Each week, we talk with our colleagues at The Colorado Sun about the stories they’re following. This time Health and Environment Reporter Michael Booth joined us to discuss the closures of several Colorado-based autism care centers and the return ofsurfingon the riverto Salida.
Colorado is seeing a statewide decrease in available autism centers that offer therapy and other care. At least nine agencies that serve children with autism have closed in the past year and a half. Booth told KUNC that the care these centers provide is expensive, even with Medicaid helping cover the bills.
“The problem in Colorado is that the Medicaid reimbursement at these autism centers, which are run privately or as a nonprofit, is too low,” he said. “And so a lot of the centers are saying they're losing as much as $5 an hour for each Medicaid client they have with autism.”
Autism centers also say they're struggling to pay workers enough to retain them. A state committee this month recommended a pay rate increase for workers and additional Medicaid coverage to help families. The legislature also approved across-the-board rate increases for Medicaid providers, including 3% this year, according to the Sun story.
In another story, Salida’s downtown stretch of the Arkansas River is open to surfers again after an 8-week hiatus.
“They've done a huge amount of work on their downtown and particularly the Arkansas River through downtown to make it a whitewater recreational heaven,” Booth said. “And one of the things that they did was create a big surfing wave right in the middle of the river downtown. And it's really fun to just watch from the banks as everybody from amateurs to real professionals compete on these waves and put on a big show.”
For two months out of the year, usually when the river runs high, the Scout Wave becomes too large and dangerous for surfing.
Salida officials tasked a contractor with dropping 4,000-pound bags of sand into the river to control and shape the wave during high runoff.
“Surfers are ecstatic and the fans who stood on the shore are ecstatic,” Booth said. “And the town of Salida is happier than ever.”
