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State cuts to close Friendship Center |
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Thursday, 13 August 2009 |
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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
8-11-2009
California’s governor is keeping consistent with his blue veto pencil, slashing money for programs meant to assist the state’s most needy and those at risk of falling deeper into the cracks of society.
The governor has already cut programs for needy children, victims of domestic violence and now, he’s cutting the funding for state-run assistance programs that serve California’s elderly and the infirm.
Among them is the Friendship Center and Alzheimer’s Day Care, which may have to close its doors on Oct. 1 if the cuts go through as proposed.
When legislators approved the $24 billion in budget cuts on July 28, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made an additional $500 million in line-item vetoes – give or take a couple million. These cuts included $50 million to healthcare coverage for low-income children, $60 million to Child Welfare Services and $20 million to Domestic Violence Shelters.
In keeping with this theme of cutting funds to those who are said to need it most, programs for the ever-increasing population of senior citizens are set for elimination or being carved to the bone – in addition to the elimination of $50 million to programs that primarily help seniors stay out of hospitals and provide breaks for caregivers.
One popular local program, which includes Meals-On-Wheels and the senior lunch program, was saved from the axe.
“But that’s for now,” according to Marilyn Mann, codirector of Inyo Mono Area Agency on Aging. The cuts are not effective until Oct. 1 and anything is still possible, she said.
Mann explained what was cut: the Linkages Program that helps seniors stay in their homes, and the Friendship Center and Alzheimer’s Day Care, one of the most popular and effective programs according to a recent survey by Inyo County Health and Human Services. And while the program is intact, acquiring and keeping assistance via In-Home Supportive Services will require new, stringent guidelines for qualification.
There are reports from local agencies that the governor has exceeded his legal jurisdiction with these vetoes, but according to HHS Director Jean Turner, as of Friday, Aug. 7, no legal challenge has yet been waged.
This is an incredibly huge tear in the “safety net” for seniors, said Mann, putting those most at risk even closer to the edge, and all for a savings of less than $50 million to the state budget – about half the amount of money being spent on construction on U.S. 395 this summer.
Turner added that with the removal of the Linkages program, HHS lost an additional $100,000 in federal funding from its coffers.
These programs that assist seniors in staying in their homes, which is arguably less expensive than having them institutionalized on the taxpayer’s dime, is also better for the individual.
The Reverend Caddy Jackson of Bishop’s First United Methodist Church, the organization in charge of the Friendship Center that offers respite care for the caregivers fo Alzheimer’s patients, said he had several thoughts when he heard of the news last week.
The first was how the 15 families affected by this $113,000 cut are going to have to “scramble” to find ways for caring for their loved ones.
The second was the loss of five jobs the cuts will produce. The next was the loss to the community and small businesses that the Friendship Center patrons.
He said the Friendship Center rents space in town and utilizes ESTA, both of which will lose business now.
“When these types of programs are cut, everyone hurts financially,” he added.
Jackson said that one of the most successful parts of the program is the social interaction between Alzheimer’s sufferers and the workers and volunteers. Jackson said he’s seen the social aspect of the program slow down the degenerative process of the disease. The program also offers families caring for loved ones with the disease much needed respite care. Many of those with Alzheimer’s need 24-hour attention and the Friendship Center was the only break many of the caregivers ever received.
There are those in Sacramento advocating for the reinstatement of the funds, but, Jackson said, once a program is completely cut, start-up costs are huge.
“This is a total loss, no-win situation for everyone,” he said.
Mann said by cutting these resources, hospitalizations will rise.
But, she said, the seniors’ saving grace is the community.
“We have the advantage in Inyo County that we know our neighbors,” Mann said. “We have a better feeling of community than in a large urban area, and have been successful in the past of rallying around our neighbors.”
Mann said the community will have to keep in mind that there are people in crisis in the area, and it will get worse, but, “the community is going to have to take that extra step we haven’t had to in the past.”
It seems the safety net for the state’s most vulnerable has been passed from the state to the county and now to the people in what Jackson is calling a “tough chapter.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 September 2009 )
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