Stuck at Home

Two-hundred and eighty-five people last year relied on the Homebound Transportation Program to help get of their house during the day to go to places such as the grocery store, doctor’s appointments or the mall. On February 23, 2009, homebound patients received a letter in the mail saying the transportation program will no longer be in service because of budget cuts.

Lou Anne Hadley used Homebound Transportation because she is unable to drive. She has a condition called CPOD, which causes her to get sleepy unexpectedly. She is also, in a wheel chair because she has arthritis in her legs. For only 20 dollars a month she was able to go to her doctor’s appointments, make trips to the MOST museum and the mall with her daughter.

“We joined the MOST because wow it is a great way to spend weekends sometimes you can go down there she can go run around and I can run around in my wheel chair and its only twenty dollars round trip which I can afford. “ said Lou Anne Hadley.

Lou Anne Hadley and other homebound patients contacted ARISE an advocacy organization for the disabled to see if they can help get the program restored.

“We have asked the county legislators to put this issue on the agenda of the legislative committee and we are very fortunate to get a lot of support from legislators,” said Beata Karpinska Prehn Director of Advocacy

Legislators and the health department plan to have more meetings to see what they can do to restore the program.

“It was never our intention to say to people we are going to ignore you and you are going to have to figure this out on your own. But, looking at the current economic environment we need to look at the best way to look at our community,” said Amanda Nestor Public Health Administrator.

For Lou Anne and other homebound patients they will have to wait at home until next month for a decision to be made.