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 SENIOR LIVING - Protecting essential services for our most vulnerable
- The Catholic Sun (March 2009)
by Guy Mikkelsen
Our economy, like so much else in life, runs in cycles. Good times are followed by hard times and eventually by good times again. Unfortunately we are in the midst of one of the most painful economic downturns we have seen in a long while.
Recently I found myself looking at a talk I gave in 2003 on how to protect our seniors and all vulnerable persons during a period of financial challenge. I could pretty much dust it off and deliver it again today. One big difference, however, is the severity of our current circumstances. The State of Arizona is developing a budget that will close a deficit of $1.6 Billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 and a larger gap of $3.0 Billion for the following fiscal year. Maricopa County, the City of Phoenix and all town budgets are similarly stressed.
Our elected leaders are up against it. No matter their party affiliation, ideological leanings or personal perspective, they face a most difficult task in balancing our state and local budgets. It is inevitable that many services will be curtailed, hard working people will lose their jobs, and their families and all of us will be deeply affected. Political discussions have been long and intense as compromises are reached that will be satisfying to very few.
All of us will be financially affected and will need to change our spending behaviors. Many will be severely harmed, losing income, perhaps losing homes, and scrambling to find ways to pay for college or save for retirement. Most of us will need to give up things we previously took for granted. It will be hard, but we will endure and eventually things will get better.
For many among us, however, there simply is no waiting for a recovery. An eighty year old woman depending on home-delivered meals or on visits from a home health aid cannot forego these services without devastating consequences to her health. A physically or cognitively disabled adult relying on subsidized attendance at a local adult day care center will not be able to remain alone at home and will be needlessly institutionalized. Working mothers benefiting from child day care cannot continue to work and pay for food and rent if support payments are cut. Children being raised in an abusive household will be irreparably harmed if Child Protective Services has laid off the investigator who would otherwise have shepherded them to safer environments. The harm caused by such circumstances will not be reversed once good times return.
And yet, decisions that have already been made - and others being made even while you read these words – will suspend services critical to the welfare and continued life of vulnerable people in our own communities. Here are just a few examples of recent cuts to the 2009 State budget:
· Support services eliminated for over 15,300 seriously mentally ill individuals
· Child care eliminated for 15,000 kids of low income working families
· In-home services eliminated for 4,000 developmentally disabled children
· 1,500 disabled adults awaiting eligibility determination from Social Security eliminated from General Assistance payments
· 1,100 beds eliminated from homeless shelters
· Independent living support payments eliminated for 450 older Arizonans
Our Catholic tradition of social justice tells us clearly that we cannot solve our budget problems on the backs of the most vulnerable among us. Those who are already in significant distress and who lack personal resources must be protected. Private giving and the best intentions of non-profit agencies cannot possibly offset these budget reductions. While the Foundation for Senior Living and Catholic Community Services are fully devoted to serving the kids, families, homeless, disabled and frail elderly most in need, we do so largely with the government funds that are being reduced or eliminated. We have no magic pot of gold to draw from.
We must all, therefore, be the public voice and advocate for those unable to speak for themselves by reminding our elected leaders that some cuts are simply not moral. To survive this crisis by abandoning those already at risk is not an option we can live with – as individuals or as a society. As a closing thought, I will repeat a few sentences from the speech I delivered during similar circumstances in 2003:
There is a tradition in our military, especially the Marine Corps, that “no one is left behind.” Every Marine understands that they ARE coming home. Within a mile of each of our homes, our fellow citizens – the elderly, homeless, seriously mentally ill, young children, at-risk families, persons with disabilities, those with developmental impairments, will be purposely left behind – if we fail to speak out in their defense.
As people of faith striving to follow the example of a compassionate Jesus, can we remain silent in the face of political decisions that will cause irreversible suffering?
Guy Mikkelsen is president and CEO
of the Foundation for Senior Living.
For more information, visit www.fsl.org.
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