[Vision2020] THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!

[Art Deco]

Another DHW office in a an area of severe economic hardship, Boundary County, is also being closed.

The lack of money is reality.  There are hard choices.

However, my personal values are that funding the agencies that provide the safety net of food, clothing, shelter, and very basic health care should not be emasculated and/or made difficult to access beyond providing those services to the most needy.

Many of the needy are not there just by choice, but partly, and sometimes wholly, by circumstance -- expensive medical problems, loss of employment, etc.

Many of us who have lived in extreme poverty for part of our lives know the suffering and frustration that results from not having the minimum of the essentials of life.  I hope that many of us that are now more fortunate will donate to food banks and other organizations that try to help those without nearly adequate basics.  Don't forget the pets, too.  A loving pet is an asset and an important comfort to a family in dire circumstances, and pets must be fed and cared for also.

W.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Saundra Lund 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 9:16 PM
  Subject: [Vision2020] THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!


  http://www.lmtribune.com/breaking-news/1304/

  Breaking News
  Orofino Health and Welfare office targeted for closure
  April 6, 2010, 1:49 pm

  Associated Press

  BOISE -- About a third of the state's field offices for the Department of
  Health and Welfare, including one in Orofino, are being closed and 126
  workers laid off within the next two months as the department struggles to
  cope with a shrinking budget.

  Department officials announced Tuesday that offices in American Falls,
  Bellevue, Bonners Ferry, Emmett, Jerome, McCall, Orofino, Rupert and Soda
  Springs would close within the next two months, and some services in the St.
  Maries office would be shifted to Coeur d'Alene.

  "The closures will cause hardship and inconvenience for many people, but
  resources are not available to continue the current level of office
  support," the department wrote in a press release.

  The Legislature left the decision on how to balance the Idaho Department of
  Health and Welfare's $138 million general fund budget in the hands of
  Director Dick Armstrong. In the press release, the department said it
  evaluated traffic at each of the offices, as well as the ability to shift
  services to another location.

  Many of the offices being closed had smaller caseloads than those carried at
  other offices, the department said.

  Health and Welfare clients will have to wait longer to get phone responses,
  have their applications for services processed and meet with staffers, the
  department said.

  Officials said child welfare and mental health services will continue to be
  provided in the regions affected by office closures.
  ___

  For those interested, you can read more double-speak here:
  http://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/AboutUs/Newsroom/tabid/130/ctl/ArticleView
  /mid/3061/articleId/1536/font-size2Department-of-Health-and-Welfare-Closes-N
  ine-Field-Offices.aspx
  OR
  http://tinyurl.com/yfz588w



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