Mary Anderson, Redwood Times, August 18, 2010 
A small number of local elders and disabled residents were able to get to the Town Square on Friday, Aug. 13, to protest Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts to the in-home services that make it possible for them to remain in their own homes. The protest against slashing the budget of the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) was the first in Garberville, but according to Cindy Calderon, the movement to save IHSS is statewide and protests and rallies are ongoing.

Cindy Calderon is a Systems Change Advocate with Tri-County Independent Living, which has advocated for and assisted the elderly and disabled in this county since 1978. Tri-County and its counterparts in other counties have joined together to resist the gutting of the programs that help their clients. Calderon notes that 51% of the members of her agency’s board of directors are clients.

”Recipients have a voice in how the program goes,” she says.

In Humboldt County there are approximately 1,800 individuals receiving in-home support services. They are the frail elderly and physically or mentally disabled children or adults and many of them will lose the support they need to stay in their own home if the cuts go through.

”Everything is being cut while corporations continue to get their tax breaks from our governor and the legislature,” Calderon says.

She says that the cuts will result in people being institutionalized who haven’t committed a crime and others will be left to fend for themselves as best they can.

”At any one time, there are approximately 18,000 to 34,000 nursing home beds available in the state,” Calderon says, “but there are 460,000 people in the state receiving in-home support services. These people have been thrown under the bus every year with this governor. Cutting these services has been his goal every year. It costs less to keep somebody in their own home than to send somebody to a nursing home. It costs about $50,000 per year to house someone in a nursing home. To provide in-home support services that allow someone to remain in their own home costs about $15,000. So there’s no savings in sending people to nursing homes.”

Calderon says that people with disabilities have civil rights and in the Olmstead decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people can’t be institutionalized against their wishes.

”People cannot be forced into institutions,” she says, “and that is exactly what is happening here. Nobody wants to live in a nursing home. They don’t have a good track record. They are for profit. If I live in a nursing home, I can’t be a member of society, a member of the community. I can’t do anything but be told when to eat, when to sleep and who my roommate is.”

The governor’s proposal would have people dropped from the program based on their “functional index score.” Calderon says that these scores were never intended to be used in that way. They were developed in the 1980s to measure degree of disability.

”They were never intended to determine who gets services and who doesn’t,” she says. “That’s why the governor’s proposal is being held up in court right now. Let’s say someone is a quadriplegic and can’t cook or feed himself. He’s not going to get his services cut. But say we have an 80-year old woman who can cook for herself and who can feed herself, she’ll get cut, but this lady has dementia and if somebody isn’t there to tell her to eat, then she’s not going to eat. It’s the same thing with young people who have developmental disabilities. Many people need just a little bit of help to stay in the community. And for people with a relatively high score, how long will it be before their level of disability increases once their support is taken away and they don’t eat or bathe.”

Both State Senator Patricia Wiggins and Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro are seen to be champions for people with disabilities, Calderon says, but they need to be encouraged and supported in standing against the governor and the budget cuts to social programs.

”It’s easy to contact them,” she says. “They share an office at 730 E Street in Eureka and you can talk to Zooey Goosby, who represents Pat Wiggins, or John Wooley, who represents Chesbro. They share an office and they really understand this issue.”

Projections are that the state may not have a budget until close to the November election because legislators don’t want voters going to the polls when the state still doesn’t have a budget.

After the demonstration, Calderon and the Tri-County staff went to the Civic Club and met with a few locals to talk about accessibility issues and the help that Tri-County can offer, such as home modifications like wheel chair ramps, help with housing, legal issues, technology and peer support. Learn more about Tri-County at their website: www.tilinet.org or call them at 707-445-8404.

REDWOOD TIMES PHOTO BY MARY ANDERSON

A handful of disabled and elderly residents were on the Town Square Friday during Farmers’ Market seeking support from the able-bodied to oppose drastic cuts to In-Home Supportive Services which make it possible for them to avoid going to a nursing home and continue living independently.