HOME CARE WAIT LIST TOPS 1,000

STATEWIDE---As Governor Deval Patrick considers what additonal cuts to make in the state budget, cuts already incurred this year in the elderly home care program have forced more than 1,000 people on a waiting list for services.
 
According to Mass Home Care, the wait list in the home care and enhanced home care program stood at 1,077 elders as of October 19th. The group said the number is understated, because seniors must be visited at home and assessed for need before their name can go on a wait list.
 
The waiting list was imposed on September 8th. Forty one days later, more than 1,000 people are waiting. Mass Home Care says that cuts already implemented will push the waiting list up to as many as 6,000 people by the end of June.
 
"It is ironic that the door to nursing home care is wide open, but the door to home care has been slammed shut for hundreds of seniors," said Al Norman, Executive Director of Mass Home Care. Norman said the Commonwealth's official policy for long term supports is "Community First," but that has translated into 'cut community first' instead.
 
Norman said that the typical home care client is a woman in her mid 80s who needs significant help with her activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, eating, walking and toileting.
 
Cutbacks this year have been made to the home care program, the Enhanced Community Options Program, and Community Choices---the three programs that help keep people living in the least restrictive setting.
 
Based on the 2006 "Equal Choice" law that Mass Home Care wrote, seniors and individuals with disabilities are supposed to be given a choice of where they wish to be served---at home or in an institution. Because of these budget cuts, seniors now have the choice of nursing home care or a waiting list. "We are narrowing some people's choices to a nursing home," Norman noted. "This is exactly what state policy says we should avoid."
 
Norman said seniors across the state have been contacting the Governor's office urging him not to make another round of cuts to community services. "'Hands off Home Care'" was the message, Norman said. "The hits we've already received have a taken a toll on very vulnerable seniors. It's fiscally short-sighted to cut the programs that keep people out of the more expensive levels of care. In a budget crunch, this is precisely the time to keep home care open, and divert people away from institutions."