Gregoire proposal would prevent cuts to agencies here, around the state

Services Clark County seniors depend on to get to doctor appointments and live independently are on the chopping block in Olympia.

Administrators at the Southwest Washington Agency on Aging and Disabilities say that if the Legislature doesn’t find a way to offset a $430,000 reduction in their budget under the state’s worst-case spending plan, they face the loss of 65 percent of their staff as of July 1.

That translates to losing the equivalent of 4.5 employees who coordinate services the agency provides in five Southwest Washington counties under the 1977 Senior Citizens Services Act.

If the cuts stand, 290 clients would lose rides to medical services, meal sites and other appointments; 40 would lose in-home personal care; and 45 would lose critical case management services. A program that provides respite for people who care for disabled relatives in their homes also would suffer cuts.

Statewide, the “all-cuts” budget Gov. Chris Gregoire unveiled in December would cut $7 million from those programs and impact more than 300,000 senior and disabled Washington residents.

The issue is front and center this week. On Wednesday, the governor unveiled a proposal to raise $605 million in new revenue to support health, education and community programs. That plan, coupled with budget cuts in other areas, would fully restore cuts to senior and disabled services.

The AARP will hold a lobby day in Olympia today, calling on the Legislature to preserve a broad spectrum of programs for seniors and the disabled, including transportation and respite care.

John Magoon depends on state transportation assistance to get from his apartment to the adult day health center that keeps him alive. The 71-year-old Vancouver man suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition he blames in part on the years he spent working in a sawmill and breathing other people’s cigarette smoke. He has also been diagnosed with diabetes, asthma and congestive heart failure.

He’s chronically short of breath and needs a wheelchair to get around.

“Sometimes I have to push myself,” Magoon said. “I’m tired constantly.” Doctors have told him his condition will continue to deteriorate.

At the health center, which he visits three mornings a week, he gets physical therapy, exercise, medication and blood pressure and blood sugar checks.

“My family cannot transport me,” he said. “I am in a wheelchair, and I need assistance getting into the vehicle. If I fall, I need help getting up.”

His wife, Judith, has breast cancer, and Magoon tries to support her in her own health struggles.

“We’ve been married 50 years, and I don’t want to lose her,” he said.

Without the van rides provided by Mercy 1 Transportation, Magoon, an extrovert with a positive attitude, would also lose his only social outlet.

Yvonne Alen of Vancouver is grateful for the help she received from the agency when, just after returning home from undergoing knee surgery, she fell and fractured her shoulder and arm. It was a double catastrophe: Alen, 65, is the primary caregiver for her husband, who is legally blind and needs full-time care.

She had to return to the hospital for treatment. Back home, she struggled to maneuver in a seated walker with her arm in a sling while trying to keep her surgery leg elevated.

“I couldn’t shower, couldn’t wash my hair, couldn’t stand to cook at the stove,” she said.

The agency authorized a caregiver to help her and her husband with personal care and household chores.

“It was such a blessing to be able to have someone come in,” Alen said. “I don’t know how I would have managed with my husband.”

That in-home care allowed Alen and her husband to remain in their home rather than move into a convalescent center.

“There is a peace to be able to come home and be in familiar surroundings,” she said. “I don’t have words enough to report how wonderful and useful this program is.”

Kathie Durbin: 360-735-4523 or kathie.durbin@columbian.com.

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