Blake Hodgen, a participant at Madonna Ability Alliance, caps the lineup of speakers during an event Monday that closed Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Gov. Jim Pillen during a talk after a tour, said a goal he announced last March is nearly accomplished — eliminating the state’s wait list for services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — Gov. Jim Pillen said Monday that, by July, his administration expects to accomplish a goal it announced a year ago: elimination of a long-running “wait list” for Nebraskans seeking services for intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Last March, the list contained about 2,700 people, and a projected wait for available funds stretched for up to eight years. The governor said the number has been whittled to about 700.
“This is the first time in the last 35 years that this wait list is going to be eliminated,” Steve Corsi, chief executive officer of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said at a press conference in Omaha that also closed Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month…