Less than 1,000 sick and disabled people and those who take care of them in-home rallied on the south lawn of the Capitol building today. The in-home care workers rally was organized by Labor unions representing the health workers. Their goal today? To deliver 75,000 signed petitions to Governor Jerry Brown. And to get their message out that Home Care saves money and lives. During his budget revision last month, the governor announced that the state’s budget deficit is roughly $16 billion, greater than previously thought. Brown has proposed cuts to a multitude of social services, including several state-funded health care programs like Healthy Families, which provides medical care to

Q: My wife and I have been talking recently about whether or not we want to take on the responsibility to caring for my aging mother. She currently lives in another city, and my father just passed away. She is becoming more and more compromised physically and mentally, and I don’t feel safe having her live so far away with no one to look after her. My wife is not on board with the idea of having her come live with us, mainly because she is a stay-at-home mom and would become a stay-at-home caretaker as well. We could technically afford to put her in a home, but I don’t want to do that. I want to honor my wife’s opinion, but it is my mother; I don’t know what the right move is. A: Caring

About 20 protesters – many of whom were in wheelchairs – were arrested Wednesday afternoon after blocking L Street in front of the Capitol to protest cuts to in-home care services in the state budget. “Those services provide the means for people to live independently and stay out of nursing homes,” said Peni Hall, who came from Berkeley to participate in the protest but who left the street before officers started making arrests. About 40 police and CHP officers arrived at the protest, said Sgt. Norm Leong, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department. “We were notified of an improvised protest in the middle of L Street,” Leong said, adding that he believed the group had a permit to pr

Fear of frailty is of paramount concern not only for Sacramento area seniors, but those local adults ages 35 to 62 – many of whom are daughters – worried about the health and safety of their older loved ones. That’s according to results of a recent national survey of seniors and adult children that reveals staying physically active is a major challenge for seniors. Lack of activity can lead to a downward spiral of poor health resulting in frailty, a condition that threatens the mind, body and social life of older adults, according to senior care experts. “We regularly see seniors who are literally trapped in their homes because they are too weak to perform many of the activities they nee