CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More West Virginians who want to go back to work but are limited by physical or mental disabilities may qualify for state vocational rehabilitation services.
For the first time since 1985, the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services can help clients without having to follow an order of selection process that prioritizes disability levels, the agency's director, Deborah Lovely, told a joint legislative committee on Monday.
That means the state can help people with non-permanent conditions, such as a rotator cuff shoulder injury, get back to work, Lovely said.
"There were a number of people who would come to us who need that type of service and we couldn't help in the past, and we can do that now," Lovely said. "There are a lot of people who are working but uninsured, they may have a medical condition that's putting their job at risk."
Order of selection is a federally mandated process to ensure that people with the most severe disabilities get priority when not enough money is available to serve all eligible applicants, the division said.
In the past, only people with significant disabilities or permanent functional limitations affecting mobility, endurance, interpersonal skills or other functions would qualify, Lovely said. That could include mental retardation or diabetes, for example, she said.
"These changes reflect how responsible government results in better service," Gov. Joe Manchin said recently in a prepared statement. "DRS is helping people with quality of life, providing the tools they need to succeed and help themselves in order to contribute to the state's dynamic workforce."
The change was made earlier this month based on funding projections that included redirecting more money to client services, Lovely said, adding that future decisions on order of selection will be made "year by year."
Funding was redirected after the division streamlined administrative costs and closed some training programs at a rehabilitation center in Institute last year, Lovely said.
Lovely did not immediately have an exact figure for how much money the division was projecting or how many more West Virginians might be served.
"We don't know where we can find that individual so we're just marketing to the public at large so more people will know about the existence of this program that is there for anyone who has a disability," Lovely said.
The program uses federal dollars for client services and state dollars for personnel expenses, she said. The division has more than doubled federal allocations for client services from $4 million spent in 2006, Lovely said.
The division served about 10,500 West Virginians in Fiscal Year 2008, Lovely said, and it already was close to reaching 11,000 people this year so far with one quarter remaining.
About 1,773 West Virginians got jobs after vocational rehabilitation in Fiscal Year 2008, and their average income gain from the time of referral to after rehabilitation was about 300 percent, Lovely said.
Vocational rehabilitation services include work-related counseling, training and job placement, according to the division, which is part of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts.
West Virginians unable to get or keep a job due to a physical or mental disability or condition can call 1-800-642-8207 to find out if they qualify.
Contact writer Michelle Saxton at michelle.saxton@dailymail.com or 304-348-4843. To see more of the Charleston Daily Mail, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailymail.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Charleston Daily Mail, W.Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Charleston Daily Mail, W.Va.