Going to Coltrane LIFE Center keeps Roberta Reevey alive, and she said she worries that the opportunity to attend the adult day services program may be taken away.
“This place keeps me motivated,” said Reevey, 94. “Otherwise, I feel like I’d be thrown away. It would feel like jail or prison (if I couldn’t come here).”
Reevey and other participants at the center wrote to their legislators last week about the possibility of budget cuts and the chance that they may not be able to attend anymore if such reductions occur.
Staff members at the center are encouraging the almost 90 participants, their caregivers and program supporters to reach out to legislators and sign an online petition against reductions that could potentially cut its attendance in half.
More than 60 percent of the participants at the program for older and disabled adults receive financial assistance to attend from agencies such as the Department of Social Services and the Department of Aging.
But as the state plans for its budget, Gov. Bev Perdue has proposed cuts of more than $1.1 million to State Adult Day Care Fund. There are also proposed cuts in federal funding.
If these cuts occur, it could mean the funds that help pay for participants to attend Coltrane could be reduced or eliminated, staff at the center said.
“It’s scary to think about what might happen to older adults if they can’t come here,” said Susan Caudle, executive director for Coltrane.
She said that, if participants could not come to the center, they might have to stay with their caregiver, who may have to leave their job to provide that all-day assistance; be home alone; or be placed in a nursing home, which Caudle said would cost taxpayers more money.
And if more than half of the center’s participants had to leave, Coltrane would likely have to cut services or staffing positions, Caudle said.
“We have already cut back on our transportation services,” Caudle said. “I just don’t want to affect the quality of services we provide.”
To avoid these events taking place, the center has asked its participants, their caregivers and its supporters to contact their legislators.
Elizabeth Willis, 70, has been coming to the center five days a week for almost 17 years and wrote in her letter about the difference it has made in her life.
“Before I came to the Life Center, I was very depressed and didn’t have much to look forward to,” she wrote.
She added that the decision regarding the cuts is a matter of life and death for the people who attend.
Willis, who receives financial assistance, said she would either be in a nursing home or laying around at home, if she could not come to the center.
Her daughter, Becky Lambert, said she would likely have to stop working to take care of her mother if that financial assistance was taken away.
“That would be unproductive for her and myself, as well,” Lambert said.
She said if the cuts are made, the quality of life for the participants would diminish.
Sheila Howell agrees. Her mother, Ruby Alderman, 83, has been coming to Coltrane five days a week for almost six years.
“If it were not for them, I’m sure my mother would be worse than she is,” Howell said. “Even her doctor is amazed at how well she has done and how stable she is, and I attribute that to Coltrane LIFE Center.”
Alderman receives some financial assistance to attend, and Howell is not sure what would happen if were to be reduced or eliminated.
“I’m quite sure it would be very hard,” Howell said. “I would hope I could still keep my mom there, but it could make a difference, so I’m hoping that doesn’t happen.”
Howell said she would do anything to keep her mother there and plans on signing the online petition against the cuts.
“We all care deeply, and we all worry about budget cuts,” Howell said.
The online petition is at www.ncadsa.org.
Contact reporter Jessica Groover: 704-789-9152
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