The cost of cuts: Special reports from the Kansas Health Institute, Part 2
Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson says the state faces its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — and it’s not over. While
we’re waiting to see how the math whizzes in the state legislature deal with the problem, the journalists at the Kansas Health Institute are doing some great reporting on how state budget cuts are likely to hurt real people. Yesterday, we recommended Dave Ranney‘s story “Waiting lists for state services expected to grow.” Here’s another installment in Ranney’s series.
HUTCHINSON — For most of the past year, David Farris, 55, has lived in a nursing home here.
He hates everything about the place.
“It’s like living in a prison,” Farris said. “It’s terrible. The food is terrible. There’s nothing to do. You just sit around all day. They feed you, give you pills twice a day and a shower twice a week. That’s it.
“Before my father passed away, he did everything he could to keep from going to a nursing home,” he said. “I can see why.”
Farris ended up in the nursing home after a Nov. 6, 2008 accident in which he fell about five feet onto concrete. The fall left him with a fractured wrist and a crushed pelvis.
“My right pelvis was broken in six places,” he said. “My left pelvis was broken in three places. Man, that hurt.”
