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Senior citizens and their families are feeling the pain from budget cuts in Prince William County (web|news) .
The Board of Supervisors wants to trim $7 million from the budget, and one of the programs losing out is a senior day care program for people with dementia.
Cindi Howell said her 83-year-old mother taught her a lesson her county hasn't yet learned. "She raised her children to do the right thing," said Howell.
Howell wonders how balancing county books can justify cutting programs that help people like Lucille Howell--a world war two factory worker, who now has vascular dementia.
On June 20th, the Manassas Adult Day Care program that serves Howell and 25 others is set to close. Closing the adult day care is said to save a projected $150,000 to $250,000 each year. "It was devastating for me, and more so for my mother," said Cindy Howell.
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said, "We don't want it to close, but the reality is in these times, we cut the program or raise taxes."
Stewart said people can use the Woodbridge county facility, or a private Manassas program, which he said is "Just as good and the cost is very similar as well."
Kristin Gause said she's not certain the private facility is right for her grandmother. Woodbridge, for many, means hours of daily travel and being placed on a waiting list. For so many families, it's difficult to imagine public cuts justifying such personal change.
Gause said her grandmother, "Made friends, made connections and it has made her happy. To me, that's everything."
Family members are organizing a final public opinion push for the senior day program at the Board of Supervisors meeting on June 17, three days before the center is set to close for good.
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