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October 2005 Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Feature Legal Services for the Elderly By Toby Laping Ph. D., C.S.W., Private Care Manager It’s no secret that the county budget mess has taken a terrible toll on many human service agencies, and Legal Services for the Elderly is one of those agencies that is hurting badly. I have a special regard for this agency, so I’m particularly distressed by what it has lost. I serve on its Board of Directors, and thus am probably biased, but I firmly believe that this is an absolutely essential agency if we’re going to protect the rights of senior citizens in Western New York.
When so many have recently opened their hearts and their wallets to help the desperate people of the New Orleans area, this is a hard time to ask for support for yet another charity. Nevertheless, I’m doing just that because I worry about violations of the civil rights of our older citizens. Legal Services for the Elderly provides free legal services in civil matters to people aged 60 and over. They also serve as guardians and trustees for disabled people of any age. They help people without any charge; their clients typically cannot afford to hire private attorneys. Most of the money that supports this agency comes from the Older Americans Act which gives funding to counties to provide free legal services for the elderly. They also get money from New York State, from a special lawyers’ fund, and from private foundations as well as from contributions from individuals. About 6% of the agency’s budget was lost when Erie County canceled a contract because the county was so short of money. There are now only four lawyers working on cases in addition to paralegals. Until recently, there were five staff attorneys but one was laid off when funding was cut. Sadly, that means that new cases have been severely limited and also, illogically, that the county will lose money. That’s because the agency has had to close a program which was designed to help increase Medicare payments so that monies were saved for Erie County Medicaid. Karen Nicolson, the Executive Director, described the agency’s typical client as a senior in her seventies who lives alone, has no family, and is being denied services to which she should be entitled. Legal Services helps people whose Medicare payment for home care services has been stopped prematurely; they help seniors who are entitled to Medicaid but have been denied that benefit; they tell people their rights when seniors are wrongly told they must leave a hospital; and they fight for people who are about to lose their homes due to mortgage foreclosure by predatory lenders. Sadly, all of these services have been cut back because of funding cuts. This column is a blatant plea for money for Legal Services for the Elderly, and a request for your support. If you have a dollar or more to support this agency, that would be wonderful. Contributions can be sent to Legal Services, 821 Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo, NY, 14203. Enough small contributions will help to fund an additional attorney, and will help to insure that free legal help will be available if you ever need it. www.wnycaremanager.com back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
