Public Hearing to Focus on California's Attendant Care Crisis

CALIFORNIA STATE BUDGET CRISIS

CRISIS OF CAREGIVERS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES & SENIORS FOCUS OF MARCH 13^TH 1:30 PM ASSEMBLY AGING & LONG TERM CARE AND ASSEMBLY HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE INFO HEARING

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 03/12/2012 02:25 PM]  -  The crisis of caregiving – both paid and unpaid – impacting people with disabilities and seniors and their families is the focus of a joint informational hearing by the Assembly Aging and Long Term Committee, chaired by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (Democrat – Davis, 8^th Assembly District) and the Assembly Human Services Committee, chaired by Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr. (Democrat – San Jose, 24^th Assembly District), March 13^th, Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 PM, at the State Capitol in Room 126.  The hearing is scheduled to video streamed live on the CalChannel website at www.calchannel.com  .  The hearing should also be carried live on CalChannel’s cable channel – check your local cable listings or go to the CalChannel website page at:  http://www.calchannel.com/channel/carriage/  to find your city and the cable channel.

The informational hearing by the two policy committees that – along with Assembly Health Committee and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services – deal with long term services and supports – including those for children and adults with disabilities (including developmental, autism spectrum and other disorders), mental health needs, the blind, seniors and their families, providers including In-Home Supportive Services, supported living services, independent living services, and home health agencies and others.

The hearing comes just a week after the tragedy in Sunnyvale, California where a mother shot and killed her 22 year old son who had autism spectrum disorders, and then killed herself, after telling friends and others of her growing despair and anguish and enormous stress of being a caregiver and what she believed were the limited choices to provide for services or supports for her son and her family. A representative of a provider agency that tried to help the family – and knew the family as friends -  intends to come to the hearing and if time is permits, will give public comment on what the State can do to help families who provide caregiving and face what many advocates in crisis say is overwhelming and unrelenting stress that is shattering families across the State.

“Caregivers—both paid and unpaid—are the unsung heroes of our long-term care system,” said Assemblymember Yamada.  “We often forget that deep cuts to social welfare programs not only affect the millions who receive care, but place an undue burden on those who give care.  Caregivers are increasingly stressed and financially unstable, often quitting their jobs to care for a loved one full-time.  This hearing will provide an opportunity to hear from the real experts—caregivers themselves.”

Perhaps thinking of the Sunnyvale tragedy that is just a few miles from his district in San Jose, Assemblymember Beall said that “…the act of placing one’s own interests aside in order to care and support another is one of the most selfless acts any of us can undertake. As we work through the fiscal challenges of the state, this hearing will focus our attention on one of our state’s most valuable natural resources – the caregiver.  We as policy makers cannot forget that the sacrifices they make are invaluable and irreplaceable.”...read more

Long Term Care CLASS Act is Repealed

Still No Relief in Sight for Long-Term Needs

By GARDINER HARRIS and ROBERT PEAR

Published: October 24, 2011

WASHINGTON — The law that many Americans had hoped would transform the nation’s dysfunctional system of long-term care for the swelling ranks of people with disabilities and dementia quietly died this month, a victim of its own weaknesses, a toxic political environment and President Obama’s re-election campaign focus on jobs…more

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