Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Executive Officer

500 W. Temple St.,

Los Angeles, CA 90012

RE: Constance A. (Buc) Webb, IHSS file number 6158

I am sixty-two years old and working, trying to make ends meet and taking care of my wife at night. My wife is confined to her bed and unable to speak. She is technically quadriplegic, her spinal cord being damaged at the brain-stem. This was caused by an aneurysm over two years ago. She currently receives Medicare and Medical, Social Security, which helps pays for her medication and nutrition. She also receives 283 hours of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), which is the maximum allowed by law.

Her IHSS case worker, Ms. Knox, IHSS County Representative Mari Marcus-King and Administrative Law Judge Gerald E. Voelker, County of Los Angeles, feel that she should get the same hours as spinal chord injury patients who receive somewhere around 700 hours per month. This is as far back as December 1998. Ms. Knox's phone number is (310) 312-6279.

Though Buc is legally not in the same category as spinal chord injury patients, she is technically the same and only differs because the injury occurred at the top of the spinal chord where it enters the brain stem. The result are the same, the patient is totally paralyzed.

In her case though, it is even worse for her than for most spinal injury patients who are recovering with their speech intact. Above Buc's brain stem and about it, are the complex reticular nerves which control facial muscles, swallowing and of course speech. These were injured too.

She desperately needs additional help.

Please can you help us?

Sincerely,

Joel Webb, 910-B 20th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (313) 828-2292