ALBANY – Hundreds of people from Independent Living Centers across the state converged in Albany on Monday to advocate for the state to keep funding for home care services for the elderly and severely disabled.
Among those who met with lawmakers were managers, clients, and supporters of the Independent Living Center headquartered in Newburgh and serving clients in Orange and Sullivan counties.
Executive Director Douglas Hovey said the consumer-directed home care model is under a great threat of budget cuts. “We are also concerned about the workforce crisis because we are projecting that within the next five years there is going to be a shortage by about 750,000 homecare workers in New York State. This is a major crisis that needs to be addressed,” he said.
The consumer-directed home care model allows a client to choose his or her home health aide and that is an expensive method of care.
The visitors to Albany met with their area state legislators urging them to retain the program funding.
