YWCA ends local home care service due to state budget turmoil

Posted on July 13, 2017

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Illinois has a budget to run state government, but the end of the legislative stalemate was not enough to save a local program providing care to older, low-income people so they can remain at home.

YWCA-McLean County announced Thursday its home care services contract with the Illinois Department on Aging will expire, effective Aug. 5, meaning 195 of its clients will have to look elsewhere to find help.

A little more than two-years without a state budget meant the home care program received very slow payments or no payments at all from the state, according to YWCA McLean County CEO Dontae Latson.

Illinois government funded 85 percent of the home care program…and the local YWCA said it provided a little more than 48,000 hours of service this past fiscal year to keep clients safe and independent in their homes.

YWCA Home Care will continue to provide services to private-pay clients.

This is the second YWCA McLean County program to fall victim to the state’s fiscal crisis. Last month, the Y ended its Medivan program, due in part to the lack of state assistance. The Medivan provided transportation for about 100 people who needed rides to their non-emergency medical appointments. Connect Transit is now providing that service.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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