Seniors Rally at State House to Demand Home Care Funding
As of Tuesday, 1,221 seniors remained on waiting lists for home care.
Dozens of senior citizens stood outside Gov. Deval Patrick's office in the State House Thursday demanding that their concerns about cuts in home care spending be heard. Chanting "Can you hear us now governor?" the seniors wanted Patrick to respond to a letter several senior advocacy groups sent him in September detailing what they say has been a $15 million cut since 2009 in home care services and asking for such funding to be restored. Although Patrick didn't meet with the seniors, Ann Hartstein, his secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, took their questions and comments in a downstairs press room. "The governor is totally communted to community-first," Hartstein said of the policy that promotes home care over nursing-home …
