By Anna Floerke
Special to Inside
Mary lay in a hospital bed looking at her newly replaced knees. She couldn’t cook for herself, buy her own groceries, or get out of bed. It would be this way for the duration of her recovery, yet the representative visiting her from the Department of Aging told her that she didn’t qualify for the Community Based Care (CBC) that would allow her stay in her home. Mary suddenly found herself staring at the possibility of weeks and months in an institution. “It was amazing to me how [the representative] could stand there, look at me in bed with both knees just replaced and tell me I didn’t qualify.”
The Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC), partially funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, works to identify the concerns of North Side senior citizens and to build the power necessary to address those concerns. Mary is 79 years old and has been active with JASC since her denial for Community Based Care (CBC). That rejection motivated her to seek support for changing CBC eligibility requirements.
In partnership with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, JASC is organizing seniors like Mary to work for the reformation and advancement of Community Based Care so seniors aren’t faced with the prospect of living in hospitals and other institutions. “Unless you’re willing to make the phone calls and really fight for your rights, you’re not going to get quality care,” Mary says. Ken Snyder, JASC’s leading organizer, set up a pilot program that will demand fair wages for CBC employees as well as more appropriate eligibility requirements for seniors in need of Community Based Care. “Basically, the pilot program has to do with empowering seniors,” says Snyder, “Most seniors are on a fixed income. Our seniors don’t have a high income...most are at below $25,000.”
As Snyder knows, changing CBC eligibility requirements is an enormous task. The program suffered a small defeat last year when their bill addressing financial eligibility for CBC made it halfway through the Illinois House but failed to pass. Still, with the force of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development behind them, neither Snyder nor Mary seems swayed by the challenge. Snyder sees adequate Community Based Care as a social necessity, saying, “It affects a much broader group of people than just seniors.” Mary just digs her heels in and remarks, “Don’t expect things to be handed to you. If there’s a need, fight for it.” Then she winks and adds, “If I can make it to 80, I’m going to really retire.”
For more information about the Jane Addams Senior Caucus and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, contact Elena Segura, Office of Peace and Justice, (312) 751-5333 or esegura@archdiocese-chgo.org. |
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