH by meeting with Mayor Michael Nutter and City Health Commissioner Donald Schwartz in the beginning of the year, which ended with non-committal and vague replies, Disabled in Action took their message to the street, in an effort to raise awareness and build grassroots support, instead of relying solely on good-faith of city officials. 

The group demonstrated outside of the nursing home for five days straight and on one afternoon blocked traffic on Girard Ave.  

On Friday, August 22, Mayor Michael Nutter met with Disabled in Action and discussed a plan in which the city will transition 50 or more people out of the nursing home and into the community in the next six months and close those beds permanently. Nutter made a verbal, though not written, commitment to this plan and Disabled in Action is committing to make sure he sees it through.

While bringing up the poor conditions of the nursing home, ADAPT contends that it is not only a matter of mismanagement but a matter of the rights of People with Disabilities and the dehumanizing nature of nursing homes in general.

“The longer you stay in a nursing home the more depressed you become, said Parodi. “You get an institutionalized mentality.”

ADAPT’s national website states:

 Because of outdated attitudes toward people with disabilities which label us as “sick”, our needs are seen as “medical” and a huge system of institutional facilities has developed to provide for these needs. This institutionalized industry which has developed continues to use up massive amounts of funds to maintain the status quo. ADAPT wants to reverse the bias so that community based attendant services are the common option, and nursing homes are reserved as a last resort.

For more information, contact German Parodi of Philadelphia ADAPT at 215-971-0660 or Disabled in Action at 215-627-7255