DHS Cuts Could Be Devastating For Some

<p>DHS has a revised budget now calling for $36 million to be cut from a program that helps the elderly and disabled.</p>

Friday, November 3rd 2017, 6:59 pm

By: Karl Torp

DHS has a revised budget now calling for $36 million to be cut from a program that helps the elderly and disabled.

This week, DHS sent out letters to the 20,000 Oklahomans using its Advantage Waiver Program and informed them their services would be going way Dec. 1 if lawmakers can’t fill the budget shortfall.

“They are absolutely playing games with our lives and they don't seem to care,” says Mike Hefner, who is disable and receives Advantage Waiver benefits.

The money pays for medication, meals and provides him with an assistant for four hours a week. Hefner says the care allows him to stay at his home.

The Oklahoma City man says without the Advantage Program, he’d have to go to a nursing home.

“I'm a 37-year-old guy. I don't want to go to a nursing home,” says Hefner who has been contacting lawmakers since receiving the letter this week from DHS.

“The independence is life for me. If there is no independence, there is no life with me,” adds Hefner.