GUEYDAN – Gueydan’s Wilsy and Margaret Perry are in the their early 70s and the last thing they needed to worry about was finding a new home for their 46-year-old mentally disabled daughter Janet. But because of recent budget cuts by the state’s Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), that is exactly what they had to do.
On Jan. 12, the Perrys received a letter from DHH informing them that due to state budget cuts, the state has decided to turn state operated homes that catered to mentally disabled adults over to private operations.
Their daughter had been in the Church Street Community Home in Jennings for more than eight years. But after receiving the letter, the Perrys had to rush and find another home for their daughter to live in.
The Perrys had until April to find a place for their daughter. They had to scramble to search for a private home to care for their daughter. They could not care for her because of their age.
After researching, they located a home in Abbeville where she has been for the last month. “We did not need the headache at our age to have to find a place like that for her,” said Wilsy Perry. “It upsets me that they had to cut back on something that helps people who can not help themselves. They could have cut back on something else.”
The cuts will continue this session.
The state’s Medicaid program for the poor, elderly and disabled would get a $6.2 billion budget, a cut of about $300 million, amid a loss of federal health-care dollars and a shrink in state revenue.
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