Every day El Centro resident Maria Winfrey, 80, gets 2 1/2 hours of help from the county’s In Home Support Services, but she needs more time.
“I would like to have just 30 more minutes. Three hours a day,” said Winfrey in Spanish. “Because I need it. … I have a bad sight and bad everything … my legs, everything — my age,” she said and then she sipped coffee with a straw.
Winfrey, a widow for the past 12 years, lives alone and doesn’t know the phone number or address of her son, a truck driver who travels often.
“I’m alone,” she said.
The social worker that helps her for 2 1/2 hours, 38 hours a week, takes her to the pharmacy, doctor’s appointments, cleans her house and makes her food.
“I can’t make food because of my age and my eyes. My eyes don’t help me anymore,” Winfrey said. “I do want 30 more minutes.”
But Winfrey’s request is unlikely to be granted. In trying to balance the budget the state has proposed a 20 percent reduction across the board to the In Home Support Services.
More than 4,500 people benefit from this service in Imperial County, said county Social Services Assistant Director Gary Andrews.
Proportional to its population, Andrews said, because of economic conditions, Imperial County has more residents who qualify for this service compared to counties like Los Angeles or San Francisco.
“The vast majority in the program are 65 and over, (and) have multiple physical and medical issues,” he said.
And the cuts not only impact the clients, said Andrews, they also impact the earnings capability of the people that are working in the program. “It has kind of a double impact,” he said.
But the 20 percent cuts are in limbo through a court injunction, said Andrews, who expects a decision on the cuts to take place before March 1.
He also expects the budget cuts to be less than what was proposed. This is a common trend, according to Andrews, who added that even when the state’s proposed cuts tend to be “drastic,” in the end these cuts are watered down through the lobbying of various advocacy groups.
“Fortunately the cuts aren’t as draconian or as large as originally proposed and fortunately they not always occur,” said Robert Moser, director of Catholic Charities, an association that provides services such as ready-meals to county seniors, many of whom are also clients of county Social Services.
“But over time,” he said, “those cuts eventually take place.”
Catholic Charities also receives funding from the state. That funding is being reduced little by little, Moser said, and, meanwhile, the demand is increasing.
“The trend is certainly in the direction of fewer resources at a time when the population is aging,” he said, and the trend is also that fewer programs are able to make ends meet.
The experience may be different, Moser said, but “the impact is there.”
To further explain this, Moser said the trend of state budget cuts is similar to seeing someone with a degenerative disease compared with someone who breaks a leg and feels the damage immediately.
“It’s the difference between acute and a chronic condition,” he said, “The experience is different, but the end result is the same.”
So whether chronic or acute budget cuts for the In Home Support Services are coming, for the needy like Winfrey, “what would happen without them? I would be as if with my hands tied,” she said.
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
“I would like to have just 30 more minutes. Three hours a day,” said Winfrey in Spanish. “Because I need it. … I have a bad sight and bad everything … my legs, everything — my age,” she said and then she sipped coffee with a straw.
Winfrey, a widow for the past 12 years, lives alone and doesn’t know the phone number or address of her son, a truck driver who travels often.
“I’m alone,” she said.
The social worker that helps her for 2 1/2 hours, 38 hours a week, takes her to the pharmacy, doctor’s appointments, cleans her house and makes her food.
“I can’t make food because of my age and my eyes. My eyes don’t help me anymore,” Winfrey said. “I do want 30 more minutes.”
But Winfrey’s request is unlikely to be granted. In trying to balance the budget the state has proposed a 20 percent reduction across the board to the In Home Support Services.
More than 4,500 people benefit from this service in Imperial County, said county Social Services Assistant Director Gary Andrews.
Proportional to its population, Andrews said, because of economic conditions, Imperial County has more residents who qualify for this service compared to counties like Los Angeles or San Francisco.
“The vast majority in the program are 65 and over, (and) have multiple physical and medical issues,” he said.
And the cuts not only impact the clients, said Andrews, they also impact the earnings capability of the people that are working in the program. “It has kind of a double impact,” he said.
But the 20 percent cuts are in limbo through a court injunction, said Andrews, who expects a decision on the cuts to take place before March 1.
He also expects the budget cuts to be less than what was proposed. This is a common trend, according to Andrews, who added that even when the state’s proposed cuts tend to be “drastic,” in the end these cuts are watered down through the lobbying of various advocacy groups.
“Fortunately the cuts aren’t as draconian or as large as originally proposed and fortunately they not always occur,” said Robert Moser, director of Catholic Charities, an association that provides services such as ready-meals to county seniors, many of whom are also clients of county Social Services.
“But over time,” he said, “those cuts eventually take place.”
Catholic Charities also receives funding from the state. That funding is being reduced little by little, Moser said, and, meanwhile, the demand is increasing.
“The trend is certainly in the direction of fewer resources at a time when the population is aging,” he said, and the trend is also that fewer programs are able to make ends meet.
The experience may be different, Moser said, but “the impact is there.”
To further explain this, Moser said the trend of state budget cuts is similar to seeing someone with a degenerative disease compared with someone who breaks a leg and feels the damage immediately.
“It’s the difference between acute and a chronic condition,” he said, “The experience is different, but the end result is the same.”
So whether chronic or acute budget cuts for the In Home Support Services are coming, for the needy like Winfrey, “what would happen without them? I would be as if with my hands tied,” she said.
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
