Senior advocates will lose half their budget

Ombudsman program protects nursing home residents

By NATALIE HOFFMAN
Register Staff Writer

Napa’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is facing a huge challenge — the disappearance of about half of its budget in the wake of a $3.8 million cut to the agency statewide.

Hanging in the balance is advocacy for more than 2,000 local seniors who live in nursing homes and residential care facilities. By paying unannounced visits to these facilities, ombudsmen provide guardianship by investigating complaints and reports of abuse and neglect, said Elizabeth Mautner, program coordinator for Napa’s Ombudsman chapter.

Napa County seniors, she said, have a lot at stake in the light of recent cuts to the program, which won’t be felt until next year.

“So many cuts have been taken at the expense of the senior population in the entire state,” Mautner said. “All of these things are cutting the preventative measures and forcing people to go into the nursing homes before they need to. ... People are suffering and there’s a human toll in this. There is the feeling that the elderly are expendable.”

The program receives both federal funding and state matches. The cuts coming in 2009 are the result of the state budget deal made after a nearly three-month stalemate between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and leaders of the state Legislature. Officials made billions of dollars in cuts, closed tax loopholes and plan to borrow billions more in an attempt to cover a $15 billion deficit.

Mautner projected a $48,000 cut to the organization’s annual budget of about $100,000, and said that will translate to a decrease in the number of visits ombudsmen make to local facilities. Today, the agency’s volunteers and staff members make between 100 and 200 connections with the elderly each month, Mautner said, adding that the services are free and confidential.

Although recruiting more volunteers to cover possible staff layoffs next year is a possibility, Mautner said, the change would bring new issues to the table.

“It (takes) difficult training to become a volunteer. It takes a lot of time ... and a lot of our volunteers burn out quickly,” she said, adding that training sessions would also likely take time away from the agency’s primary focus.

One of about 35 ombudsman branches across the state, the Napa agency may eventually have to rent a smaller office space in an effort to cut costs, she said.

In the meantime, the local agency’s team of 10 volunteers — some of whom are well into their 80s — and staff of four continue to carry on their mission.

Statewide, ombudsman advocates have investigated hundreds of thousands of cases and complaints.

Some of them include claims of jewelry theft, attempted rape, a care facility employee taking out credit cards in residents’ names and a patient death in a rehabilitation nursing home stemming from untreated bedsores, according to a statement from the San Francisco ombudsman branch.

In addition to the Ombudsman program, other services administered by the Area Agency on Aging are facing state cuts, including senior case management programs, the Food Bank’s Senior Brown Bag Program, Senior Legal Aid and the Volunteer Center’s Senior Services, according to a press release from the Area Agency on Aging Serving Napa and Solano.

Adult Day Services of Napa Valley

Like the Ombudsman program, Adult Day Services of Napa Valley is fighting to keep senior services available in spite of dwindling funding. Adult Day programs allow seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia to avoid premature placement in nursing homes, according to Celine Regalia, the organization’s program director. In addition to the agency’s adult day and respite programs, the organization offers free counseling and Alzheimer’s awareness outreach.

Cuts to program services recently translated into reduced staff and operational hours and the recent layoff of the agency’s Alzheimer’s family services manager, Regalia said.

In addition to weathering the elimination of a state grant it has depended on for nearly a decade, the agency is one of many Alzheimer’s centers across California facing state cuts.

“We know that in Napa County, we have 2,100 people living with Alzheimer’s Disease. ... I think it’s important for people to understand that (cuts impose) a trickle-down effect and seniors seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to services and that’s really unfortunate,” she said. “They have worked hard and contributed to and invested in our communities and when they need services the most, they’re being taken away.”

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