Ax could fall on in-home care programs

The state's budget deficit could cost Janine Ford her independence.

Ford, 63, lives in a trailer near North San Juan. Five days a week, she is visited by a caregiver who cooks meals, vacuums, cleans house and takes Ford shopping when needed. Ford has arthritis in many of her joints, making it hard to do certain tasks, such as washing clothes.

“I can't live without my caregiver,” Ford said of Judy Anderson, who spends about 18 hours a week helping Ford keep her independence. “She works way more than she gets paid for.”

Under proposals being considered by the Legislature, Ford and nearly 100 other Nevada County residents who receive basic in-home care services could lose that benefit as state lawmakers try to close a budget chasm that grew to $26.3 billion on Wednesday, the first day of the new fiscal year.

Legislators are considering proposals that could save millions of dollars by eliminating services for people — like Ford — who are mobile enough to get around on their own, but need assistance for non-medical tasks.

Ford scores low on what is called a “functional index” of needs for those who receive in-home care. The index is based on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being the most needy. Scores are given in the areas of domestic services, personal care and supervision.

Under proposals being considered by the California Legislature, individuals whose scores are 2 or below — as in Ford's case — risk losing services of an in-home caregiver.

The prospect is devastating to Ford and to those who match up caregivers with the people who need them.

“We're very concerned about the potential of people losing their services in Nevada County,” said Ann Guerra, executive director of the Nevada Sierra Regional In-Home Support Services public authority. The organization provides those people who need it with in-home caregivers.

Feeling ‘secure'

Caregivers work up to nine hours a day at a person's home, performing a variety of tasks as mundane as emptying the trash to driving the patient to doctor appointments.

Each caregiver earns $8.56 an hour, a figure negotiated by Nevada County, said Mark Nagafuchi, program manager for adult and in-home support services for Nevada County. About 650 people receive in-home care through the program, he said.

In Nevada County, 98 people who score a 2 or lower on the functional index are targeted to lose their caregiver, Guerra said.

The governor and a budget conference committee are looking to link services to the functional index score to determine whether a person may receive government-paid in-home care.

“The scale was never intended to be used to decide who should receive service,” Guerra said. “It shouldn't matter how big or small the job that needs to be done is. That's the wrong way to look at it.”

Craig Edlund, 65, of Grass Valley, is visited daily by a caregiver. He has Parkinson's disease, and his caregivers give him a sense of independence he could never enjoy without them, he said.

But Edlund also scores low on the index of needs.

“To have someone around for a couple of hours a day really helps you out,” Edlund said. “It really makes me feel secure.”

It would cost the state much more to house people like Edlund, who don't need constant care, but who would not be able to live on their own without some help, said his caregiver, Patti Christopherson.

“It's one of the greatest bargains in health care,” Edlund said.

“For us (taxpayers), it costs less and it's more rewarding than seeing people in a nursing home,” Christopherson said. “We want to keep people as independent as we can.”

If the governor chooses to cut the program, Ford would lose her independence.

“Just being disabled was a pride-killer,” she said, choking up. “It's unconscionable that the state would do this to us because they think we're no longer valuable.”

To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.