A coalition including the Service Employees International Union Healthcare 775 NW, AARP Washington, and the Eldercare Alliance is paying for the print ads that run in The Olympian and Seattle Times, and web ads running in a slew of other papers, according to Adam Glickman, a spokesman and vice president with SEIU. UPDATE: Glickman said the campaign costs are roughly $100,000.
Go here for a sample ad featuring Stan Shockey, who had a brain hemorrhage 15 years ago at the age of 52, and his wife Lynne Hendrix, who voices worry about the loss of adult day health.
The day health program provides medical monitoring checkups and other services for vulnerable people otherwise living at home or in assisted living settings, but it has seen funding cuts and is eliminated in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s supplemental budget plan (which she proposes to temper with revenue from tax increases) that the Legislature is taking up in committee hearings this week.
Hendrix has been able to keep working as a result of state-funded programs and says:
“If these services go away, it’s not about changing your lifestyle or tightening your belt … It’s about life and death here. It’s hard to imagine that something so desperately needed by so many people could just go away.”
In a letter sent today to lawmakers, Misha Wershkul of SEIU says a series of ads in the works feature:
• Pamela Bran who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1972 and today lives in an Adult Family Home where she receives the long-term care she needs.
• David Hoffman who survived a fire than burned 70% of his body. He relies on Home Care support to care for his burns, ongoing pain and daily life functions.
More ads featuring additional stories will run next week.
SEIU says other services on the chopping block include “home care services for 1,600 vulnerable residents … cuts to home care agencies that will force many to close their doors” and reductions in funding for programs such as Meals on Wheels and the state’s long-term care ombudsman.
Dennis Mahar of the Area Agency on Aging chapter for Thurston, Lewis and Mason counties testified in a House hearing earlier this week against the cuts, saying Meals on Wheels and referral assistance to people needing services for family members are at risk.
Cost details of the ad campaign were not immediately available, but Jerry Reilly of the Eldercare Alliance said in an email, “I expect the cost is relatively modest. We do not have the resources to ‘costco’ the legislature.”
