While lawmakers met inside the Capitol to discuss the cuts, family members and patients rallied outside.
Chanting: "Adult day health saves lives…Louder! Adult day health saves lives…"
"My real name is Willamena Boulward, but they call me
billy at the center…and they do wonders for me."
Boulware is 86. She uses a wheelchair and is a patient at a Sacramento-area adult day health care center. She hopes Brown will decide not to eliminate the funding:
"I'm praying that he won't. I think he won't. I voted for him the first time. I voted for him the second time."
As part of his plan to close the state's 25 billion dollar
budget gap, Brown t would cut funding for more than 300 adult day
health care centers in the state. Advocates say the care
allows people like Willamena Boulware to live at home rather than
in a more expensive institution. Former Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger also proposed cutting the program twice - but
lawmakers rejected his proposal.
