News

LANSING – After months of wrangling, State Representative Mike Simpson (D-Jackson) today joined Dawn Pickett and her son, William Pickett, as representatives from the University of Michigan's wheelchair seating service delivered a new wheelchair to William, who has a debilitating brain-formation disorder. Dawn, had been trying, without success, since October 2006 to get the wheelchair approved and paid for through Medicaid and Children's Special Health Care Services. She asked Simpson to intercede on her son's behalf a few months ago.

"Being able to assist William is an example of why I have one of the best jobs in the world," Simpson said. "Nothing is more gratifying than directly helping the people I serve. However, William puts a face on what is a pretty disturbing problem: Special-needs children aren't getting wheelchairs because of bureaucratic red tape. And now that I've gotten a good look at the problem, I don't intend to walk away from it."

William has cerebral palsy and lissencephaly, a rare brain disorder where there is an absence of normal folds in the cerebral cortex. As a result, William lacks motor skills and can't sit up on his own. Making the specialty wheelchairs William requires can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $20,000. Most insurance companies do not cover them.

Dawn asked Simpson to step in because she could not cut through the red tape on her own after Children's Special Health Care Services and the University of Michigan, who builds the wheelchair, couldn't come to an agreement about costs. Meanwhile, she said, her son was suffering.

"To me, Mike is the epitome of what a Representative is supposed to be," said Dawn Pickett. "He did exactly what he's been elected to do. We called him for help, and three weeks later William was fitted for a new wheelchair."