September 12, 2011 | 4:27 pm

Elder Services to Many Jews De-Funded as of December 1

Posted by Pini Herman

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In 1997 LA had 13,600 Jewish households with elderly disabled persons.  That number has surely increased as the Jewish community is aging in place and my conservative current guesstimate is that there are at least seventeen thousand Jewish households with elderly disabled persons in Los Angeles.

150 Adult Day Health Care Centers in Los Angeles are to lose state Medi-Cal funding as of December 1, 2011. The State of California has sent out the notices.  The Jewish community will be especially hard hit with our disproportionate number of American-born and foreign-born elderly.

Adult day health care is a planned program of activities designed to promote well-being though social and health related services. Adult day care centers operate during daytime hours, Monday through Friday, in a safe, supportive, cheerful environment. Nutritious meals that accommodate special diets are typically included, along with an afternoon snack.

Adult day care centers can be public or private, non-profit or for-profit. The intent of an adult day center is primarily two-fold:
- To provide older adults an opportunity to get out of the house and receive both mental and social stimulation.
- To give caregivers a much-needed break in which to attend to personal needs, or simply rest and relax.

There are some attempts to challenge this loss of state funding, but it will be up to us, the local Jewish community to attempt to keep these vital services to the elderly going.

Adding insult to injury, elderly seeking to sit at a bus bench in LA may not find them easily. Norman Bench Advertising, which provides and manages the city’s roughly 6,000 bus benches, began removing them mid-August because it was not awarded a new contract by the City of LA.

Update: Adult day health-care centers get reprieve but will lose funding on Dec. 1

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/26/adult-day-health-care-centers-get-reprieve-but-1/#ixzz1hwv01ij9
- vcstar.com

Pini Herman is immediate past President of the Movable Minyan a lay-lead independent congregation in the 3rd Street area. To email Pini: pini00003@gmail.com