Mass Home Care Press Release

Boston Senior Home Care Press Rele= ase

February 10, 2010

Contact: Joanne McMahan: 617-303-8= 307

ELDERLY HOME CARE WAIT LISTS =

RISES ABOVE 3,000

‘Don’t send Mom flower= s for Valentine’s Day. Send her home care.’

STATEWIDE—With Valentine’s Day only 4 days away, thousands of senior citizens across= Massachusetts ca= n assume there will be no home care services anytime soon.

According to the Mass Home = Care Association, more than 3,093 seniors are now waiting to get into the home c= are program as of early February. This is the largest waiting list in the program’s 36 year history---and is directly tied to the loss of more = than $16 million in home care funding in the current fiscal year.

&nbs= p; “The expression ‘home is where the heart is’ should be changed to &#= 8216;home is not where the home care is,’ said Mass Home Care executive directo= r Al Norman. “You can talk all you want about flowers and chocolates,̶= 1; Norman said, “but what our Mom really wants for Valentine’s day= is someone to help her get out of bed and get dressed.”

&nbs= p; Norman told the s= tory of one wait list couple in their 70s: the husband was hospitalized for heart-related problems. While he was being discharged from the hospital, his wife was also hospitalized with chest pains. The couple= are both back home now and need help with meals, bathing, dressing, cleaning, laundry and shopping. “The husband told our worker that he is so worr= ied about his wife’s health that he sleeps with his hand on his wife̵= 7;s stomach to make sure she is breathing. These are the kind of people that are piling up on waiting lists.”

&nbs= p; Norman said putti= ng such people on wait lists was ‘financial folly,’ because if they go = into a nursing home, the taxpayers will pay more than twice as much for their ca= re. “We have helped cut nursing home use by 25% over the past decade,R= 21; Norman said. R= 20;But when we ask for some of those savings to be plowed back into home care---we= get waiting lists instead.”

&nbs= p; According to Mass Home Care:

Mass Hom= e Care is asking state lawmakers to boost the Governor’s budget by $36 milli= on to fund care at home. Norman concluded: “Our message to Beacon Hill is: End the waiting lists. Don’t give Mom flowers. = Give her home care.” =

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