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From the
Sacramento Bee:
Like his wife, Phyllis, Joe Saunders was born with cerebral palsy. But it took a car accident a couple of decades ago to leave Saunders, now 74, in a wheelchair, with limited use of his arms and legs, unable to continue working as a rehabilitation center counselor. (Both are pictured.)
With the help of a caregiver from In-Home Supportive Services, the couple are able to remain in the small, fraying Woodlake home Saunders' parents bought in the mid-1950s.
"This way, we maintain our dignity as citizens," said Saunders. "I like my dignity. We're in our own home. That's not degrading. That's what we call the golden years."
The golden years are threatened, though. About 22,000 low-income elderly and disabled Sacramento County residents are in the middle of a fight over state finances.
As part of his budget plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating IHSS, the state's fastest growing social services program, which pays caregivers to help the disabled and the frail elderly.
With the graying of the population, IHSS enrollment has soared, and so has its price. Founded in 1973, the program serves 400,000 Californians and will cost an estimated $1.5 billion this year.
Sacramento County spent $23.5 million on the program in 2009, up from $5.9 million in 2001.
Last year the governor also proposed eliminating the program, but a political and legal fight instead resulted in deep cuts.
With more cuts, or the program's elimination, on the horizon, administrators are scrambling to find alternatives. So far they've found none.
"There isn't anything being offered as an option. There are no options," said Sharon Rehm, who helps manage IHSS in Sacramento County.
In part, said Sacramento County Senior and Adult Services division chief Bernadette Lynch, that's because previous rounds of budget cuts have de-funded a network of services that could have helped IHSS clients.
Already on the list of slashed programs are adult day services, the Older Adult Resource Center and an Adult Protective Services program that trained mail carriers to watch out for vulnerable seniors living at home.
What's more, Lynch said, the county's senior nutrition program is set to lose funding on July 1.
"Maybe churches could step up in a minimal way, but they can't step up for everybody," said Lynch. "They can't plug all the gaps."
And nonprofits, still reeling from the recession's negative effects on donations, won't be able to plug the gaps, either, said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies.
"It was a myth to think that the nonprofit sector could replace government," he said.
Without IHSS, many current clients would be forced to move to skilled nursing centers that accept Medi-Cal patients. At an average expense of $55,000 a year, nursing homes cost five times as much per IHSS client.
The number of skilled nursing center beds has dwindled through the years as IHSS' success has grown at helping the elderly continue living independently, Rehm said.
Joe Saunders said he simply wants to stay in his own home with his wife and niece.
"It's a delicate situation," he said. "We're at the end of our rope. And we're part of the mass of people who have no say."
At the Saunders home – which Joe and Phyllis share with their niece Sandy Gridley, 47, who suffers from brain damage and is under the Saunders' conservatorship – caregiver Tara Smith arrives at 7:30 a.m. five days each week. First, she makes coffee and breakfast.
"I do laundry and make beds and go grocery shopping," said Smith, 36, a former convalescent center aide who has worked for the family for three years and does everything from feeding Phyllis to helping the Saunderses in the bathroom. "I pay the bills and take them to the doctor. I make sure they're clean. I'm here 11 hours a day."
Phyllis Saunders, 73, can't use her arms.
For all of this, Smith, a single mother of three, makes $10.40 an hour. On the weekends, the Saunderses' son, Calvin, 47, takes over care duties.
More than 60 percent of IHSS caregivers are family members.
"It's hard work," Smith said. "If you're caring for a relative, you still have to go to work and get money to take care of your own family. It makes sense to pay them for this."
From the Sacramento Bee:
