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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto pencil has effectively crossed out funding for approximately 115 Nevada County residents who require the most basic in-home care needs.
Another 90 or so residents who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) will have their services trimmed, as part of a $263 million cut to the state program budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
The cut has many who receive those services wondering if they'll be able to stay in their homes, while caregivers are worrying about losing their jobs. Several nursing homes are questioning whether they'll be able to absorb the additional patient load that could come when services are cut, possibly as soon as Oct. 1.
“We really got hit hard by the governor's last vetoes,” said Ann Guerra, executive director of the Nevada/Sierra Regional IHSS Public Authority, which provides services and caregivers to those needing in-home services.
The needs of those who receive in-home care are evaluated by social workers using a “functional index score.”
The score measures 11 aspects of daily living — how well a person can eat, bathe, dress, drive and perform basic housekeeping chores — on a six-point scale, with a person needing the most help scoring a 6. Those whose scores, when added and divided by 11, average less than 2 will have their funding cut.
Janine Ford, 63, fears she'll lose her five-day-a-week caregiver because the numerical value of her needs falls right below 2.
“I can't live without my caregiver,” said Ford, who has a degenerative orthopedic disease in her back, severe arthritis in her hips and knees and diabetes.
She can walk, she said, but she can't stand for long periods of time to cook; she also can't vacuum, or carry things in her hands much.
Except for her caregiver, she lives alone. She never married and has no children.
“I'm on my own,” she said.
A yearly assessment that's past due hasn't arrived, which worries the North San Juan resident.
“As it stands, I would lose my assistance, and I'll lose my worker, too,” she said.
Ford subsists on a combination of Social Security, disability payments and Supplemental Security Income.
Medi-Cal won't pay for a convalescent hospital, either, she said.
“Since when does the governor have the right to take away my constitutional rights to life, liberty and happiness?” she asked. “I won't have any of that in a convalescent hospital.”
Ford's caregiver, Judy Anderson, said that Ford could not live on her own without help.
Anderson has worked as a caregiver for her nephew and mother in the past, and said she thoroughly enjoys working for Ford, even if it is only for $8.56 an hour.
When the funding dries up, there won't be many places for people in need to go, said Diana Engle, community manager of Highgate Senior Living in Grass Valley.
Engle said she recently surveyed every skilled-nursing facility in Sacramento, Placer and Nevada counties for a bed for a private-paying Highgate patient who needed advanced medical care, and found none.
Highgate does not accept Medi-Cal payments.
“I can't even imagine how hard it will be for people on Medi-Cal,” Engle said. “Honestly,
I'm worried, and I don't know what's going to happen. These people need to be in their own homes, and they're left out in the cold.”
With the budget all but sewn up for the next 11 months, there isn't much recourse for those who could lose their services in the fall, Guerra said.
“The best thing people can do, people with disabilities, and the people who love and care for them, is simply vote,” she said.
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
Another 90 or so residents who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) will have their services trimmed, as part of a $263 million cut to the state program budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
The cut has many who receive those services wondering if they'll be able to stay in their homes, while caregivers are worrying about losing their jobs. Several nursing homes are questioning whether they'll be able to absorb the additional patient load that could come when services are cut, possibly as soon as Oct. 1.
“We really got hit hard by the governor's last vetoes,” said Ann Guerra, executive director of the Nevada/Sierra Regional IHSS Public Authority, which provides services and caregivers to those needing in-home services.
The needs of those who receive in-home care are evaluated by social workers using a “functional index score.”
The score measures 11 aspects of daily living — how well a person can eat, bathe, dress, drive and perform basic housekeeping chores — on a six-point scale, with a person needing the most help scoring a 6. Those whose scores, when added and divided by 11, average less than 2 will have their funding cut.
Janine Ford, 63, fears she'll lose her five-day-a-week caregiver because the numerical value of her needs falls right below 2.
“I can't live without my caregiver,” said Ford, who has a degenerative orthopedic disease in her back, severe arthritis in her hips and knees and diabetes.
She can walk, she said, but she can't stand for long periods of time to cook; she also can't vacuum, or carry things in her hands much.
Except for her caregiver, she lives alone. She never married and has no children.
“I'm on my own,” she said.
A yearly assessment that's past due hasn't arrived, which worries the North San Juan resident.
“As it stands, I would lose my assistance, and I'll lose my worker, too,” she said.
Ford subsists on a combination of Social Security, disability payments and Supplemental Security Income.
Medi-Cal won't pay for a convalescent hospital, either, she said.
“Since when does the governor have the right to take away my constitutional rights to life, liberty and happiness?” she asked. “I won't have any of that in a convalescent hospital.”
Ford's caregiver, Judy Anderson, said that Ford could not live on her own without help.
Anderson has worked as a caregiver for her nephew and mother in the past, and said she thoroughly enjoys working for Ford, even if it is only for $8.56 an hour.
When the funding dries up, there won't be many places for people in need to go, said Diana Engle, community manager of Highgate Senior Living in Grass Valley.
Engle said she recently surveyed every skilled-nursing facility in Sacramento, Placer and Nevada counties for a bed for a private-paying Highgate patient who needed advanced medical care, and found none.
Highgate does not accept Medi-Cal payments.
“I can't even imagine how hard it will be for people on Medi-Cal,” Engle said. “Honestly,
I'm worried, and I don't know what's going to happen. These people need to be in their own homes, and they're left out in the cold.”
With the budget all but sewn up for the next 11 months, there isn't much recourse for those who could lose their services in the fall, Guerra said.
“The best thing people can do, people with disabilities, and the people who love and care for them, is simply vote,” she said.
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
