The Star deserves special praise for their April 26th editorial, “Elderly need a watchdog,” advocating on behalf of an important segment of our Ventura County community – frail and vulnerable elderly persons. The Star’s support of AB935, and their recognition of the untiring humanitarian work of Long Term Care Ombudsman Services of Ventura and their volunteers under the untiring leadership of Sylvia Stein Taylor is an example of the role the press in community service. It is also an urgent call – to - action for our elected officials to serve the critical needs of their electorate, yes, ‘deeds speak louder than words.’
The Ventura County Area Agency on Aging (VCAAA), directed by Victoria Jump and her able staff, and it’s volunteer, 30+ member Advisory Council, continues to proudly support the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program through one of its many Grant Programs for the elderly. During one of the VCAAA’s annual visits to our grantees to assess program effectiveness, I was privileged to review the ombudsman program with Sylvia Taylor. During this visit I was especially impressed with the outstanding management and cost-effectiveness of the program. Much of this success is a result of the highly-leveraged efforts of 50 dedicated volunteers, Ms. Taylor, and her devoted staff.
Mahatma Gandhi once said “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”
This also applies to our cities, counties, and states, and it is also one of those times.
Thanks again to the Star for your support of programs for the elderly.
Ventura County Area Agency on Aging
Posted in Letters of Support, Ventura County.
By eldercar
– June 27, 2009
The Governor’s recently released May Revise General Fund proposals include more drastic cuts to Medi-Cal, SSI/SSP, IHSS, Development Disability services, and the elimination of entire programs serving children, elders and the disabled. Included among the proposals to address a $24.3 billion deficit for FY 09-10 are:
- IHSS: Reduce funding for In Home Supportive Services recipients by restricting services only to those recipients with a Functional Index score of 4.0 and above. According to one estimate, about 36,000 consumers out of 462,000 people would continue to receive IHSS services, because all of the domestic and housekeeping activities that allow people to remain at home would be eliminated. Each recipient is given an FI ranking in each of 11 activities of daily living (ADLs). A weighted average of these rankings is calculated to determine the FI score.
Rank 4: Can perform a function, but only with substantial human assistance.
Rank 5: Cannot perform the function, with or without human assistance.
Rank 6: Paramedical Services Needed
- Eliminate funding for the Caregiver Resource Centers, which provides free and low cost support services to caregivers and an entry point to services in every county in California.
- Eliminate Adult Day Health Care, sending thousands of consumers to nursing homes
- Eliminate all state funding for Community Care Licensing – the “oversight” and licensing agency for over 86,000 entities, serving over 1,446,000 consumers, including 7,879 residential care facilities for the elderly, with 168,000+ residents
- Eliminate the Healthy Families Program, which provides health care for over 900,000 California children
- Eliminate the Multi Purpose Senior Services (MSSP) program and Community Based Services Programs
The additional proposals would severely reduce or eliminate funding for mental health, developmental disability services, education, state parks, Cal grants, AIDS services, CALWORKS and several state-only Medi-Cal programs – and these are only a portion of the proposed cuts (summaries of the proposed cuts are available in pdf format at www.canhr.org under New Developments).
The Budget Conference Committee held a hearing on the proposed Health and Human Services cuts on May 27 and heard from numerous consumers and advocates. More hearings, not open for public comment, will be held over the next month, as the deadline for the budget is June 30. Meanwhile, state Controller John Chaing is calling on the legislators and the governor to finalize a budget agreement by June 15 to give him time to negotiate loans from Wall Street to cover the state’s operating costs.
If the intent is to turn California into a third world country – this might work. As the Sacramento Bee recently noted in an editorial, the governor’s proposed cuts “would leave California with the least support of its poor of any state in the nation and probably any government in the developed world.”
How can we provide services to the poorest of the poor; to our disabled citizens; to our elders who need care at home – without raising taxes? How can we even pretend to be a civilized state if we are not willing to be our “brothers and sisters keepers?”
While many legislators are aware of the devastating effect these cuts will have on real people, others of them have no idea and will resist increasing taxes until death. It is important to let your voice be heard.
Posted in Articles, Budget Proposals, California, Legislation, Sacramento.
Tagged with governor budget proposals.
By eldercar
– June 27, 2009
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