Senior News May, 2003 Vol. 22. No.  5

 

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Big plant sale May 10 FADHS clients have a hand in their garden

Natoinal Council on Aging and American Society on Aging meet to enhance growing older

MSSP turns 20 Vital service has to be cut back by 13 people per month

Serving older Americans

McKinleyville Seniors driving safely

What is Olmstead and why should you care?

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MSSP turns 20
Vital service has to be cut back by 13 people per month
by Nancy Conlon

     Governor Gray Davis has proclaimed May 4-10 as "Multipurpose
Senior Services Program (MSSP) Week." It should be a time to
celebrate, but our happiness at arriving at this milestone is
somewhat compromised by the proposed 15 percent cut for providers of
Medi-Cal services. MSSP is a Medi-Cal Waiver program and is included
in this reduction.
    California is home to approximately 3.6 million residents
older than age 65. MSSP is a community-based care management program
that helps seniors remain in their homes and avoid costly nursing
home placement. MSSP serves 16,355 clients annually assisting with
domestic chore service, personal care, transportation, housing
assistance, respite, meals, as well as many other services.
    Our local MSSP has been serving seniors since 1986. RNs and
social workers, as well as our important support staff, have touched
the lives of many people and their families in the 17years we have
provided the program. In many cases, we have been able to help people
die at home in an environment that is familiar and with family
present. MSSP also coordinates with other area service providers to
provide the best care possible.
    Our local MSSP has submitted to the California Dept. of Aging
(CDA) a 2003/2004 budget with a reduction of $70,000. This cut has
meant that we could not fill a staff vacancy and we have had to cut
back in other program expenditures. There are 41 MSSP sites in the
state of California. All of them have had to submit budgets with the
15 percent reduction. Some sites have expressed concern that they can
no longer operate under this cut in revenue.
    At our site we will be serving approximately 12 fewer clients
each month. Our contract was reduced from 124 individuals per month
to 111. We also will have less money to assist clients with those
services or equipment needs that help them remain at home. We know
that the senior population is only growing larger. The need for
long-term care assistance to remain in the community will become an
even larger concern in the future, especially if the funding is not
there to assist the most frail and those with the smallest amount of
monthly income.
    So while we celebrate MSSP and our work on behalf of many
clients throughout the past 17 years, we are concerned for the future
of MSSP and our state's ability to provide adequate service levels
for its senior citizens.

Nancy Conlon is director of social services for the Humboldt
Senior Resource Center. Her e-mail is nconlon@humsenior.org.