ATLANTA - Richard Garcia was heating up some lunch when he nearly lit his house on fire, forgetting he'd turned on the stove. He's likely to wander away from his Newnan, Ga. home and become lost. Dementia has settled over the 64-year-old Garcia like a dense fog.
His wife, Martha, works full time to keep the struggling family afloat but she fears leaving Garcia alone. The family has found salvation in an adult day care center that provides him a safe place to spend his days.
But deep cuts in Georgia's budget are hitting programs like Garcia's hard. As the state works to close a $2.2 billion budget hole it's slashing some $18.9 million from Meals on Wheels, adult day care, in-home respite programs and other initiatives which advocates for the elderly say help senior citizens stay in their homes rather than enter costly nursing homes. The state cuts come as nonprofits, charities and faith-based groups, which often fill the gap, wrestle with their own funding shortfalls.
"These cuts are just devastating for our seniors who have given so much," said Kathryn Fowler, of the Georgia Council on Aging.
At a rally of seniors at the state Capitol last week, several state lawmakers pledged to restore at least some of the $18.9 million in funding for the elderly Gov. Sonny Perdue's budget proposal eliminated.
"We cannot cut our budget on the backs of the least of these," state Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam, a Riverdale Democrat, said.
But with state revenues plummeting, the legislators will have to replace any money they funnel into aging services with cuts elsewhere. With budgets lean everywhere that will be tough to do.
Pat Presley, of Franklin, Ga., said she began to rely on daily meal deliveries after recent emergency abdominal surgery. The 66-year-old has no family in the area and lacks a car.
"I could not have managed without Meals on Wheels," she said.
But perhaps even more important than the food is the contact with the outside world.
"Since I'm alone they are sometimes the only people I will see in a day," Presley said. "It's been comforting to have that."
Advocates estimate that the cuts to elderly nutrition programs will mean the loss of 138,000 meals from the roughly 3.9 million delivered to homes or provided through senior centers.
The state budget also targets state money for respite support to caregivers who have elderly family members. Some of that money is for in-home caregivers, other dollars are for adult day care. Respite care provides relief to family members by giving them a break for caring for family members with Alzheimer's or other debilitating conditions. Supporters say the programs are vital in giving caregivers the help they need to keep family members at home.
Garcia said the program he attends five days a week at Cambridge House in Newnan has been a lifeline for his family.
"I never, ever thought I would be in this position," Garcia said. "I always thought I would be working until I died."
The state budget cuts translate into the loss of $30,000 at Cambridge House, the facility's executive director Mary Ann Neureiter said. That's nearly 20 percent of their total budget.
Also wiped out in the governor's proposed budget is funding for a promising program that provides the elderly with volunteer legal guardians, Becky Kurtz, Georgia's Long-Term Care Ombudsman, said. Volunteers in the program help mentally incapacitated seniors without family with legal decisions on things like surgery and care options.
"In the past, we had some seniors that needed surgery and couldn't get it because there was no one competent to make the decision," Kurtz said.
The state Department of Human Resources did not return phone calls seeking comment on the cuts.
State Department of Human Resources Commissioner B.J. Walker acknowledged at a recent state budget hearing that she had to make "tough choices."
But she said given the tough economic times they were unavoidable.
"I am comfortable I can figure out how to make it work," Walker said.
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On the Net:
Georgia Department of Human Resources: http://dhr.georgia.gov/
Wednesday
October 9th, 2024
4:25AM
