Advocacy: A Call For Support

At 18 months old, Ashley Shaunfield’s oldest son Riley began experiencing dissociative episodes, seizures, and skill regression unusual for his age. Seizures became frequent, walking became unsteady, and within a few weeks Ashley began to notice things like lip smacking and twitching coming from Riley throughout the day. Years of doctors visits, medical interventions, and surgeries followed this new family, adding new symptoms and diagnoses as time went on. Around age 7 he began to withdraw from children his age, have trouble with his emotions, experience repetitive behaviors, and have “fewer smiles,” as Ashley recalls. Within that time, Riley was officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

With the safety and independence of Riley and the family in mind, Ashley began to explore new avenues for support. Enrolled with the North Carolina Medicaid program following his diagnoses, Riley began receiving benefits that enabled him to enroll in specialized therapies, the Community Alternatives Program for Children (CAP-C), and present resource possibilities once not available for him. When asked about the benefits and how they impacted her family, Ashley sat with the question for a minute.

“It allowed us to work, go to school, and be able to go safely out in public with him. [With Medicaid, we were] provided in-home providers and respite care for when we needed it, and also gave us things like a bed safe for him, incontinence supplies, and through speech therapy he was able to get a (Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC) device. They provided wheelchairs for him every few years. We really needed a village.”

20 years later, Ashley now works at Lively Therapy Services as our Patient Services Coordinator. Her story and experience allows her to not only be able to connect with our clients and parents on a new level, but fuels her to advocate for the care, independence, and support needed for the communities facing the recent risk of their Medicaid services being cut. Ashley was the first person in our office to jump at the opportunity to share her story with North Carolina representatives after the August 11th announcement from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) that Medicaid rate cuts were being enacted for ALL providers and some services were at risk for being cut entirely.

Cuts were announced to providers with an October 1st begin date, putting medical providers from most healthcare subsidiaries at (what was presented as an urgent) risk for cuts detrimental to their offices. The domino effect of the proposed rate decreases and eliminations will impact the state’s most vulnerable populations. Although as of writing this testimony we are now less than 30 days from the anticipated “active” date for rate cuts, providers and caregivers alike are both requesting answers and providing their stories in hopes that the cuts will be stalled or, the ideal outcome, stopped entirely.

This is where providers like us need your support.

Lively Therapy Services has been providing occupational, physical, and speech therapy services to the youth of Cabarrus, Rowan, Mecklenburg, and Stanly counties since 2021. We hear stories every single day about how resources, community, and access to necessary medical care change the lives of our families daily. We work in tandem with these resources to ensure our clients are experiencing their highest independence despite differing abilities. We, like other providers in your area, are facing the possibility of massive cuts that will impact our therapists, providers we work with, and our community overall.

These cuts will impact the vast majority of the healthcare system in North Carolina, not just specialized therapies. Other states already experiencing these cuts have seen mass exodus of providers for Medicaid clients, making access to life-saving services scarce. In hopes to relieve the threat of this becoming our reality as well, we wanted to request a call for advocacy.

If you or someone you love is anticipated to be impacted by these potential cuts, share your story! As a constituent, you have a right to advocate for the decisions that will impact you, good and bad. Use your voice!

Not sure what to say? Here you will find an advocacy letter template created by Lively Therapy Services. This template can be used to copy, paste, and send to your local legislators via email. **PLEASE be sure to edit the highlighted areas**

Find your representatives here by typing in your address. Simply copy and paste the representative’s email address to your advocacy email, subject line “Impact of Medicaid Cuts” (or something more creative!) and send!

Things to remember when submitting comments to your local legislators:

- Remain professional and polite in your letter.

- Share your personal story! Convey precisely and objectively how enacting cuts will impact your family specifically. NCDHHS’s focus is always to serve its beneficiaries, so if loss of services does not serve you, tell them why.

- Make it clear that you oppose the cuts to Medicaid

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does” – William James, American Philosopher and Psychologist