California stroke center faces cuts

From the San Jose Mercury News:

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --In one classroom, a group of people are playing cards; down the hall, students plant seedlings, intently mold figures from clay and exercise in a wide-open gym with views to high stands of eucalyptus.

What may sound like entertainment, however, is much more to the dozens of students gathered daily at the Cabrillo Stroke Center to recuperate from illnesses that have left them with disabilities of all kinds. They are working to regain suddenly elusive physical and mental skills such as speech, hand movements and walking.

"The Stroke and Disability Center is an example of how, with good support and access to information, many health complications can be, and have been, averted," said Debora Bone, program director of the nationally acclaimed program that was founded in 1975.

Like with many other nonprofits in the community, shrinking revenue streams are threatening staffing levels and programs.

"On the one hand, the state is very committed to serving needs of disabled students," Bone said. "It's a high priority and we've been blessed that commitment has been held."

But costs keep going up, and funding that was flat is being reduced. Donations offset cuts last year, but this summer, staff will be cut by a third due to reductions in the college budget. Last year, the city of Santa Cruz cut its $25,000 piece by 10 percent and the county, which has been contributing about $44,000, will be cutting its support by 20 percent, the equivalent of one instructional assistant. Bone expects more cuts from Capitola and Watsonville as well and possibly additional cuts from the college.

"Donors in past have been incredibly generous but I've been reluctant to call until I know what to ask for," she said.

Part of that equation is this weekend's fundraiser, the six-mile Human Race in Santa Cruz. Bone is part of a 40-member team that includes more than a dozen energetic Stroke Center students. They are hoping to raise $15,000 and save much loved classes such as ceramics and gardening.

About 150 students each quarter participate in the program held in the old Naval Reserve building in a corner of DeLaveaga Park. The daily tasks, taught in classroom settings, help students with agility, balance, concentration, language, and socialization. Repetitive exercises help rewire their circuitry by repetition.

Linda de los Santos, who woke up with a headache one night five years ago only to learn later she'd had a brain aneurism, has a few simple goals. She wants to raise her arm and improve the dexterity of her right hand and foot. The co-owner of the Arco gas station in Rio del Mar remembers nothing of the stroke that left her in a coma for days. She remembers the months before the stroke when she was working seven days a week with little attention to rest, diet or exercise. Her husband Raul told her how one night she couldn't see the Tylenol he offered her and how she was rushed to the hospital.

For de los Santos, the Stroke Center not only helped her recover physically but served to raise her spirits in difficult times.

"It's different than being in a house and watching TV," she said. "This is a like being a student again. In between the classes is laughter, just enjoyment."

Alexander Monto wants to smooth out his gravelly voice, a result of paralysis in his vocal chords from a stroke about two and a half years ago. A retired psychiatrist and author, he wants to improve his ability to write by hand and to walk again. He no longer uses a wheelchair or a walker, but takes his time moving from place to place.

"Although it may not been visible, I've actually made a lot of improvement since the early days," Monto said. "Generally, a hopeful attitude has been mentored. I can see, although slow, progress is continuing to happen."

The cost of equivalent care would be exorbitant, but even more likely, students just wouldn't be able to find similar care in the community, Bone said. The reality is that after acquiring serious disabilities, people without socialization often quickly deteriorate.

Monto puts it simply.

"You get a lot of bang for the buck here. There is a lot of help for very little expenditure of taxpayer money. I would hate to lose it," he said. "If I had to pay for it, I probably wouldn't get it."