Following reports of harassment and intimidation by members of a Stanislaus County anti-IHSS fraud unit, scores of homecare clients and their providers protested at a meeting of the county Board of Supervisors in Modesto. Here’s a Huffington Post entry on the county’s actions.  In a statement prior to the meeting, UDW charged that the “threats, harassment and punitive actions by the county’s Special Investigations Unit are among the worst reported anywhere in California.”  Nearly two dozen providers and clients in the packed hearing room urged the board to curb “aggressive and potentially illegal” activities by the county’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Others held signs saying such things as:

• Stop the Harassment!
• You need bulletproof vests to visit elderly Alzheimer’s patients?
• Needing Homecare is NOT a Crime!
• Care, not Scare!
• Why do you need to look in my underwear drawer?
• SIU: Traumatizing elderly, blind and disabled Stanislaus citizens since 2009
• Innocent until proven guilty?  Not in Stanislaus County!

UDW argued that the claims by SIU of massive fraud in IHSS are unproven, pointed out that many of the cutbacks in IHSS hours decreed by the agency because of alleged fraud have been overturned by judges or remain on appeal.

Unfortunately,  following nearly two hours of often emotional testimony,  the Supervisors voted to continue the SIU program. However, UDW has vowed to continue the protests and has demanded a meeting with the county to discuss the anti-fraud campaign.

Open letter to the citizens of Stanislaus County

Also See: “Stanislaus home care investigations protested” in the September 1 Modesto Bee.
Also see Modesto Bee video