Budget cuts hurt those who need help the most

[proud2BlibKansan]

This is what the teaklan wants. Hope none of them are ever in an accident that disables them for life!

State budget cuts threaten disabled Kansans’ ability to live independently

TOPEKA | Leana Daniels worked in restaurants in Kansas City, Kan., since she was 16.

In 2003, Daniels, a mother of three, was working as a restaurant cook when an employee used greasy water to mop the kitchen. Daniels slipped and fell hard, permanently crippling her knees.

She got replacement joints but was plagued by a postoperative infection, which worsened her chronic heart disease. Now she can’t work and can’t climb stairs, and she falls often.

“I needed a little help,” she said. “Someone to help me clean, do the laundry. I can’t do all the things I used to do.”

Social workers told Daniels, now 47, that she qualified for a state-funded program designed to keep Kansans with disabilities in their homes and out of institutional care. Someone could stop by for a few hours a week to do the chores Daniels no longer could do.

Yet when Daniels tried to sign up, she learned funding for the program had run out days earlier. Kansas lawmakers had cut the funding amid a historic revenue decline.

Daniels was told to consider a nursing home.

“ ‘Go to hell’ is pretty much what they told me,” she said. “They’d rather pay to put me in a nursing home than pay somebody a few bucks to come help me three hours a week,” she said. “You ask them for help, and you can’t get it. They say they’ll help people. They’re liars.”

The budget crisis affects every state function. Students learn in larger classes. Highway projects are on hold. Economic development programs are hobbled. Prisons are shuttered. But cuts to social services threaten the very independence of the people they were created to help.

Reducing services for Kansans with disabilities isn’t only a moral issue, advocates say. Studies show that help is most affordable when it is provided to residents in their homes. Nursing-home care is three times as expensive to the taxpayer.

Shannon Jones, the director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas, lobbies lawmakers to support programs that allow residents with disabilities to stay in their homes.

“I’ve been up here (at the statehouse) for 17 years, and I’ve never seen such dramatic effects on our disabled and elderly,” Jones said. “We’re not talking about a huge amount of money, and the benefits are clear.”

Kansas saw revenues flatline when the economy soured. The choice for lawmakers was clear: Cut spending or raise taxes in a recession.

So far, lawmakers have opted to cut more than $1 billion, the biggest spending cuts in Kansas history.

As a result:

•The rate paid to in-home caregivers, doctors and others who accept Medicaid clients was cut 10 percent.

•The state pulled the funding for dental care to low-income pregnant women.

•A total of 1,500 Kansans with disabilities — but who get no federal disability payments — were dropped from a $100-a-month cash assistance program.

•Almost 6,000 Kansans sit on waiting lists for state services.

One of them is Connor Blakley, 6, of Gardner, who was born with severe developmental disabilities. His mother, Angi Blakley, said Connor suffers frequent seizures. The only word he can say is “mama,” although he likes to blow kisses to communicate with others.

Connor requires constant care. Angi Blakley and her husband, Jason, arrange their work shifts to ensure someone is always with Connor.

Connor is eligible for state-covered help — help with the medical bills and an in-home attendant so his parents can get a break. After all, they have another child to care for, 3-year-old Trinity.

There is not enough money to cover all those who are eligible, so Connor has to wait. The family used to get a $600 check four times a year, money that helped to defray the cost of Connor’s many medications. The state stopped sending the checks last year.

Hundreds of other Kansans are on the waiting list in front of Connor. The only way to move up is if someone who is higher on the list moves to another state, ages out or dies.

“Basically we’re waiting for people to die,” Jason Blakley said.

There’s another option: The Blakleys could put Connor in an institution. They shook their heads in unison.

“He’s our son,” Angela Blakley said.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/26/1905210/state-budget-cuts-threaten-disabled.html?commentSort=RecommendationsDescending&pageNum=1#ixzz0mLq9bVxd

[stray cat]

1. The less you have the more severe budget cuts across the board are.