Homplace money cut

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February 5, 2009

By AMBER DILLEY The Glasgow Daily Times Thu Feb 05, 2009, 11:31 AM CST

GLASGOW — A statewide program that assists people with medical issues is having its funding cut significantly.

The Kentucky Homeplace program, which helps people get access to medications – items like wheelchairs and other needs – gets $2 million from the state each year.

“Half of that is already gone, because the year is already half over,” said Fran Feltner, director of the program. “They’ve asked for $750,000 of it back, which leaves us with $250,000 for the rest of the fiscal year. It isn’t possible for us to run on that.”

Feltner said she’s had to shut down offices across the state because of limited funds.

“In July, we’ll take the same cut from our yearly funding, so that leaves me with $1.2 million for the entire state for a year,” she said. “We will be limited to what we can do and where we can be when we open back up in July.”

The money is a line item in the state budget and was cut by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

The cabinet had to cut the contract with University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, which runs Kentucky Homeplace, due to recent state budget woes.

“We had to make some painful decisions and we had to cut the contract from UK,” said Vicki Franklin, spokeswoman for the cabinet. “It’s a wonderful program and serves the counties well that it’s in, but it comes down to doing everything we can to preserve basic services to people in this difficult time.”

Last year, the program secured $29 million in medications and supplies for people.

“We also try to teach prevention,” Feltner said. “We make sure people get their colonoscopies and pap smears. We teach diabetics how to take care of themselves. A lot of times, they won’t ask their doctors questions so our workers also act as advocates.

“The biggest thing we do is help with medication forms. You can access those online or by phone, but most of the people we deal with don’t have phones or access to the Internet. The paperwork can be exhausting if you don’t know how to work those issues out.”

Feltner said her phone has been ringing off the hook from calls from people who don’t know how to get their medicine.

“We’re trying to work out a way to help, but it’s near impossible with limited funds,” she said.

Kentucky Homeplace was established in 1994 by the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health and is funded by the Kentucky General Assembly to address health disparities in rural portions of the state.

The program serves 58 Kentucky counties, including a Southcentral region, which covers Logan, Butler, Simpson, Warren, Edmonson, Allen, Barren, Hart, Monroe and Metcalfe counties.

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