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Nicole Fair
Age: 24
From: Lawrence, Douglas County
Impact of Budget Cuts: Loss of Job Coach, HCBS hours, and Vision Services
Senator: Mark Buhler (2nd)
Representative: Paul Davis (46th)
Nicole works at a local doctor's office. Her job is her independence and it gives her a feeling of importance in the community. "Her job is so perfect for her, it is her independence," says Nicole's mom. At her job, Nicole helps the doctors by folding towels and sheets, hole-punching papers, and organizing new notebooks, labeling files, and doing other clerical jobs.
Nicole has Smith Magenis Syndrome, a developmental
disability, and she receives day services at Cottonwood in
Lawrence. Nicole used to have a job coach through
Cottonwood as part of the HCBS services. Because of
the budget cuts, she can no longer get a job coach, yet she
still needs the job coach to keep her on task at her
job. That means Nicole's parents now have to pay to
provide this service. It also puts them at risk,
because they cannot afford to provide any benefits for
employees who agree to work as a job coach.
Nicole's mom does not like the situation, but will do
whatever it takes to help Nicole keep her job. "I'm
not about to let her job go," her mom firmly
states.
Nicole also lost 21 hours of personal care services. Nicole lives with her parents, and her mom estimates she will have to lose her job to care for Nicole because of the lost hours. Furthermore, vision services for Nicole were cut, and her parents will have to pay that bill also. All of the cuts are putting a tremendous psychological and financial burden on Nicole's parents. It is stressful and they have to make decisions like cutting back on how much to spend on meals, and if they can have any type of entertainment in their life. Nicole's mom estimates she has to pay $700-$1000 a month just to help Nicole stay independent and out of a nursing home.
"Newspaper Headline: Social Service Groups Warn Of Harm To Clients, Providers -Capital Journal World, January 16, 2003
Brad Linnenkamp/Marilyn Tuttle l Contents l Mary Johnson/Vervie Davis
Statewide Independent Living Council of
Kansas
www.silck.org
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