State budget cuts harmful to local families and communities

I am a Libby resident and a mom of two beautiful kids. I’m deeply concerned that the budget cuts by the state legislature will harm my family and our wonderful community.

I currently support my family by working as an in-home caregiver for four clients. The 10 percent cut to senior and long-term care threatens the entire industry that provides care services for our seniors and people with disabilities. If I lose hours, or worst-case scenario, my job is eliminated, I don’t know how I’d make it.

I also worry about what my clients would do without my service. Three of the people I care for depend on me for everything, including preparing their meals, so I worry about their survival if long-term care is no longer funded. Without my in-home caregiving services, they would be unable to stay in their home and forced into a more expensive and impersonal institutions. No one wants to leave their home and countless studies show quality of life and length of life go down once someone is institutionalized.

Legislators need to do their job. They need to return to Helena and find revenue solutions to fix the budget crisis they’ve created. Their job is to improve the lives of Montanans, and right now, they are failing us.

—Rachel Ray

Libby