Monday, December 12, 2011

Action Alert! Go to the State House Wednesday, Dec. 14, to Save Maine’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Services (CD-PAS)!

Action Alert! Go to the State House Wednesday, Dec. 14, to Save Maine’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Services (CD-PAS)! . . . Nearly seven years ago, direct care workers in Maine joined together to speak with a united voice in support of Consumer-Directed Personal Assistant Services (CD-PAS) and the people who count on those services. Unfortunately, all CD-PAS services in Maine are now at risk of elimination. LePage has asked state legislators to officially terminate Maine’s CD-PAS program effective April 1, 2012. Join us at the Maine State House on Wednesday, Dec. 14, to fight back! . . . We are fighting back and standing up for each other and the Maine citizens who count on CD-PAS services. We need your help! On Wednesday, Dec. 14, go to the Maine State House to testify against the Governor’s proposal to cut all state funding for CD-PAS. The hearing will be in the Appropriations Committee hearing room off the State House Hall of Flags. The portion of the hearing about CD-PAS is expected to start in the afternoon or in the evening. Arrive in the afternoon and be prepared to stay into the evening. . . . It’s critical that committee members hear from both CD-PAS workers and the people who use CD-PAS services. Keep your testimony short, under three minutes, and be respectful. Tell the committee who you are and what you do for work. Explain that your work helps Maine people live independently in their own homes. Tell them you take pride in your work even though you don’t get any healthcare, vacation, sick time or retirement. Tell them it’s wrong to leave Maine people who need these services in the lurch. Tell them it’s also wrong to decimate Maine’s personal-care workforce precisely as Maine has one of the oldest populations per capita. Tell them that cutting CD-PAS would push people who use CD-PAS services into more expensive boarding and nursing homes. Yet in his proposal to cut $221 million from Maine DHHS, Gov. LePage proposes de-funding Maine’s CD-PAS program. He has proposed cutting $449,605 from the current year’s CD-PAS budget, and over $2.4 million from the next. His proposals would entirely defund the program, leaving in the lurch every Maine person who counts on CD-PAS services to live independently in their own homes. His proposal contains no plan whatsoever for their care if the CD-PAS program is terminated. The only way we’re going to save the CD-PAS program is by persuading legislators on Wednesday, Dec. 14, that it’s wrong to terminate CD-PAS in Maine. It’s wrong to force Maine people who use CD-PAS services into more expensive boarding or nursing homes. Again, go to the Maine State House on Wednesday, Dec. 14, to oppose the Governor’s proposal to eliminate CD-PAS. Arrive in the afternoon and be prepared to stay into the evening. For more information about the Governor’s proposal and related links, including the hearing schedule, guidelines for testifying and the audio link to the Appropriations Committee hearing, go to the MSEA-SEIU website at www.mseaseiu.org If you have any questions, call MSEA-SEIU headquarters at 622-3151 or 1-800-452-8794 and ask for Mary Anne Turowski.