Latest news with #RiversideIndustries
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
With billions of dollars to be cut by feds, WMass elder care centers brace for the squeeze
WILBRAHAM — The Social Security system under fire. Looming nursing staff shortages. Inability to pay for medical care. While on a tour of the Life Care Center of Wilbraham on Monday afternoon, executives described what a possible future might look like without hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding for social services. 'We're always looking at how we can continue to provide these services,' said Dennis Lopata, the executive director of the nursing home facility that has been open for almost 34 years. A majority of the Wilbraham center's clients — about 80% — pay for services with either Medicaid or Medicare, he said. 'We need them as much as they need us,' he said. House Republicans recently passed a budget resolution that would slash $880 million from federal programs, including Medicare and Social Security benefits. U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, who paid a visit to the center on Monday afternoon, said while the House GOP passed the resolution, the issue is nonpartisan. 'Red states derive a lot of Medicare patients,' he said. 'We're not going to let social services go by the wayside.' Life Care Center is just one of several care facilities that predicts it will feel the squeeze of budget cuts. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought a slew of challenges to nursing homes across the region and country, Lopata said the organization has been working hard to retain staff, including raising the wages. The facility in Wilbraham now staffs 205 people, and more than 100 people receive care there, said Lopata. 'We've been offering certified nurse assistants (the opportunity) to attend trainings. We've been making progress,' said Tara Gregorio, president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association. 'To now pull the rug out from under us — the threats are real and alarming." Another looming concern is the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. 'With (temporary protected status) ending, more than 2,000 of our centers' employees from Haiti will lose their jobs,' said Gregorio. 'This is profoundly concerning.' Later in the afternoon, Neal spoke to a room of elderly people who live at the facility. 'This is a community. Nobody should be abandoned or left behind,' Neal said. 'The golden years should be lived out the way we want them to be.' Last month, Neal visited Riverside Industries, a nonprofit organization in Easthampton working to empower people with disabilities, where clients and staff also were bracing for the proposed cuts. Amid annual crackdown on urban dirt bikes, Springfield mayor says city will push to make them illegal Westfield Fire Department trains at old rectory 'No tolerance': Task force to drop hammer on illegal dirt bikes on roads as weather warms U.S. Rep. McGovern demands Trump officials give answers on visa revocations
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Congressman Neal visits nonprofit affected by proposed Medicaid cuts
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Congressman Richard Neal visited one nonprofit organization on Tuesday that would lose funding through proposed Medicaid cuts. Medicaid is only one of the programs that would lose massive funding, but it's one residents of Riverside Industries in Easthampton depend on. The House recently passed a new budget that would cut $880 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee over the next ten years. Some criminals barred from shelter system under new regulations Medicaid is expected to receive the bulk of these cuts, depleting organizations like Riverside Industries of a large portion of funds. Congressman Neal told 22News about the reliance on Medicaid in Massachusetts. 'Fixty-six cents on the Medicaid dollar is for long-term care,' Neal said. 'This is the reality of Medicaid and Medicare. It's well beyond advocacy. This is how people live.' This is part of a $2 trillion spending cut that also involves the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Education. The budget also allows for a $4.5 trillion increase in tax provides care for 72 million people across the country. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
