Letter to the editor: Funding needed to help brain injuries

No one enters the health and human services field for fame and prestige; all we want to do is help those in need. But it’s becoming more difficult to do so, especially when there’s no legislative support.

Just ask anyone who works with the 500,000 Pennsylvanians with brain injury-related disabilities. Many of our co-workers and colleagues have left the field for better-paying jobs. Those of us who remain are doing our best to help clients while facing cutbacks to programs and services. And making things worse is a lack of support from the state: We received little funding in the Shapiro administration’s proposed budget.

All we want is adequate funding to help those in need. The intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) community is rightfully getting that and more. Providers in both sectors face the same challenges and provide the same basic services. Yet IDD service providers are finally getting the support they have asked for, while residential habilitation providers specializing in post-acute brain injury services remain forgotten.

We’ll help until we no longer can. But if providers like us cease to exist, who will be there to help them?

Melva J. Fair

Penn Hills

The writer is CEO of Pittsburgh-based Community Living and Support Services (CLASS).