Traill commissioners agree with cuts in home care services

In response to a letter addressing cuts being made by Traill County Social Services, Traill’s five commissioners were in agreement with director Kim Jacobson’s cost-savings measures in the home care program.
“We’re proud of the high level of services we provide,” said Jacobson, “but we can’t afford it anymore.”
The local agency simply cannot continue to serve everyone in the county needing home care, Jacobson explained at the March 19 meeting of the Traill County commission.
Jacobson explained how she and her staff are moving a segment of their clientele who receive home care to agencies in the county equipped to handle the services and the people needing them.
These are largely people who can afford to pay for the services they receive, Jacobson explained last week. The county services being reduced include meal preparation and cleaning in households across the county. Voluntary county services such as helping clients bathe are being cutback, Jacobson explains.
The county department, meanwhile, will continue to coordinate its state-mandated services.
It’s the optional county-funded services that need to be cut.
Traill County, Jacobson said, offers more county-funded services than any other county in the state.
Again, Jacobson repeated, these are people who can afford the services provided by other agencies in the county. Altru Home health offers the same services. Individuals in the county subscribing to Quality Service Providers (OSP) can also provide home care, according to Jacobson. More of these people and services are needed, she added.
Jacobson’s Social Services board approved the cuts that are in her 2007 budget.
The county will continue to help income-eligible and the needs-eligible people in Traill, Jacobson assured the commissioners.
We have to scale back the program to what we can afford, Jacobson and commissioners John Knudsvig and Steve Larson explained. The two county commissioners serve on the local Social Services board of directors.
“We wished we could meet the needs of everyone in the county, but we simply can’t,” said Jacobson this week. The Traill home care program is being modified to what the county can afford, Jacobson explained.
“We also have budget responsibilities to the citizens of Traill County.”
The transition of people from the local agency is expected to be completed by June.