Home-care program to shut down: "We've reached the end of a cliff"

After 29 years, one of King County's largest social-service providers is shutting down its in-home care division, a program said to pay the best wages in the state for such work.

Solid Ground's 114 home-care workers will be laid off Dec. 31. They serve about 200 clients, who rely on the aides for help with daily activities such as eating, bathing, shopping and laundry. Those visits allow more people to live independently in their homes, rather than move to assisted living.

"It's just a symptom of a bigger problem," said Cheryl Cobbs, Solid Ground's executive director. "Nonprofits kind of operate on the edge, and we've reached the end of a cliff at this point."

Because of the economic downturn, the agency is anticipating fewer donations, Cobbs said. In addition, benefits costs have gone up, especially to pay for workers' health insurance. Government funding is also less secure.

"When you add all of those things together, it's basically no increase, some decreases in public and private money, and a big hole to fill," she said.

Although the workers have been offered jobs elsewhere and the clients can continue to receive care through other agencies, some see the program's closure as a sign of the times.

It was the first home-care agency to unionize and thus helped "set the bar" to boost wages and benefits for workers at other agencies, according to Cindy Schu, secretary/treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 8.

"This has been a dilemma for Solid Ground for two decades, trying to keep the home-care program going and at the same time offering decent wages," Schu said. "They've had a commitment to doing that, and they just weren't able to do it any longer. It's sad."

For the workers, it's more than sad.

"It's just a bombshell," said 65-year-old Cheryl Busby, who has worked at Solid Ground for nearly a decade. "I think many employees have felt we're part of a big family under the umbrella of Solid Ground. That community feeling we had is going to be missing."

Solid Ground receives Medicare and Medicaid money to pay caregivers, but the agency subsidized that government funding with money from other sources, like donations, to pay the workers better.

Wages for home-health aides at Solid Ground range from about $11.50 to $13.50 an hour, which is $1 to $1.50 more than caregivers earn at other agencies, according to Schu. They receive a pension, disability insurance and holiday pay, among other benefits.

Nearly one-third of the program's workers had been with the agency for more than 10 years, a remarkable retention rate in a field where turnover is often high, Schu said.

Many are senior citizens themselves.

Clients also will have to make adjustments.

Hinda Kipnis, 77, has used Solid Ground aides for nearly four years, ever since undergoing hip surgery as a result of severe rheumatoid arthritis. Aides come by to help with housework and to take her to a therapeutic pool, where the warm water helps soothe her arthritis.

Kipnis was impressed with the Solid Ground supervisor, who saw how important it was for her to go to the pool.

And her caregivers, she said, are "wonderful." Although they speak mainly Russian — which Kipnis does not — their support helps Kipnis keep depression at bay.

Her aides plan to take jobs at another care agency, which Kipnis knows will be hard for them, in part because their compensation likely won't be as generous.

But in this time of uncertainty, Kipnis knows one thing: she's going wherever they do.

"These people who are helping me are very loving, caring hardworking people," she said. "That's why I'm following them, see. Because they're special."

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com