Cuts to adult day care would be disastrous
Will California balance the budget on the backs of our elderly and disabled? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed to eliminate funding to our State's Adult Day Health Care Centers (ADHC) effective March 1. The California legislature is due to vote on Schwarzenegger's elimination proposal in mid-February.
ADHCs serve older and disabled individuals throughout the state of California and provide essential health care and social services to these clients. If the 328 ADHC centers throughout the state close, over 37,000 clients will be without crucial services.
In Bakersfield alone, the ElderLife ADHC on Columbus Avenue serves 100 clients a year. Participants receive services that increase their quality of life, monitor their chronic illnesses and provide vital social stimulation.
Family and friends of participants depend on these services, not only to keep their loved ones in the home and out of nursing facilities, but also for needed respite from stressful caregiving tasks.
Consequences of this closure include the loss of almost $193 million in federal matching funds to California, the loss of 6,500 jobs and millions of dollars that will have to be spent to house ADHC clients in higher levels of care, such as skilled nursing facilities and psychiatric hospitals.
Many ADHC clients receive their only social stimulation from going to ADHC centers every day. California cannot afford to lose ADHC -- this will cost more in lives and dollars than it will ever save. Oppose the governor's proposal to eliminate ADHC; it is based on false savings. Call your legislators.
COURTNEY MORRIS
McKittrick
