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Now is the time to Get Involved

“What we need to understand, is that we’re not out of the woods.  Basically, in December we could be facing an additional series of across the board cuts – up to about one hundred million dollars…UDW recognizes that achieving new revenue is the most important thing we can be doing to protect the IHSS Program.”
      –  Kristina Bas Hamilton, UDW Budget and Policy Analyst. Read the rest of this entry »

Needy elderly will pay the price for cuts in Medi-Cal

35,000 seniors in California will soon have nowhere to spend their days. In terms both human and fiscal, it’s bad news.

Day-care client Doriah Chung smiles as she gives a neck rub to Hoa Ta, one of the employees at an adult care center in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times / July 31, 2011)

Adult day care

Day-care client Doriah Chung smiles as she gives a neck rub to Hoa Ta, one of the employees at an adult care center in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times / July 31, 2011)

By Steve Lopez , Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2011, 6:39 p.m.

When you have a loved one approaching the end, you feel like you’re walking along the edge of a cliff in the dark, but at least you’ve got plenty of company.

I’m still sifting through hundreds of responses to my July 17 column about my dad, who took a fall a couple of months ago and landed in a nursing home.  Read Story, L.A. Times

State shaves funds for health, social services

By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2011

Since mid-2008, billions of dollars have been slashed from programs that assist the poor, disabled and elderly. With the growing number of budget cuts, many of the aid recipients are getting hit on multiple fronts.

Cynde Soto

Despite being paralyzed from the shoulders down, Cynde Soto works part-time as an advocate for the disabled. But she fears that cuts in the In-Home Supportive Services program could force her to live in a nursing home. (Arkasha Stevenson, Los Angeles Times / July 31, 2011)
Cynde Soto dreads the arrival of yet another benefit notice.

Her cash assistance has been cut four times in two years. State medical coverage is getting more expensive and no longer includes dental care or podiatry. And the in-home help she needs to take care of basics has been cut by about 20 minutes a day.

“That doesn’t sound like a lot to people but … I’m a quadriplegic,” said the 54-year-old Long Beach resident. “I can’t even scratch my own nose.”   Read Story, LA Times