State Officials Defend Van Program for the Disabled

Officials of the state Department of Rehabilitation on Wednesday defended their programs for the severely disabled, but acknowledged that there’s room for improvement.

“We are working to provide the best services we can,” said Margaret Lamb, a department deputy director, after an oversight hearing conducted by the Assembly Human Services Committee.

“We have been working toward improving our system, making sure our counselors have the knowledge” to provide the disabled with skills and transportation to get and keep jobs, Lamb said.

The hearing was prompted by a recent legislative task force report that criticized the department for storing 39 vans, some for more than two years, in a Sacramento warehouse despite demands for the vehicles by the disabled.

Under questioning from the Assembly committee Chairwoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley), Lamb said she expected that by the year’s end all 39 vans will be on the road or assigned to disabled clients.

The department annually provides vocational services to 80,000 to 100,000 Californians. As part of those programs, some clients are provided transportation assistance, ranging from help buying gasoline to the outright purchase of vans for employment.

At the hearing, one man who received a van from the department applauded the agency for helping him become self-sufficient. But several other witnesses complained about lengthy delays in obtaining vans.

One woman, Kathleen Gorgas of Clovis, said she has yet to receive a reliable van--though she initially sought assistance from the department a decade ago. In the early 1990s, Gorgas received a used van from the department, but she testified that it broke down so often that in 1995, the state took it back.

Lamb said she couldn’t comment on specific cases but indicated that vans are supplied when appropriate.

Citing lengthy delays in providing vans, Aroner urged the department to cut through red tape so that the disabled have a dependable way to commute to jobs.

“The department understands it has problems,” she said. “That’s why I’m not prepared to beat up on them. . . . But we need to continue to be vigilant.”