‘90s FAMILY : Easing the Way for Struggling Elderly

Like many people, James Clark of Montrose didn’t think a lot about living past 80. If he did, it surely never occurred to him that he might survive his wife and son and live alone. Or that he’d live in constant pain and pay so much for rent and medication that with only his Social Security for income, he’d have $7 left for food. That’s $7 a week .

Clark, 83, worked in the engraving department of a Los Angeles advertising agency for, as he tells it, “pretty near 30 years, until the arthritis and whatnot got me and I had to retire in 1975.”

He’s lived alone since his wife died 17 years ago. When his son died of a heart attack six months ago, his personal connections suddenly dropped to two: a grieving daughter-in-law in Salem, Ore., and an old family friend in Las Vegas. He talks to his people on the phone only occasionally because of the expense. He cannot drive because the insurance is prohibitive.

Still, Clark was getting along pretty well until this year when medical bills rose for his diabetes, hypertension and cervical cord disease. He applied for Medi-Cal, but received a letter saying that because his income is $814 a month, and not under the $600 limit, his share of the costs would be $194 a month.

This is not only a disturbing but an incredibly common situation, according to Kimberly Clewett, a social worker referred through the Verdugo Hills Visiting Nurse Assn. in Glendale to help Clark navigate the system of public and private assistance. She says, “This is a man whose rent is $570. His medications are $150. The strips to check his blood sugar are $50 a bottle.” When she met him, she found him living on toast for breakfast, crackers and peanut butter for lunch, spaghetti or chicken for dinner. He could not afford fruits or vegetables.

“One of the main underlying problems is the budgets set aside for senior services completely overlook clients who are not on Medi-Cal or in-home supportive services. They think they are doing fine, but in fact these are the patients in the most trouble,” she says.

The world may become even harsher for the hapless elderly as federal lawmakers consider deep cuts in funding for the Older Americans Act, which pays for, among other things, 670 Area Agencies on Aging nationwide, including 33 in California. State lawmakers are also proposing cutbacks in meals for the elderly, both in home and at centers, as well as in funding for new centers, says Patricia Senette, executive assistant for the Area Agency on Aging for Los Angeles County.

One way to help people like Clark is to make them aware of services that are available before a crisis hits. The private, nonprofit Area Agency on Aging for instance, (213) 738-4226, offers programs, including transportation, housing and legal services.

Other sources of help include local hospitals, churches and temples, organizations dealing with specific illnesses, local senior centers and home care agencies such as the visiting nurse associations.

It was a visiting nurse who had seen Clark for his diabetes who referred him to Clewett. She tried to find subsidized housing, but the waiting list was closed. She was able to locate one physician who agreed to accept Clark’s Medicare insurance as payment in full and a diabetes association that will pay 80% of the cost of his testing strips. His phone company agreed to put him on a special reduced cost plan. Dial-a-Ride offered to transport him to a senior center for lunch on weekends.

Most weeks, the two nurses who come to see him are his only visitors. Polite and philosophical, Clark is grateful to have at least one thing he can depend on. He said, “To me, it’s a lot of security, knowing that they’re going to show up.”