State cuts force some seniors to fend for themselves

SALEM, Ore. - Eighty-one-year-old Shirley McCormick’s memory is slipping and, while she won’t admit it, she can no longer take care of herself. But soon she could be on her own after the state cuts her in-home care provider to save money.

Due to budget cuts, the state of Oregon is beginning to send out letters to about two thousand seniors and disabled people, telling them that it is eliminating Oregon Project Independence.

The state in-home care program allows those who can’t care for themselves to stay in their own home, and in McCormick’s case the state has paid for a woman to come for two hours a week to help her clean her house, do some shopping and pay her bills.

McCormick is lucky because in addition to state help, her neighbor, Ron Woods, has also been helping her. And Woods said he’s not going to abandon her even if the state does.

“(She) can’t work. She can’t go work in the fields. She can’t get a job,” he said. “I can’t just say, ‘no more’ and turn it off and leave Shirley to fend for herself.”

 Bob Weir with Northwest Seniors and Disability Services said it’ll cost the state more in the long run. He said the state pays $200 a month to help keep McCormick in her home, but he said the state will pay more than $2,000 a month if she’s forced into assisted living.

“We’re going to have to provide to pick up the pieces of these folks as their lives fall apart,” he said.

Senior citizen advocates say it’s wonderful when a neighbor can help out but there needs to be an official safety net for elderly people so they have someplace to turn if they have no one to help them.