August 2007 Vol. 26. No. 8

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.

HICAP and Caregiver Services Programs move to 434 Seventh Street, Suite B
Medicare bus and Senior bill
Starting afresh: A new task is an exciting new canvas
Garberville: Healy Senior Center yard sale moves to Veterans Hall and Presbyterian Church
You can teach old dogs new tricks

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The Medicare bus is coming to Eureka

The Medicare Bus has been touring the country to help people with Medicare understand the new Medicare preventive services benefits. It will be coming to Eureka for the first time on Thursday, Aug. 23.

The bus will be at the new HICAP offices at 434 7th St., Suite B, from 1-3 p.m. Stop by and talk to people from Medicare. Call HICAP at 444-3000 for more information.

Bill to protect seniors passes key committee

SACRAMENTO - The Senate Health Committee passed a bill in July by Assemblywoman Patty Berg that brings California closer to complying with a landmark Supreme Court ruling eight years ago that has not yet resulted in significant change in this state.

Assembly Bill 380 by Berg, D-Eureka, would increase funding for community-based programs that give senior citizens the kind of help they need to avoid institutionalization. In doing so, the bill addresses the primary goal of the landmark 1999 Olmstead decision in which justices ruled that adults cannot be placed in nursing homes against their will.

Since that ruling, California has made little headway toward adopting policies to make it easier for aging and disabled adults to live in their homes.

"I wish this law had been passed eight years ago," said Berg. "It's long overdue."

At issue is the money the state spends on the Multipurpose Senior Services Program which provides social and health case management services each year to thousands of frail, nursing-home-eligible older adults.

AB 380 would increase funding for the program by linking the state's contribution to the Consumer Price Index. The program has not received a significant rate increase in two decades, whereas nursing home rates have increased 96 percent during the same period.

"Do the math," said Berg. "Now we're only spending $4,000 a year to help someone stay in their home, and it costs $55,000 to put them in a skilled nursing facility."

Berg, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, said her bill enacts one goal of her three-part Master Plan on Aging Baby Boomers. The Master Plan emphasizes policies that enable all Californians to live longer, healthier and more dignified lives and to do so in their own homes and communities.

"We have to link this rate to inflation," she said. "Otherwise, we fall farther behind every single year. Every Californian should be able to stay at home as long as they want, and MSSP makes that possible."

The bill now goes to Senate Appropriations Committee.