Every day is a struggle for Eva Del Toro. Her screaming
24-year-old son, who was born with an undeveloped brain, wakes her
up every morning. She has to dress him, as his arms swing wildly in
the air. She has to feed him and change his diaper.
Every day is a struggle for Eva Del Toro.
Her screaming 24-year-old son, who was born with an undeveloped brain, wakes her up every morning.
She has to dress him, as his arms swing wildly in the air. She has to feed him and change his diaper.
Her son, Jesus, can’t tend for himself and is moved around in a wheelchair or in someone’s arms. Someone always has to watch him.
Del Toro has been a homecare worker for the past eight years, spending every moment with her son. Without her, she doesn’t know how her son would survive.
“He is just a big baby,” she said through a translator. “I have to do everything like he was a baby.”
Come July, her hours may be cut dramatically.
If Gov. Jerry Brown gets his way, the homecare system throughout California will be reduced by around 12 percent – if he doesn’t, homecare workers could face a 30 percent cut in hours. Proposed cuts to the homecare worker program are among many possible losses due to the state’s $26 billion deficit.
For Hollister resident Dave Melgarjo, this just can’t happen.
Melgarjo, 56, suffers from severe arthritis and altercations from a stroke. To move around he uses a wheelchair. His right arm has lost almost all of its use.
To do daily chores such as washing clothes and dishes, and cleaning his one-bedroom apartment, he needs all the help he can get.
And for three hours each day, Ernie Caballero does all those things.
“I don’t know what I would do without Ernie,” Melgarjo said.
Possibly as soon as July, Caballero’s time with Melgarjo will be dramatically cut.
Brown’s homecare cuts call for nearly 12 percent elimination in home worker’s hours, and if the state tax extension is not approved it could be as much as 30 percent of hours.
The state’s homecare workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union United Long Term Care Workers.
See more in the Pinnacle on Friday.
