Four years ago, Douglas Lavery, a provider for the state’s Community Companion Home (CCH) program, publicly aired his grievances with Connecticut state officials’ failure to reimburse him for the services he provides disabled individuals in a timely fashion. Four years later, Lavery says that nothing has changed.

After 21 years, you just think that they would just follow the routine,” said Lavery. “I don’t know, I don’t know what else to do, right?”

CCH is a program overseen by the state’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS), which pairs developmentally disabled residents with qualified caretakers. In exchange for opening their homes to those with disabilities and providing them with around the clock care, CCH providers receive a monthly stipend check, as well as monthly reimbursements for expenses borne by caretakers. These payments, which Lavery said for him are $5,600, are supposed to arrive on the 15th of each month, but for the past three months, Lavery said they have arrived late.

“I still have no check,” said Lavery. “I’ve called them, I’ve gone up one side, down the other.”

Lavery cares for three clients, all of whom are elderly and suffer from significant disabilities. Two of Lavery’s clients are 79 years old, one with dementia and another with behavioral troubles. Lavery’s third client, Robert, is a 63-year old with Downs Syndrome, who Lavery said requires the most care. Robert had to be brought to a nursing home recently, and came out “blind, not walking and in a diaper,” requiring 24/7 care. As a result, Lavery said he has had to hire staff to work shifts each night from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. each morning. Lavery said this costs him $5,600 a month, but that the monthly costs may rise if Robert has a doctor’s appointment, as he needs to pay staff to help get Robert in and out of the car now that he’s in a wheelchair.

“You know they’re paying $15.25 an hour at night and $17.25 an hour during the day for private staffing, and again, I’m paying out of pocket and hoping to get the money back,” said Lavery. “So now I’m owed $5,600, I just went to the bank, I pulled $6,000 out to get through this week.”

At the time he spoke with Inside Investigator, on Jan. 20, Lavery said he still hadn’t received his check for the month, and that he hasn’t received a single monthly check on time since last November. Lavery said he’s been “zapped good on taxes” in previous years because he’s had to take funds out of investment accounts to cover payroll, and has even “gone through part” of his retirement savings. Lavery said at one point, he was paid 60 days late, meaning the state delayed in paying him $30,000.

“In the last two years, it’s been going on and off,” said Lavery of the payment delays. “It’ll get better, and now there’s a big change over [hiring of new administrators], and things are happening again.”

Lavery said he’s spoken to Tim Braziel, Assistant Director of CCH’s Western Region, about his issues, he’s spoken to Robert’s case worker, who he called “absolutely wonderful,” among other DDS officials, but that he can never receive a straight answer as to why this issue keeps occurring.

“If I ask them, they just say they don’t know,” said Lavery. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”

He said last month, he was first only paid $1,600, and was told there must have been a mistake made when entering his reimbursement payment.

“They entered the wrong numbers to the computer,” said Lavery. “I’m submitting you a timesheet with the amount of $5,600 and some change on it, how could you submit the wrong number?”

Lavery said that the persistent delays caused his staff to call off for four days last week, because “they’re so sick” of working for delayed pay. Lavery said he last paid them on January 12th, which was money he owed them for the month prior. Last week was the first time Lavery had ever had staff walk out on him, but he said he empathized with their plight and understands why they did it, as many of them are working other jobs already.

“They love my guys, I love them, they’re all very good,” said Lavery. “But they have a right, I’m not even mad at them, but it’s caused me four days without sleep and it puts Robert in jeopardy.”

As a result of Robert’s recent blindness, he has been suffering from Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which causes hallucinations. Lavery said this has made caring for him even more difficult.

“All day long, he’s hallucinating,” said Lavery. “He’s scared at night. It means I need somebody with me, because sometimes he wets the bed, I have to change him and all that stuff — if I don’t have somebody with me, it’s a very difficult procedure.”

Lavery said the stress he’s experienced as a result of delayed payments has aggravated medical issues of his own. In February 2024, Lavery suffered a stroke. Around that time, Lavery had transferred Robert to the nursing home, one of his other wards had to undergo bladder surgery, and he was told by DDS that he owed them $2,000 due to an overpayment, while at the same time declining to reimburse him for a $2,200 co-pay he had to pay for his home insurance after one of his wards broke his toilet and caused flooding. A month or two ago, Lavery said he checked himself into the hospital again, after a phone call with DDS officials over late payments left him feeling like he might suffer another stroke.

“I got this pressure in my head, which was very similar to the last one, and I ended up being taken out of my house by an ambulance,” said Lavery. “They’re stressing me, the provider, out to the point that I’ve been in the hospital twice over this.”

Lavery said that the frustration he’s experienced has at times been counterproductive to receiving assistance, saying, “I know they’re dragging their feet afterwards because I just yelled at them.” He said he’s “not proud” of such instances, but that he’s just “trying to enhance these  guys’ lives, and these people are not doing anything to justify what I do.”

“I love my job, I will do this until the day I die,” said Lavery. “I could have a hundred of these people and I wouldn’t mind. I just cannot deal with the way that West Region runs their business. It’s not right.“

Inside Investigator reached out to Braziel for comment, who directed inquiries to Kevin Bronson, DDS’s Director of Communications.

“DDS CCH Providers are paid within 45 days from when attendance is finalized,” said Bronson. “Payment timing may be affected by factors such as submission dates, weekends, state holidays, and standard accounting processes.”

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