At the Budget Hearing, home care providers from SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) asked the Supervisors to protect home care services by ensuring that the federal funding that would bring home care workers up to the County’s living wage is included in the budget.

“Over the past several months we have worked with County officials to be a partner, bringing resources to help fund the home care program and the living wage we desperately need. However, in looking over the budget, that funding and that raise don’t seem to be there.” said ULTCW member Jorge Garcia. “We are asking that the Supervisors take the necessary steps to put those resources in the budget for a living wage so that we keep homecare money at home where it belongs.”

Home care providers worked with state officials to encourage them to apply for the federal government’s First Community Choice Option (CFCO) program which would result in massive savings. By applying for the CFCO funding, the state would save an estimated $312 million and LA County would save more than $63 million over an 18-month period alone. The program was developed with the intention of having those savings reinvested into long term care programs like In-Home Supportive Services.

Today’s gathering comes on the heals of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting at which home care providers delivered over 30,000 signatures of support from local residents in favor of providing County home care providers with a living wage of $9.65 an hour.

Members of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) have been working with County officials since last year to achieve a new contract that includes bringing worker wages up to the County’s living wage. The 128,000 caregivers who provide essential in-home care services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities through the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program currently receive just $9.00 an hour and have been working on an expired contract since 2008.

At the Budget Hearing, home care providers from SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) asked the Supervisors to protect home care services by ensuring that the federal funding that would bring home care workers up to the County’s living wage is included in the budget.

“Over the past several months we have worked with County officials to be a partner, bringing resources to help fund the home care program and the living wage we desperately need. However, in looking over the budget, that funding and that raise don’t seem to be there.” said ULTCW member Jorge Garcia. “We are asking that the Supervisors take the necessary steps to put those resources in the budget for a living wage so that we keep homecare money at home where it belongs.”

Home care providers worked with state officials to encourage them to apply for the federal government’s First Community Choice Option (CFCO) program which would result in massive savings. By applying for the CFCO funding, the state would save an estimated $312 million and LA County would save more than $63 million over an 18-month period alone. The program was developed with the intention of having those savings reinvested into long term care programs like In-Home Supportive Services.

Wednesday’s gathering comes on the heals of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting at which home care providers delivered over 30,000 signatures of support from local residents in favor of providing County home care providers with a living wage of $9.65 an hour.

Members of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) have been working with County officials since last year to achieve a new contract that includes bringing worker wages up to the County’s living wage. The 128,000 caregivers who provide essential in-home care services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities through the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program currently receive just $9.00 an hour and have been working on an expired contract since 2008.

SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) is California’s leading long term care organization dedicated to providing and protecting quality care for our most vulnerable residents, and fighting for economic and social justice for all. SEIU ULTCW represents 180,000 in-home care providers and nursing home workers throughout California, making it the largest union of long term caregivers in California and the second largest SEIU Local in the nation. For more information visit ULTCW.org.

“Home care providers and care recipients have been fighting to stabilize and strengthen the home care that keeps seniors and people with disabilities healthy and independent,” said Loretta Jackson, a home care provider from Sacramento. “But we can’t build a stronger system on top of a crumbling foundation, and that’s why we demand that lawmakers reject every penny in additional cuts to IHSS.”

IHSS enables more than 400,000 low-income seniors and disabled Californians to live safely and independently at home at a fraction of the cost of nursing home placement. Yet the cost effective program faces deep cuts year after year.

Unfortunately, this year is no exception. The governor’s budget proposal would instate a 7% reduction in hours of assistance each home care recipient receives. Those who live with a relative or their consumer, face total elimination of pay for domestic service hours. These hours help deal with essential chores like laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping.

These proposed cuts would put vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities in danger. What’s more, they represent a “pound-foolish” approach to balancing the budget because the cuts would be compounded with the additional loss of more than $200 million in federal matching funds and more than $100 million in county dollars.

That’s why home care workers have joined with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg to advance a smarter alternative, reform bill SB 1503.

Instead of cutting the home care services vulnerable Californians need now, SB 1503 creates savings in this year’s budget and achieves even better long-term savings by transforming the IHSS program in California.

SB 1503 would move to a system of coordinated care in which the health care system and the home care system work together, with incentives to improve the health of seniors and people with disabilities while maintaining consumer choice to live at home whenever possible.

Under this model, home care providers would be a part of the care team responsible for improving the consumers’ health. This plan will achieve real savings in the coming years when home care providers receive the training needed to observe and report symptoms of chronic conditions, greatly reducing the incidence of more expensive nursing home placements and hospitalizations.

What’s more, reinvesting savings generated by the reforms will enable California to strengthen home care to accommodate the estimated 800,000 Californians who will need IHSS as California’s population ages over the next decade. But this transformation won’t be successful if IHSS is cut any further.

“We are here with a clear message for our leaders: more home care cuts are absolutely not an option,” said Bruce G. Johnson, a home care recipient from Stanislaus County. “It is unconscionable to even consider cutting the lifeline our seniors and people with disabilities are relying on when SB 1503 can save more money and improve our health!”

Members of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) have been working with County officials since last year to achieve a new contract. The 128,000 caregivers who provide essential home care services to an estimated 155,000 low-income County seniors and people with disabilities through the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program currently receive just $9.00 an hour, receive no vacation time or sick leave, and have been working on an expired contract since 2008.

“All we’re asking is that the County grant us with the same living wage that they require anyone doing business with the County to pay their employees,” said care provider and ULTCW member Jimmie Taylor.

Caregivers delivered testimony, along with the petitions, to the LA County Board of Supervisors asking them to support the recommendation being made by County bargaining officials to provide low-wage caregivers with the minimum wage the County feels is necessary in order to live and work in Los Angeles County.

“As a County home care provider, I can tell you firsthand that it’s not easy,” said Rosario Quintero. “Being a caregiver is physically challenging, emotionally taxing at times, and stressful as we work day in and day out to ensure the safety of those we care for. And yet, as stressful as our jobs may be, nothing is more stressful than coming home at the end of the day to a pile of bills, past due notices, and heaven forbid the disconnection notice.”

Prior to going into negotiations with County officials, members of the ULTCW bargaining team sought out solutions to fund the essential pay increase of sixty-five cents. By working with the state, the union was able to get state officials to apply for tens of millions of dollars in federal funding designated specifically to assist the state and county governments in covering the costs associated with long term care services.

“We’ve gone as far as to find the funding to cover a raise that will lift LA County home care workers out of poverty and bring them up to the County’s living wage,” said caregiver and ULTCW Executive Board Member Rob Robbins. “All we’re asking the County to do is to accept the money and grant us the raise.”

In addition to lifting workers out of poverty, bringing County IHSS worker wages to $9.65 will prove to be an economic boom for the County itself. According to a study issued by Beacon Economics, the raise would boost LA County output by $99.8 million, support 721 new full-time positions, bring in $36.4 million in labor income for workers, and generate $9.3 million government tax revenue.

At the Budget Hearing, home care providers from SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) asked the Supervisors to protect home care services by ensuring that the federal funding that would bring home care workers up to the County’s living wage is included in the budget.

“Over the past several months we have worked with County officials to be a partner, bringing resources to help fund the home care program and the living wage we desperately need. However, in looking over the budget, that funding and that raise don’t seem to be there.” said ULTCW member Jorge Garcia. “We are asking that the Supervisors take the necessary steps to put those resources in the budget for a living wage so that we keep homecare money at home where it belongs.”

Home care providers worked with state officials to encourage them to apply for the federal government’s First Community Choice Option (CFCO) program which would result in massive savings. By applying for the CFCO funding, the state would save an estimated $312 million and LA County would save more than $63 million over an 18-month period alone. The program was developed with the intention of having those savings reinvested into long term care programs like In-Home Supportive Services.

Wednesday’s gathering comes on the heals of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting at which home care providers delivered over 30,000 signatures of support from local residents in favor of providing County home care providers with a living wage of $9.65 an hour.

Members of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) have been working with County officials since last year to achieve a new contract that includes bringing worker wages up to the County’s living wage. The 128,000 caregivers who provide essential in-home care services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities through the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program currently receive just $9.00 an hour and have been working on an expired contract since 2008.

SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) is California’s leading long term care organization dedicated to providing and protecting quality care for our most vulnerable residents, and fighting for economic and social justice for all. SEIU ULTCW represents 180,000 in-home care providers and nursing home workers throughout California, making it the largest union of long term caregivers in California and the second largest SEIU Local in the nation. For more information visit ULTCW.org.

You may get a call from the California Department of Social Services regarding this breach of information security.

The California Department of Social Services has established a phone number for more information: 1-888-362-8947

They will also mail notifications to you if you were impacted. Information will also be online at www.cdss.ca.gov

In addition to the above hotline, you can take some extra steps, like:
• Learn to protect your identity by calling: 1-877 438-4338 or
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Questions? Contact the Member Action Center at 877-698-5829

Last Friday, over a hundred community members joined with Ana Casas (photo left), another victim of wrongful foreclosure. Together, the group attempted to deliver a mortgage check to Wells Fargo’s Chief Financial Officer, Tim Sloan. Watch the video!

Ana has a story like many of us. Almost forty years ago, Ana moved into her home in the working class city of South Gate. More recently, Ana was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, and although the family’s income recovered after her treatment, Wells Fargo has repeatedly denied Ana a loan modification and then foreclosed on her home.

Ana was born with cerebral palsy and has been a leader in the disability community. She lives with her husband, mother who is a ULTCW member and her caregiver, as well as her teenage son.

It’s time to stand up for our communities. Sign our online pledge to support homeowners like Ana.

We’ve all seen the drastic amount of foreclosures throughout the state – leaving our friends, family and neighborhoods devastated. Here at ULTCW we have shared stories from our member Rose Gudiel, and now in-home care recipient Ana Casas, who have faced foreclosure unjustly.

We’re not alone; an audit of 400 San Francisco foreclosures conducted by San Francisco Assessor-Record Phil Ting found that 84% of foreclosures were either fraudulent or missing crucial documentation.

Attorney General, Kamala Harris, who we fought hard to elect, is standing up for working families and has put herself on the frontlines against unfair foreclosures.

She can’t do this alone, but together we can make sure working families have the support and protection they need to keep their homes. It’s time to stand with the “Homeowner Bill of Rights”, which would make significant changes in the way the state regulates mortgages and protects homeowners – not banks.

SEIU ULTCW President, Laphonza Butler

The keynote speaker was Israel Charny, the executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide. The event also included a religious service led by all denominations of the Armenian community, a flag ceremony performed by the Homenetmen and the Armenian General Benevolent Union scouts and the placement of wreaths by various organizations.

ULTCW represents over 16,000 Armenian-American long-term caregivers throughout the state of California; many of who attended ceremonies and marches on this day.

Cynthia and her daughter, Elizabeth, at their Whittier home.

WHITTIER — Cynthia Villarreal follows the daily routine of many mothers — up about 6:30 a.m. to bath, dress and feed her daughter and see that her needs are taken care of for the day. But a big difference is that Elizabeth Villarreal is 21, is mentally disabled and has autism.

“She has the mind of a 2-year-old,” said Cynthia Villarreal, who has been a full-time caregiver to her daughter for more than 20 years.

Her daughter attends a day care program until 2:30 p.m. weekdays at Sierra High School in the Whittier Union High School District. Upon her arrival home, it’s time for cleanup and dinner and an evening of watching TV.
“She demands attention all the time,” Villarreal noted.

Read the whole article at: http://wavenewspapers.com/news/local/east_edition/article_e05053d8-8fd5-11e1-8cc4-001a4bcf6878.html

That’s why the Congress of California Seniors has joined with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and representatives of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) consumers and providers from across the state to strengthen the role home care plays in the health care experience for seniors and people with disabilities. Our plan keeps seniors and people with disabilities healthier, protects their independence and drives down costs.

California’s low-income seniors and people with disabilities rely on a fragmented system of medical care and long-term care services. These systems don’t talk to each other, much less work together to support our goals of living healthy at home.

Further, the current system is not structured to prioritize quality health outcomes. Since Medicare and Medi-Cal payments to medical providers are based on specific services performed in doctors’ offices and hospitals, providers do not have an incentive to keep patients healthy at home rather than in an expensive hospital or nursing home. Given the growing population of seniors and stark budget realities, a system with this kind of built-in bias is not sustainable.

California’s low-income seniors need an integrated system that shifts financial incentives in favor of long-term care that is focused on prevention and wellness, so we stay healthier and require fewer costly medical interventions and reduced hospital and nursing home stays. As the population of IHSS recipients is expected to double over the next 10 years to more than 800,000, we can confront these choices now or wait to have them forced upon us.

Read the whole article at: http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/coordinated-care-key-saving-health-care-seniors