23 May THIS FIGHT IS NOT YET OVER!
Dear Friends & Supporters of the USC Family Caregiver Support Center/LACRC,
Thank you to everyone who was able to make calls and send letters of support to our legislators to show how crucial caregiver support services are. Although we have made great progress, THIS FIGHT IS NOT YET OVER!
We still need our community to help stop the reversal of the augmentation the statewide CRC system received in the 2019 budget. State legislators will meet again to discuss impending budget cuts; the hearing for the Senate Budget Sub-committee 3 is this Sunday, May 24th beginning at 9 am.
Public comments start at 10:00 AM.
- Please support by calling in at 1-877-336-4441
- The access code should be : 98526
- Remember to press #10 and speak!
- Please note – We are item #70
Every call and message that you leave with each of the legislators below will be crucial in letting them know how much our families depend on the no-cost services provided to family caregivers throughout the state.
Thank you on behalf of all our family caregivers! #CaregiversFightOn #USCFCSC #LACRC
Dr. Donna Benton
Director
Members of Senate Budget Subcommittee 3:
Senator Melissa Hurtado, (916) 651-4014
Senator Melissa Melendez, (916) 651-4028
Senator Richard Pan, MD (Chair), (916) 651-4006
Additional Members of Senate Leadership to Contact:
Holly Mitchell (Chair of Senate Budget Committee), (916) 651-4030
Toni Atkins (President Pro Tempore of the CA State Senate), (916) 651-4039
Shannon Grove (Senate Minority Leader), (916) 651-4016
If you have not made calls like this before, please know it is an easy process. You’ll need to:
· State your name and chosen talking points, even if you end up in voicemail.
· Each call is logged based on topic and reported to your representative.
Talking points for phone calls:
- Stop the Governor’s budget proposal to reverse the CRC Augmentation.
- NOW is the worst time to cut services to family caregivers who are more burdened and isolated than ever trying to keep family members with cognitive impairments and other physical and mental disabilities safe at home, out of hospitals and nursing homes.
- Seniors and other adults with disabilities are those hardest hit by COVID-19. We should be strengthening systems to support family members during this crisis, not cutting services.
- Family caregivers need additional respite to help replace care provided by community programs that have been shuttered by COVID-19.
- The Caregiver Resource Centers were able to immediately shift from in-person to remote service delivery at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis because of the 2019 augmentation. It is crucial that the CRCs continue to provide COVID-19 responsive essential services.
SAMPLE EMAIL MESSAGE FROM CRC SUPPORTER
Please email your letters to: sbud.committee@senate.ca.gov
May 22, 2020
First Letter to:
The Honorable Toni Atkins
California Senate President Pro Tempore
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Second Letter to:
The Honorable Holly Mitchell, Chair
Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 9581
Third Letter to:
The Honorable Richard Pan, MD, Chair
Senate Budget Subcommittee 3 on Health and Human Services
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: May Revision Proposal to Reverse 2019 Augmentation to CRCs – OPPOSE
Dear President Pro Tempore Atkins, Chairwoman Mitchell and Chairman Pan:
I am writing to strongly oppose the proposed reversion of augmentation funds to the Caregiver Resource Centers enacted in the 2019 budget.
California’s Caregiver Resource Centers (CRCs) provide essential services to unpaid family caregivers who provide care at home for adults with cognitive and physical disabilities. Now is not the time to cut services to family members who are caring for the most vulnerable, at a time when they are even more vulnerable than they have ever been.
Please describe who you are here (for example: I am a family caregiver of a mother with Alzheimer’s disease OR I am a hospital social worker who refers caregivers of patients returning home to the Caregiver Resource Center – say whatever is true for you).
Please describe why you don’t want to see the Caregiver Resource Center’s 2019 augmentation taken away here (for example: I depend on the Caregiver Resource Center for respite to help me go to work OR without the Caregiver Resource Center I don’t know where to turn for information and training to give my mother the care she needs – say whatever is true for you.
The CRCs, complemented by MSSP and CBAS, are crucial services to support the millions of hours of long-term care provided at home by unpaid family members.
Respectfully yours,
Your name
Zip Code
Cc: The Honorable Melissa Hurtado
The Honorable Melissa A. Melendez
The Honorable Members of the California State Senate